App in development · Waitlist open

Understand how your hair and scalp change over time.

Scalp Map is an app in development. It aims to help you capture comparable photos of your scalp — same angles, same light, month after month — so you have a clearer record of what changed, and something concrete to show a clinician. It cannot tell you what condition you have.

Side by side Concept
Baseline
March
Latest
September

The same zone, framed the same way, so the two photos can be compared.

Zone view Concept
Seven zones
Hairline, temples, mid-scalp, vertex, crown and back — recorded separately, because they rarely change together.
Your own notes Concept
Context
Washing, styling, products, stress — kept alongside the photos, so you can describe what was going on.

Illustrative concepts, not screenshots. Scalp Map is still being built, and these panels show the idea rather than real measurements.

Why we're building this

Most people notice something changed about a year before they do anything about it.

Not because they don't care. Because there's nothing solid to go on — a drain full of hair, bad bathroom lighting, a photo from two years ago at a different angle, and a hundred people online confidently contradicting each other.

So you either panic and buy everything, or you do nothing and hope. Both are expensive.

Scalp Map is being built around the one thing that's missing: a record you can actually compare. Same angles, same light, same month-to-month routine — so you can describe what changed instead of guessing, and bring it to someone qualified to say why.

How it works

A short routine, once a month.

The whole point is repeatability. Guided capture is designed to help you retake the same shots the same way, so this month's set is comparable with the last one.

01

Take the photos

Guided capture walks you through hairline, mid-scalp, crown and back. On-screen guides are intended to help you hold a similar angle, distance and framing each time.

02

See it zone by zone

Your photos are grouped by scalp zone and kept with their date, so each area builds its own record instead of collapsing into one overall verdict.

03

Set your baseline

Your first set isn't a verdict. It's the reference every later set gets compared against. That's where the usefulness starts.

04

Look for changes

Repeat monthly and compare each zone with your earlier photos and your own notes. A pattern can tell you what to ask about — it can't tell you what caused it.

Your map

Seven zones, not one vague feeling.

Hair doesn't change evenly, so a single overall score hides the story. Tap a zone to see what the app is designed to keep a record of there — and what's worth raising with a clinician.

FRONT BACK

Zone 01 of 07

Frontal hairline

The first place most people look, and one of the hardest to judge by eye — a few millimetres is easy to miss in the mirror and easy to see in two photos taken the same way.

What the record holds

Photos of your hairline from the same angle, each with its date, so you can compare them instead of relying on memory.

Worth asking a clinician about

A hairline that keeps moving back, or that looks clearly different on one side, is a reasonable reason to get an assessment.

Tap or arrow-key through the zones. These are plain-language notes about each area — not measurements, and not a diagnosis. When to see someone.

What it does

Built for the gap between worrying and knowing.

A record kept zone by zone, not one overall impression

Seven regions photographed and stored separately, because the crown and the hairline rarely tell the same story. A single overall verdict hides exactly the thing you wanted to look at.

Consistent capture

Guided capture is designed to help you retake each shot the way you took it last time — same angle, same distance, same framing. That's the difference between a series and a pile of photos.

Shed log

Some daily shedding is normal; a commonly cited estimate is roughly 50–100 hairs a day. A count at home is rough — washing and styling move it around — so it can't tell you whether you have a condition. It can help you describe what you're seeing. Source

Routine notes

Keep a note of what you were doing — products, styling, a stressful few months — next to the photos from the same period. It's context for a conversation with a clinician, not evidence that any one thing worked.

Private by design

Your scans are yours. The app is being built so they stay tied to your account, are never sold or used for advertising, and can be deleted by you. We'll publish the specifics — storage, encryption, retention — once they're built and confirmed, rather than promising them now.

Explained in plain words

No Norwood-scale shaming, no scare language, no supplement pitch at the end. Where we say something general about hair, we link to where it comes from. Sources

Hair science

What's actually known, and where it comes from.

General, source-backed information about hair and scalp health. None of it is specific to you, and none of it is a claim about what Scalp Map can measure — those are separate things, and we keep them separate on purpose.

Established

Shedding vs. hair loss

Some daily shedding is normal. A commonly cited estimate is roughly 50–100 hairs a day, but the number on its own cannot tell you whether you have a hair loss condition — and a count from a drain or a brush is a rough figure, not a test.

