Hair and makeup tips for business headshots

Once you’ve decided what to wear for your new professional headshot photos, the next to-do for most women is sorting out what choices to make in terms of hair and makeup. For many of us, especially if hiring a professional photographer is a very rare occurrence, this can feel high-stakes.

There is a lot of noise out there about what women “should” do in terms of hair and makeup for a professional photoshoot. Many photographers will insist that you “need” professional hair and make-up to be “camera ready”. I strongly disagree.

This post is about disambiguating what is true when it comes to hair and make-up for photography in general (and particularly if I’m your photographer), and what matters for business headshots specifically. 

Ideally, after this quick read you will feel confident about what to do for your hair and make-up for your headshot photoshoot. 

Hair and makeup for photography in general 

I have photographed thousands of people across more than a decade as a professional portrait photographer, dating profile photographer, and (NSFW) boudoir photographer. Naturally, that mix has included a LOT of women, from teenage girls all the way up to grannies and this is what I know is true:

No woman “needs” to wear makeup to be beautiful (in general, or in photos). 

And nobody “needs” professional hair and makeup for a photoshoot. 

Let’s start with makeup in general. If you do not wear a stitch of makeup in your day-to-day life, it would be perfectly fine not to wear makeup to your professional photoshoot. I have photographed many women wearing no makeup and their photos turn out beautifully.

If you usually wear just a little makeup, that would also be fine for your photoshoot! You get where I’m going with this. Whatever make-up look you typically wear will be just fine for your photoshoot. 

A good rule of thumb for make-up for a professional photoshoot is to do your make-up how you typically do it when you want to look particularly put-together and pretty. 

For me, that’s some pressed powder to even out my skin, a little blush, some subtle eye-shadow, a bit of brow pencil, and some mascara.  Lina's makeup routine for her photoshoot was similarly basic:

If you never wear heavy or dramatic makeup in your real life, do not wear heavy or dramatic makeup for your professional photoshoot.

While you may think heavy makeup will look nice in your final photos, you are also very likely to feel like you don’t look like “you” and this is usually a net negative (and certainly a net negative for business headshot photos but I’ll get to that).

If you do opt to wear some make-up for your photoshoot, below are a few specific tips to keep in mind:

  • Shine on skin can be iffy in photos as it can reflect light in unflattering ways. So steer clear of super shimmery make-up for face and eyes (shiny lips are ok). And if you tend to get oily, consider some oil-absorbing strips and/or a dusting of powder to reduce shine.
  • A lip color that is a shade or two darker than your natural lip color will make your smile stand out and your teeth look extra white by virtue of contrast.

If having your makeup done by a professional makeup artist would enable you to arrive at your photoshoot feeling more confident, then go ahead and schedule an appointment. Just make sure to communicate clearly with your makeup artist including sharing sample photos so that you are both on the same page about how you want your makeup to look for your photoshoot.

Bonus Tip: Use Crest White Strips at least three times during the week before your headshot photos are taken so your teeth are extra white.

When it comes to how to do your hair for professional photography, the same rule of thumb applies:

Style your hair for your professional photoshoot in a way that makes you feel pretty and does not deviate very far from your day-to-day best. 

Now, I wear my hair up in a bun or ponytail most of the time for practical (and lazy) reasons. But what I would consider my day to day *best*, and how I always wear my hair when I want to feel pretty, is hair down. Every time I’ve hired a professional portrait photographer to photograph me, I have worn my hair down and been glad I did.

The thing about a photo is it freezes a moment in time and, particularly if that moment in time is of you straight-on, if you have your hair pulled tightly back it can almost end up looking like you have no hair. I do not typically like this look on me and I think that holds true for most women.

If you prefer to wear your hair up for your photoshoot, I encourage you to wear it *loosely*, rather than tight to avoid the no hair look.

And if it would make you feel most confident showing up to your headshot photoshoot having had a professional hairstylist do your hair, by all means, make an appointment! 

Bonus Tip: If you have long bangs or your hair is prone to falling across your face or in your eyes, bring some bobbi pins to your headshot photography session just in case.

