So that’s how they make hair look so glossy in TV ads
THEY are some of the most envyinducing advertisements on TV, making hair look bouncy, shiny and perfectly groomed.
But the secrets of haircare commercials have been laid bare – revealing tricks including extensions, fluorescent light tubes and even invisible hair-flickers.
Last night a BBC Horizon documentary sought to answer the question many frustrated consumers have long been asking – why doesn’t my hair look as perfect as that of the models on TV adverts?
There was no simple tip for how people can achieve the same flawless tresses as Cheryl in the L’Oreal adverts. It is, as the programme demonstrated, rather more complicated than that.
Using physicist Helen Czerski as a model, a fake advert was set up to demonstrate how physics, trickery and hair extensions combine to maximise the shine of the hair on camera.
A hair stylist explained how straightening the hair makes it like a ‘flat mirror’, by increasing the surface area for the light to reflect off.
Extensions were then added to increase the surface area of Miss Czerski’s hair even more, giving it the ‘swish factor’, with the stylist saying it was ‘all part of the illusion’. Yet the most illuminating revelation came on the set itself, where a green screen allowed the production team to employ similar CGI (computer generated image) techniques to those used in movies. A member of production team was shown wearing a green Lycra body-suit and flicking Miss Czerski’s hair using a green stick.
Miss Czerski said: ‘In order to make sure that my hair is falling in exactly the right place we’ve persuaded one of the team to don a green suit. Because he is the same colour as the set he can be removed in post-production when the new background is keyed in.’
A photography expert then explained the science of how trace frames – a white board that makes lights less harsh – are crucial for creating the shine effect. He said: ‘Above we’ve got these fluorescent tubes which are firing through a trace frame.
‘The trace frame is diffusing it, but it’s also making it into a bigger source so this will bring up the area of shine on the top of your head.’
He also explained the benefits of using a ring light – a halo-like fixture through which the camera is pointed to record the footage.
He said: ‘It hides all the wrinkles or imperfections in the skin. It gets into the eye sockets so you don’t have bags under the eyes. And because the lens is firing through the middle, you will get the reflection of the ring light in your eyes.’
The Horizon documentary on BBC2, called Hair Care Secrets, also looked at research into the ‘grey gene’, molecules that have been designed to combat thin hair, and the impact of straighteners.