Heavy shedding can also begin a few months after a physical or emotional stressor — a fever or illness, surgery, childbirth, rapid weight loss, a period of major stress — and often settles once the trigger has passed. A clinician can help tell temporary shedding apart from other causes.

Sources: 1, 2 · reviewed October 2026

Established

Patterns, and other causes

Hair loss patterns vary. Pattern hair loss can show as a receding hairline or thinning on top, and in many women as a widening part or more diffuse thinning. It can begin in the teens, though it is usually later. Any of these is a reasonable reason to ask for an assessment.

Not everything follows that pattern. Sudden round patches can occur with alopecia areata, and areas that are painful, red, scaly or oozing can signal a condition that needs medical attention rather than a change of routine.

Sources: 3, 4, 5, 6 · reviewed October 2026

Context dependent

Reducing preventable damage

Repeatedly tight hairstyles can cause traction alopecia, which may become permanent; heat and rough handling can damage the hair shaft. Looser styles and gentler styling can reduce that kind of preventable stress and breakage — but they are not a cure for every cause, and persistent thinning still deserves an assessment.

On nutrition: deficiencies can contribute, and a clinician may suggest testing and correcting a specific one. Routine biotin has little evidence of benefit in people who are not deficient, and high-dose supplements can cause harm — including interfering with some lab tests.

Sources: 7, 8, 9, 10 · reviewed October 2026

When to seek care

Some things shouldn't wait for next month's photo.

Keeping a record is useful. It is not a substitute for an assessment, and it should never be the reason you delay one.

See a doctor, dermatologist or trichologist if you notice

  • Sudden or rapid hair loss, or hair coming out in patches
  • A scalp that is painful, markedly itchy, red, scaly, or has sores or oozing
  • Thinning alongside other symptoms — fatigue, weight change, a new medication
  • Hair loss that is distressing you, whatever a photograph seems to show

You do not need a tracked record to justify an appointment. Sources

If you're under 18

Talk to a qualified clinician — and, where appropriate, a parent or guardian — before using any hair loss medicine or procedure. Adult over-the-counter labelling is not approval for younger users: one approved label for a topical minoxidil product states it is not for use by anyone under 18.

We won't give you a self-treatment protocol. That is deliberate. Source

What we will not claim

Scalp Map is not offered as a way to diagnose, treat, prevent or predict any condition. No oil, shampoo, vitamin or photo-tracking app has been shown to prevent or reverse all hair loss, and we are not going to be the first to say otherwise.

Questions

The ones we get asked.

What does Scalp Map actually do?

It is being built to do one thing well: help you take comparable photographs of your own scalp, zone by zone, and keep them together with their dates and your own notes. The aim is that you can look back over several months and see whether something changed — and show that record to a clinician.

It is an app in development. Nothing on this page is available to use yet.

What can't it tell me?

It cannot tell you why something is changing, and it is not a diagnosis. Hair changes have many causes — pattern hair loss, shedding after an illness or major stress, thyroid or iron problems, a medication, a scalp condition — and telling them apart needs a qualified clinician, not a photograph. Sources

It also cannot tell you that a product worked. If a trend lines up with something you started, that is a coincidence worth asking about, not proof of cause.

We don't make diagnostic or treatment claims for it, and we won't add features that do without the regulatory review each market requires.

How accurate will it be?

We don't know yet, and we're not going to pretend we do. Until we have measured it, this site will not quote densities in hairs per cm², terminal-to-vellus ratios, or any other clinical-sounding number — because we have not yet earned the right to.

One frequently cited smartphone hair study used a dermatoscope attachment, not an ordinary phone camera, so it is not evidence about this app. Source

What we intend to publish before launch: the method, what it was compared against, how it performs across different devices, lighting, hair colours, textures and scalp tones, and how much change exceeds its own measurement noise. Failures and uncertainty included, not just the flattering examples.

What's built today, and what isn't?

Today: this page and a waitlist. That's it.

The capture flow, the zone record, the shed and routine logs and everything else described here is intended, not finished. Features, timing and pricing may change, and some of it may not ship. Where this site shows an interface, it is labelled as a concept, because that's what it is.

What does the waitlist collect?

Your email address, your country, and your state or region — plus the date you joined and a record of what you agreed to. The country and region help us work out where to launch first and which local information applies to you.

