Beyond The Filter: Redefining Beauty Standards In A PostFilter World

By Keira Maloney

As a photographer, I’ve been working with Photoshop long before beauty filters became a thing. Back then, my editing enhanced an image without altering its truth. Over time, though, I’ve watched filters change not only how we edit but also how we see ourselves.

Filters promised to enhance beauty, but they’ve created unattainable standards. People have grown used to seeing smoothed skin, reshaped features, and perfected symmetry on social media. Now, I hear from photographers that some people arrive at photoshoots with expectations shaped by these filters, asking for edits that go beyond enhancement into transformation.

This moment, where major platforms are removing filters, isn’t just a turning point for me as a photographer. It’s an opportunity for the hair and beauty industry to lead a powerful shift. You are already transforming your clients in ways filters never could. The changes you create for people are real and tangible. They’re why your clients trust you to make them look and feel their best.

The Confidence Paradox and Ethical Editing

Filters promised to give us confidence, yet they took it away. By reshaping features and smoothing imperfections, filters taught us to see our unfiltered selves as less than. They’ve made people question whether they’re good enough without them.

I see this play out in my work often. Clients, conditioned by years of scrolling through filtered perfection, can often bring those expectations to the shoot. They ask for heavy editing, not because they aren’t beautiful, but because they believe beauty must look a certain way.

This has forced me to ask myself some uncomfortable questions:

- Am I creating images that celebrate someone’s individuality or erasing it?

- When I retouch, am I helping someone feel confident, or am I reinforcing unrealistic expectations?

- By over-editing, am I just replacing one filter with another?

These questions aren’t easy, but they’ve shaped how I work. My job isn’t to make someone look beautiful; it’s to show them that they already are.

For hair and beauty professionals, your role is even more profound. The work you do every day gives clients a level of confidence no filter could. When clients leave your chair or treatment room, they feel like the best version of themselves. They’re not just looking better, they’re standing taller, smiling brighter, and walking with renewed confidence.

Why Real Transformations Matter

Your clients don’t come to you for illusions. They come to you because they trust you to get real, tangible results that go far beyond what filters can achieve.

Think about what happens when a client spends time with you. Whether it’s a fresh mani, a or a glowing skin treatment, you aren’t just changing their appearance, you’re changing how they feel about themselves. That transformation can’t be replicated by digital tools. It’s felt in the way they carry themselves and connect with their own beauty.

With that said, your clients are also watching how you show up online. If you lean on filters in your own content, it sends a mixed message. By showing up authentically, you create a ripple effect. When clients see you celebrating real beauty, they feel empowered to do the same. You have the ability to help redefine beauty, not just in your salon or clinic, but in the way people see themselves every day.

Redefining Beauty Standards

This is more than a shift in technology. It’s a call to redefine what beauty looks and feels like, once again. Filters have shaped how we present ourselves online for years, but their removal opens the door to something far more meaningful: authenticity.

You have a powerful opportunity in this shift. Your clients already see you as the person who helps them look and feel beautiful. They trust you to build their confidence, remind them of their worth, and show them the best version of themselves. Now, you have the chance to extend that trust beyond the work you do in person and into the way you represent yourself and your craft online.

Imagine a world where the standard isn’t perfection but authenticity. Where clients celebrate their real, unfiltered beauty rather than striving for unattainable ideals. That world might start with you.

Ask yourself: How are you showing up? Are you still relying on the safety of filters, or are you ready to embrace the power of authenticity? Show your clients, and the world, that the most powerful glow-up of all starts with embracing who we are, no filters required.

Ps. You really are beautiful, just the way you are.

@the_salonphotographer