There are a number of people who would rather look better on social media than they do in real life. The numerous quick filtering apps that manipulate people’s faces like Facetune, are a testament to that.
Despite the fact that there are studies delineating the mental health dangers of investing heavily in falsely manufactured looks, there are more people going under the knife for aesthetic purposes than ever before.
One customer at a hair salon said she was shocked to see that the company had Facetuned a picture of her without her consent to post on their social media.
TikToker Jordan Loufas (@jordanloufas) posted about her experience in a viral TikTok that’s accrued over 49,000 likes on the popular social media platform. She says her feelings were hurt after coming across the salon’s post on her Instagram feed. Loufas also mentioned that the business didn’t just present an inaccurate representation of her face but of the work they did on her hair as well.
@jordanloufas It’s 2023, let’s stop using facetune.. 🫠
♬ original sound – Jordan Loufas
“So I recently went to a new salon this past week because I needed to find a hairdresser that was closer to me,” Loufas prefaces. “So I tried out a new salon here in L.A., and let me just show you the photos that were taken of me at the end of my hair appointment versus the photos that were posted.”
The TikToker then puts up a screenshot of a picture of her rocking her new ‘do. In the image, she’s slightly smiling and looking off to the side, showing off the handiwork of the stylist who worked on her locks.
“Okay so this was one of the original photos that was taken at the end of my hair appointment,” Loufas explains. “The girl that did my hair took multiple photos but this was one of them. So just so you can get a feel for what I look like and what my hair looked like at the end of the appointment.”
Shen then puts another photo up on the screen that appears to have been screen captured from an Instagram account. “And this was the photo that was posted by the salon,” she says.
The picture does appear to have a filter applied, and the TikToker exclaimed that she looks unrecognizable in the picture.
“Who is that? Like literally who is that?” she asks. “First of all, when the picture showed up on my Instagram feed I genuinely—I knew it was me, but I was like something is off here. Like, I don’t look like that.”
Loufas then details the changes the salon made to the image. “So they definitely went in and added makeup to my face, smoothed my skin,” she says. “They smoothed out my chin, which that really hurt because my chin is a huge insecurity of mine. I have a very round, kinda chubby face. I don’t have like a super pronounced chin. So I’ve never been the type to have like a super chiseled jawline, so the fact that they smoothed my chin, just really solidifies that insecurity of mine.”
She then turned to the changes the salon made to her hair in the image. “And they also brightened the shit out of my hair. My hair did not look like this,” she shares. “So not only did they Facetune me but they edited the hair to make it look brighter than it actually was.”
Loufas decided to reach out to the salon via Instagram and posted images of her direct message conversations with the business in her video.
“Hi, this picture is of me and I wanted to let you know that I can tell you guys Facetuned my face,” Loufas wrote to the salon. “I find this very rude and unprofessional and I would really appreciate it if you guys removed the photo. It’s really disappointing scrolling on my Instagram feed and seeing a photo of myself that I don’t even recognize. I hope you remove the photo and don’t do this to other women/clients in the future. Thanks.”
Loufas clarifies in the video that she doesn’t want to expose the salon, as she doesn’t want her specific hairstylist to be blamed for the incident.
“I have a feeling that the person that Facetuned this photo was probably someone they’ve hired to specifically do their social media and I don’t want to jeopardize anyone’s livelihood and have people you know going to them and bashing their business,” she adds. “So, the name of the salon is not the point of this video.”
The TikToker expresses her disappointment in the salon’s use of Facetune, particularly without her consent.
“This honestly really sucked especially because it’s 2023, like why are we still using Facetune let alone on people that we don’t know without their permission,” she says. “Yeah, it really hurt my feelings for sure because it’s just them basically saying, ‘This is what we think you should look like and we’ll post your photos but we’re gonna edit you first.'”
Loufas also took issue with the post’s hashtags, which included “#cooltonedbalayage,” a service she hadn’t even asked for. She then shares the DM response she received from the salon, who removed the post as she requested.
“Hi Jordan, we’ll remove the photo ASAP we didn’t not mean to disregard and we are deeply sorry,” their response reads. “Believe me when I say all we care about is the hair but our clients ask us to add a little makeup (it’s a filter it automatically adds natural makeup) before they allow us to post front pictures , we have had so many clients ask us to take it down and they put a filter on the picture and send it back to us and then they allow us to post . We must have mixed up so asked us for a filter . Again our apologizes Post has been deleted.”
Loufas said that the salon’s “excuses” as to why they put a filter on her face were “a bunch of bullshit.”
One commenter remarked that they couldn’t understand why the salon would post the touched-up version of her picture in the first place as they thought the original one looked better. “The authentic photo of you looks so much more VIBRANT,” they said.
Another viewer said they experienced the same thing as Loufas, except in their situation it was their boss who edited their photo. “Girl my boss did this to me on a team photo we took recently I feel you,” they wrote.
One hair stylist said that they were happy Loufas spoke up to the salon about the Facetuning fiasco. “As a hairstylist who doesn’t edit, THANK YOU for calling them out!!! this is too common in our industry,” they shared.
Others argued that it wasn’t a good look for a salon to edit a client’s hair, either. “They’re hurtin when they have to photoshop their own hair they they did tho …,” one commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Loufas via email for further comment.