Nothing else: no precise location, no postal address, no date of birth, no photographs, no health details. You confirm you're at least 13; we don't ask your exact age.

The full detail is in the privacy notice.

How do I leave the list?

Every email we send carries an unsubscribe link, and that same link also lets you delete your entry outright — email, country and region — without asking anyone or explaining why.

It is built and live, so leaving doesn't depend on us answering an email. Being straight with you about the rest: the contact mailbox and sending setup are still not live, which is why no address is published here.

Will I need special equipment, and will it cost money?

The intention is that a reasonably recent phone and a mirror are enough, with no attachment to buy from us or anyone else.

Pricing isn't settled. What is settled: we won't take commission on supplement sales, and we won't build the kind of scare-marketing funnel this category is full of.

Sources

Where the hair science on this page comes from.

Every general statement about hair and scalp health on this site traces to one of these. If you find something on this page that doesn't, that's a mistake and we want to know.

  1. Hair shedding, and shedding after a stressor — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/insider/shedding
  2. Hair loss overview: why hair falls out — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/causes/fall-out
  3. Causes of hair loss — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/causes/18-causes
  4. Female pattern hair loss — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/types/female-pattern
  5. Alopecia areata — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/types/alopecia
  6. Signs and symptoms worth attention — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/insider/begin
  7. Hairstyles that pull can cause traction alopecia — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/causes/hairstyles
  8. Styling and hair care — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/hair-care/styling
  9. Diagnosis and treatment of hair loss — American Academy of Dermatology. aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/treatment/diagnosis-treat
  10. Biotin — health professional fact sheet — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Biotin-HealthProfessional
  11. Topical minoxidil (Rogaine) approved label, 2026 — states not for use under 18 — U.S. Food and Drug Administration. accessdata.fda.gov — Drugs@FDA label
  12. Smartphone hair assessment study — used a dermatoscope attachment, not a bare phone camera, and is not evidence about this app — PubMed. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34251055
  13. Software function and intended use — digital health policy navigator — U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov — digital health policy navigator
Established Reputable clinical guidance or strong research supports the general fact.
Context dependent Often true, but cause, age, hair type or individual circumstances change the answer.

Hair science content last reviewed October 2026; reviewed at least annually. These sources support general statements about hair and scalp health. None of them is evidence that Scalp Map's photographs, measurements or suggestions are accurate or effective — that is ours to demonstrate separately, and we haven't yet.

Stop guessing in the bathroom mirror.

Join the waitlist and you'll get one email, on the day Scalp Map opens. No drip sequence, no "last chance" nonsense.

Back to Scalp Map

Privacy notice

Draft of 5 October 2026 — not yet in force

Today this site collects waitlist signups and nothing else. The app, when it exists, will handle photographs of your scalp — that is personal, and in several places it may count as health-related data, which carries extra obligations. This notice says what we collect now, and what we intend for later.

This is a draft and must not be published as final. Settled: the operator is an individual, not a company — so no company name, registration number or professional affiliation goes in this document, ever. Still outstanding: the operator's full legal name, country of operation, a working contact mailbox, a postal address, the sub-processors and storage region, the retention schedule, and the list of countries the waitlist will accept. The finished text then needs a lawyer's review for each of those countries. Until all of that is done the waitlist must not accept signups — and as shipped, it doesn't.

Who we are

Scalp Map is run by an individual, not a company. There is no registered entity behind it, and we are not going to imply there is one. The operator is [full legal name], based in [country of operation].

Contact details are not published yet, deliberately. A correspondence address and a contact mailbox will appear here before this notice takes effect and before the waitlist accepts a single signup. Contact email — withheld until a mailbox is live and tested. Postal address — withheld until there is one we can publish.

We own the domain scalpmap.app, but owning a domain is not the same as having a working inbox, and an address that bounces is worse than no address at all. In the meantime the signup form on this site does not accept submissions, so there is nothing here collecting your data while you have no way to reach us about it.

What we collect

What we do not collect

How we use it, and on what basis

Your waitlist details are used for exactly one thing: to email you once, when Scalp Map opens, and to work out where to launch. Where consent is the applicable legal basis, that consent is what you gave at signup, and you can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing or asking us to delete your entry. [Confirm the legal basis that applies in each market the waitlist accepts, and name it here.]

If we later want to send you anything else — product updates, a newsletter, anything that is not the single launch email — we will ask you separately. We will not treat your waitlist signup as permission for it.

