Can I Wear a Bun, Braids or High-Volume Hair in My Passport Photo?

There is no list of approved or banned hairstyles for a UK passport photo, and that is genuinely the whole answer to most of the questions this page covers. A bun, a ponytail, braids, locs, an afro, hair worn down, dyed hair, a shaved head — none of these are restricted as a category. What HMPO actually requires is that your face is fully visible and that the photo represents how you genuinely look.

That said, a fair amount of advice circulating online gets specific details wrong. Some pages go further and suggest people with naturally voluminous hair — including afros — should flatten or reduce their hair to "fit" the photo. This is not an accurate reading of the actual rule, and it is worth correcting properly.

The one actual rule, and what it is not

HMPO's requirements touch on hair in exactly one meaningful way: your face needs to be fully visible, which means your eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and the outline of your face from both sides cannot be obscured by hair. That is the entire substantive rule. There is no requirement for a particular style, no preference for hair up versus hair down, no restriction on colour, length, texture, or volume as such.

Where competing guidance often goes wrong is treating "no specific rule" as licence to invent restrictive advice anyway — things like avoiding "edgy" styles or treating natural hair volume as inherently risky. None of this comes from HMPO. The actual standard is narrower and more straightforward than a lot of guides make it sound: can your face be seen clearly, yes or no.

Bun, ponytail or plait

All fully acceptable, at any height. A high bun, a low bun, a top knot, a ponytail at any position, a single plait or multiple plaits — none of these are restricted. The only practical thing to check is the same framing point that applies to any hairstyle with some height: the entire style needs to fit inside the photo frame, which is a question of how you position the camera, not whether the style itself is allowed.

A bun or ponytail can actually make framing slightly easier in one specific sense: by pulling hair away from the face, it removes any risk of loose strands falling across the forehead or cheeks during the shot.

Braids and locs

Braided hairstyles of any kind — box braids, cornrows, twists, single plaits — and locs of any length or style are all acceptable. As with every other hairstyle covered here, the only requirement is that they do not cover the eyes, eyebrows, or any part of the face.

Where braids or locs are styled with front sections framing the face, it is worth checking that nothing crosses over the eyebrows or eyes specifically in the final photo. This is a framing check, not a restriction on the style itself.

If locs or braids are gathered with decorative beads, cuffs, or clips, the accessories section below applies.

High-volume and natural hair — the technical answer, done properly

Several guides suggest that an afro or other naturally high-volume hairstyle should be flattened, reduced, or otherwise altered to "fit" passport photo proportions. This is not what the actual rule requires.

How head height is actually measured. HMPO's own definition is specific: head height is measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, including hair. That word — including — is doing real work here. A head with a tall, voluminous hairstyle has a correspondingly taller measured head height than the same head with flat hair, and that is simply how the measurement works.

The wider biometric passport photo standard that UK requirements broadly sit within states this principle even more directly: in the case of voluminous hairstyles, the entire head including hair must be visible without reducing the size of the face. In plain terms: the goal is to frame the photo so that a tall or voluminous hairstyle fits within it, while the face itself stays a normal, properly proportioned size.

What this actually means in practice. If your natural hairstyle adds meaningful height or volume above your head, the correct response is to adjust how the photo is framed — not to flatten, tie down, or otherwise alter your hair specifically for the photo. Step back slightly further from the camera so that the full head, hair included, fits comfortably within the frame with the face still appearing at a normal, correctly proportioned size.

You should never need to flatten, compress, or otherwise alter your natural hair texture or volume to take a passport photo. If a hairstyle does not fit the frame at your current camera distance, the fix is to move the camera further away, not to change the hair.

Hair accessories — what actually counts as an object

Wigs and hairpieces

A wig is acceptable in a passport photo provided it represents your genuine, everyday appearance. This commonly applies to anyone wearing a wig for a medical reason such as hair loss from treatment, or anyone who wears a wig as a normal part of how they present day to day.

A wig worn specifically for the photo session, rather than as how you actually look day to day, is not appropriate — since the photo needs to be an accurate likeness of your current, ordinary appearance.