AI translation
I kept remembering things in front of the mirror at the beauty salon, but by the time I got home, I had forgotten them. I made this to stop that cycle of repetition.
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I couldn't compare the crown of my head from half a year ago with how it looks now. There were four reasons for this.
I forget to take photos. I always remember at the shampoo station at the hair salon, but by the time I get home, I've forgotten again.
My camera roll gets messy. Even when I manage to take a photo, the crown of my head ends up sandwiched between travel photos and food photos. When I show the screen to someone, their finger stops.
Even when I compare them, I can't tell. When I dig up a photo from three months ago, the angle, brightness, and how dry the hair is are all different. It ends with "it seems like it's changed," and I can't move forward from there.
And I can't ask anyone else. The crown of my head is an angle I can't see myself. I just couldn't bring myself to ask my hairdresser, "Could you take a photo of this?"
I look in the mirror every day. Because I look at it every day, I don't notice changes.
It's always someone else's photo or the mirror at the hair salon that makes me notice. The problem is that I can't answer "when did this start?" for myself. What troubled me more than the current state of my crown was that there wasn't a single photo from the past to compare it with.
So I made it a recording app, not a judgment app. The AI doesn't judge hair loss or count the number of hairs. What I wanted was simply photos taken from the same angle lined up in chronological order.
Being able to take photos from the same angle. In addition to guide lines, you can overlay the previous photo semi-transparently. If you align the guide to yourself on the first shot, from the second shot onward you just overlay and align. No matter how many photos you have, you can't compare them if the composition doesn't match, so I spent the most time on this.
Not adding to the camera roll. Photos are saved in an app-exclusive area and are not added to the device's Photos app. I'm not requesting photo library permissions in the first place. Since I don't send anything to a server, there's no account registration. The crown photos never leave that device.
Reminding me to take photos. It sends notifications at 30-day, 60-day, 90-day intervals, or at whatever interval you prefer. You can also choose the time. The only way to beat the three-day rule is to have someone remind you three days later.
Being able to compare at the same magnification. Two photos are displayed side by side, and zooming and panning are synchronized between left and right. I wanted to eliminate the possibility of ending with "it seems kind of different" by zooming in on just one.
So that half a year from now I won't say "when did this start?", I take one photo today. That's all this app does.
半年前の自分の頭頂部と、いまの頭頂部を見比べられない。理由は4つありました。
撮るのを忘れる。思い出すのは決まって美容室のシャンプー台で、家に着くころには消えています。
カメラロールが荒れる。たまに撮れても、旅行の写真とごはんの写真のあいだに頭頂部が挟まる。人に画面を見せるとき、指が止まります。
比べても、わからない。3ヶ月前の1枚を掘り起こしても、角度も明るさも髪の乾き具合も違う。「変わった気がする」で終わって、そこから先に進めません。
そして、人には頼めない。頭頂部は自分では見えない角度です。美容師さんに「ここ、撮ってもらえますか」とは、どうしても言えませんでした。
鏡は毎日見ています。毎日見ているから、気づけない。
気づかせてくれるのはいつも他人が撮った写真か、美容室の合わせ鏡です。そこで困るのは、「いつからこうなったのか」に自分で答えられないこと。参るのは今の頭頂部そのものより、比較できる過去が1枚も残っていないほうでした。
なので、判定するアプリではなく、記録するアプリにしました。AIが薄毛を判定したり、毛の本数を数えたりはしません。欲しかったのは、同じ構図の写真が日付順に並んでいる状態、それだけです。
同じ構図で撮れること。ガイド線に加えて、前回撮った写真を半透明で重ねられます。初回にガイドを自分に合わせておけば、2回目からは重ねて合わせるだけ。構図の揃っていない写真は何枚あっても比べられないので、ここに一番時間を使いました。
カメラロールに入れないこと。写真はアプリ専用の領域に保存され、端末の写真アプリには追加されません。写真ライブラリの権限そのものを要求していません。サーバーにも送らないので、アカウント登録もありません。頭頂部の写真は、その端末から一歩も出ません。
思い出させてくれること。30日・60日・90日、または好きな間隔で通知します。時刻も選べます。三日坊主に勝つ方法は、三日後に思い出させてもらうことだけでした。
同じ倍率で見比べられること。2枚を並べて表示して、拡大と移動は左右で同期します。片方だけ拡大して「なんとなく違う気がする」で終わる余地を、消したかった。
半年後の自分が「いつからだっけ」と言わずに済むように、今日の1枚を撮っておく。作ったのは、それだけのアプリです。