In the app, photographs and anything derived from them would be used to produce your own record and nothing else.

We may use aggregated, de-identified statistics to improve the measurement model. Aggregated means your individual images and records cannot be recovered or re-identified from it. If we ever want to use identifiable scans for research or model training, we will ask you first, separately, and a refusal will not reduce the app's functionality.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers, insurers, employers or data brokers.

The waitlist is stored with Supabase, which hosts the database and the functions that receive the form. Email is sent by Resend, which processes it in Tokyo — so a second international transfer, separate from where the list itself is stored. The site is served by GitHub Pages (GitHub, Inc.), and the domain is managed by Cloudflare, which handles DNS and, where a record is proxied, also routes requests to the site. Each of them therefore sees your address or your IP in the course of doing its job, as any such provider does. Each must be under a contract to process data only on our instructions before this notice goes live. We will disclose data to authorities only where a valid legal order compels us, and we will tell you unless we are legally barred from doing so.

Where it's stored, and for how long

Waitlist entries are stored in Singapore (Supabase region ap-southeast-1). If you are outside Singapore, your details are transferred there when you join the list. If we later accept signups from the UK or EU, that transfer needs a lawful basis documented here before we do. Waitlist entries are kept until the app launches and you have either signed up or left the list, and are deleted whenever you ask, whichever comes first.

We are not going to quote a deletion-from-backups timeline we have not tested. A specific retention schedule — including how long backups hold a deleted entry — must be measured against the real setup and published here before this notice takes effect. [Retention schedule, per data type, once verified.]

Security

The intent is that data is encrypted in transit and at rest, that staff access is limited to the fewest people needed and logged, and that the stored list is rate-limited and access-controlled. These are design intentions for a product that is still being built, not claims about a system we have audited — and we would rather say that than imply a guarantee.

What we can say today: this page loads no third-party scripts and sets no cookies of its own. The waitlist itself is stored where the browser cannot reach it — the database rejects every read and write that does not come from our own server-side function, so the list cannot be downloaded by anyone visiting the site. Submissions are validated and rate-limited on the server, not just in your browser. No system is perfectly secure and we will not claim ours is; if a breach affects your data we will notify you and the relevant regulator within the time limits the law sets.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access your data, correct it, export it, delete it, restrict or object to processing, and withdraw consent.

You do not have to ask us to leave. Every email we send, including the confirmation, carries a link that lets you unsubscribe or delete your entry outright — email, country and region, gone, with no explanation required and nobody to persuade. That link works whether or not our contact mailbox is live. And if you simply never click the confirmation link, nothing further is ever sent to you. For anything else, write to us once that address is published and we will respond within 30 days. [Confirm which rights apply in each market the waitlist accepts.] If you're in the UK or EU you may also complain to your supervisory authority; if you're in California you have rights under the CCPA, including the right not to be discriminated against for using them.

Age, and why 13 is a floor and not a green light

Scalp Map is intended for people aged 13 and over. We do not invite anyone under 13 to join the waitlist or to upload data, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe someone under 13 has signed up, contact us and we will remove the entry.

Being 13 is the minimum, not a universal permission. The age at which a young person can agree to their own data being processed varies:

The waitlist is open worldwide to anyone aged 13 or over. We do not operate a separate verified parental-consent step, and some countries require one below a certain age. So if you are under the age your country sets for agreeing to this on your own, please involve a parent or guardian before joining.

Either of you can ask us to delete the entry at any time and we will, promptly and without asking why. If you are a parent or guardian and your child has joined, the same applies — tell us and it goes.

The hair science section of this site is readable without signing up, without a photograph, and without telling us anything about yourself. That is deliberate.

Where we accept signups

Anywhere. Joining the waitlist is not the same as the app launching in your country — which markets the app itself opens in is a separate decision, not yet made, and being on the list is not a promise that it will reach you.

Cookies and third-party requests

This site sets no cookies of its own and runs no advertising or analytics trackers. It does load two typefaces from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com), which means your browser makes a request to Google to fetch them, and Google receives your IP address as part of that request. Self-hosting the fonts would remove that request, and is on the list.

If we add analytics later we will update this notice before switching anything on, not after.