**A note on curly hair:

I have curly hair so I very much understand the love-hate relationship many curly girls have with our hair. My curls are more “me” but wearing my hair blown out in loose waves gives me more control and confidence that I will have a good hair day (since my curls are fickle and change by the hour). My advice for a professional photoshoot is to wear your hair in a way that will enable you to arrive at your photoshoot feeling the most confident and reduce the odds of hair panic on shoot day.

Alright let’s dive into hair and make-up for professional headshot photos because, unlike a photoshoot for your personal life, business headshot photography has a very clear, very defined purpose: to represent you to the world as a professional. 

Hair and makeup for business headshot photos *specifically*

Your choices around hair and makeup for professional headshot photos should all be in service of creating the kind of professional image that feels right for your career at this moment in time.

In general, for most folks in most professions, the goals for business headshot photography hair and makeup can be boiled down to three things:

Aim for your headshot photography hair and make-up to:

  • Look context-appropriate
  • Look put-together
  • Look authentic

1. Hair and make-up for professional headshot photos should be context appropriate

The way you style your hair and make-up in your business headshot photo should make sense for your work environment and the general tone of your industry. 

Every industry is a little bit different (for example headshot photos for software developers tend to skew more casual, whereas headshot photos for lawyers almost always skew dressy).  That being said, two good general rules are:

  1. Looking like you’re in full stage make-up for a Broadway musical or a shoot for Vogue magazine = off-target for work headshot photos
  2. Looking like you’re about to step into a networking event for leaders in your industry = spot-on for professional headshot photos.

2. Hair and make-up for business headshot photos should contribute to looking “put together”

Whatever industry you work in, looking put-together in your LinkedIn profile photo is always, always a win.

In your professional headshot photo you want to look well-groomed, like you take good care of yourself in general, and like you put thought and time into your appearance on this day in particular. 

This might mean wearing makeup for you, but it doesn't have to; it can also apply to things like:

  • Making sure the lenses of your glasses are impeccable clean in your headshot photo
  • Having hair that (however it is styled) looks clean and has been brushed
  • Having skin that looks healthy and clean, not greasy or flakey

The bar is not terribly high here. Hopefully this is all stuff you’re already doing!

3. Hair and make-up for professional headshot photos should be authentic

One important function of your business headshot is to set accurate expectations, expectations that you will then meet when you encounter folks in real life or on Zoom. You want people to think “yep, that’s her!”. It might seem small but it’s about building trust.  

With hair and makeup for business headshots – Do not stray far from how colleagues and industry leaders would be likely to encounter you in real life.

Looking substantially different in person than you do in your LinkedIn photo is not good; whether you look younger in your headshot photo or more made-up. When it comes to professional headshots, the optimal delta between profile photo and real life is no delta. 

A business headshot that does not line up with how you currently look in real life sends the message that you either do not know you look different, which means you’re either out of touch or inattentive, or you do know, and you don’t care, which raises red flags about whether you’re a person who can be trusted. (all of these kinds of judgments are happening on the split-section gut-reaction level)

It’s best to go with hair and make-up for business headshots that is really close to what you wear everyday for work, or rather, on a work day when you’re giving an important presentation or having a job interview. 

👓A note on glasses

If you wear glasses all the time, definitely wear them in your business headshot photos.

If you wear glasses some of the time, bring them to your headshot photography session so you can wear them in some photos and not in others (options!).

No matter what, clean your glasses right before you have your picture taken! Even the littlest bit of dust on your lenses can show up in your headshot photos.

And DEFINITELY DO NOT WEAR TRANSITION LENSES to any photoshoot… or at all. If there is any natural light involved during the creation of your new business headshots, your transition lenses will almost surely darken slightly, hiding your eyes and looking like awkward non-sunglasses sunglasses. 


And that's it! Whatever you decide to do with your hair and makeup for your professional profile photos, don't stress. And any time you're in doubt or torn, skew toward what is most authentic to you.

If you haven’t already scheduled your professional headshot photography session, check out my 30-minute Quickie Headshot Photos package – people love it! It’s fast and focused and you get your photos back ASAP.

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