LO
CapabilityCognitive automation2017-12-19
Live virtual hair colouring on a tablet camera image ran at over 30 frames a second, in a research system from a company that builds beauty try-on tools
Hairdresser / barberoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2017-12-19
Evidence stage
CapabilityA demo, benchmark or paper shows the task can be done. Updates what the technology can do — not what employers will do.
Tasks this bears on
Colouring and chemical treatments
Mixing and applying colour, bleach, perms and straighteners, and judging how the hair and scalp react.
Still human-led≈ Platform inference
Consultation
Finding out what the client wants, what suits their face and hair, and what is realistic.
Being augmented≈ Platform inference
Where this applies
A research paper on live hair colour augmentation for virtual try-on in the beauty industry. A modified neural network segments hair in real time, trained on noisy crowd-sourced data, and produces fine hair mattes while running at over 30 frames a second on a tablet. The authors are affiliated with ModiFace, a company building augmented-reality try-on tools for beauty brands, which has a stake in the result. It previews colour; it does not apply it.
What this means
Clients can see a colour on their own hair on screen before anyone mixes it.
What it does not yet show
A 2017 research paper by a company with a stake; it does not show salon use.
What you can check
Open arXiv 1712.07168 and find "live hair color augmentation".
Does it change the assessment?
No — and this stage does not move it either. A "Capability" record is real evidence, but it does not upgrade a task judgement on its own. The 2 linked judgements above stand where they were.
Source
Levinshtein, Chang, Phung, Kezele, Guo, Aarabi (ModiFace Inc.; University of Toronto) — Real-time deep hair matting on mobile devices, arXiv 1712.07168 (19 Dec 2017) · verified 2026-09-30 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-09-30 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.