Email we send

When we start sending commercial email we will include a valid postal address and accurate sender details, honour opt-outs promptly, and keep the promise made at signup — one launch email unless you separately ask for more. FTC CAN-SPAM guidance

Health data, later

Scalp images, any measurements taken from them and routine records can be sensitive health-related information. The EU sets additional conditions for special-category health data, and some US health apps carry breach-notification duties. The actual data architecture has to be reviewed against both before the app collects anything. EU special categories · FTC Health Breach Notification Rule

Changes

If we change this notice in a way that materially affects you, we'll email you before it takes effect rather than quietly updating the date at the top.

For the shape of what belongs in a notice like this one — including that it applies to sole traders, and that it needs full contact details and clear retention information — we followed the UK regulator's small-organisation guidance. ICO: how to write a privacy notice

Back to Scalp Map

Terms & conditions

Draft of 5 October 2026 — not yet in force

These terms cover your use of this website and the Scalp Map waitlist. When the app launches, separate app terms will apply and you'll be asked to accept them then.

This is a draft and must not be published as final. Settled: the operator is an individual, not a company — never claim incorporation in this document. Still outstanding: the operator's full legal name, country of operation, contact mailbox, postal address, governing law and the countries the waitlist will accept. Then have a lawyer review the finished text, particularly the liability clause and the medical wording.

1. Who you're agreeing with

This site is run by an individual, not a company: [full legal name], based in [country of operation] ("we", "us"). By using this site or joining the waitlist, you accept these terms.

2. Not medical advice

This is the clause that matters most, so it's near the top. Scalp Map is a personal record-keeping tool, and it is not offered to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent or predict any condition. Nothing on this site or in the app is medical advice.

We are not making a claim here about how the product is classified under any country's medical-device rules. That depends on its intended use and its actual features in each market, and it is a question for qualified review before launch — not something a disclaimer settles. FDA digital health policy navigator [Obtain market-specific regulatory review before stating any regulatory status.]

Anything the app derives from a photograph is an estimate and carries error. Do not use it to start, stop or change any medication or treatment. If you are worried about your hair or scalp, see a doctor, dermatologist or trichologist. If you have a medical emergency, contact emergency services.

3. The waitlist

Joining the waitlist means we may email you once, about the launch of Scalp Map. It is not a purchase, a reservation, or a promise of a place, a price, or a feature. You can unsubscribe from any email we send, or ask us to delete your entry, by writing to the contact address published in the privacy notice. That address is withheld until a mailbox is live and tested — which is also why the waitlist is currently closed.

You must give an email address you control, and you must be at least 13 years old. If you are under 18, check with a parent or guardian first. Some countries set a higher age for agreeing to this on your own, and we do not operate a verified parental-consent step; if that applies to you, involve a parent or guardian before joining. Either of you can have the entry deleted at any time. See the privacy notice for detail.

4. Forward-looking statements

Scalp Map is an app in development and is not available to use. Descriptions of it on this site describe what we intend to build. Features, timing, pricing and availability may change, and some things described here may not ship. Interface visuals on this site are labelled concepts, not screenshots. Nothing on this page is a contractual commitment to deliver a specific feature by a specific date.

5. Hair science content

The general information about hair and scalp health on this site is educational, sourced to published clinical guidance, and dated. It is not personalised advice, it is not a substitute for an assessment, and it is not evidence about what Scalp Map itself can do. See Sources for the references and their review date.

6. Acceptable use

Don't attempt to break into, overload, scrape at volume, or interfere with this site, and don't submit other people's email addresses without their permission. We may suspend access that does any of these things.

7. Our content

The Scalp Map name, logo, copy and design on this site belong to us. You may link to the site freely; please don't copy the content wholesale or present it as your own.

8. Liability

This site is provided "as is". To the fullest extent the law allows, we exclude liability for indirect or consequential loss arising from use of this site. Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. If you are a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.

9. Privacy

How we handle your data is set out in the privacy notice, which forms part of these terms.

10. Changes

We may update these terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed; continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

11. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of [governing law], and the courts of [jurisdiction] have exclusive jurisdiction, except where consumer-protection law in your country of residence gives you the right to bring a claim locally. Both follow from the operator's country of operation and the markets the waitlist accepts, so neither can be filled in before those are settled.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms: the contact address published in the privacy notice. Email and postal address are withheld until both are real, live and tested — which must happen before this page is published as final or the waitlist accepts a single signup.