Losing quality when I resize?

[TysTamado]

So i'm creating an animation character for my youtube, i've only created the heads and the clothes so far, right now i'm finding facial expressions and I wanted to resize one of my head POV's just to see how it would look with the clothing. For some reason whenever I resize back to normal size I lose quality? I put two images below, maybe I'm just tripping idk but it looks different to me😭 is there any reason for this? and is there anything I can do to fix it or a different solution?

[TysTamado]

Btw the first image is before the resize and the second one is after

[Mylenium]

Of course you'll lose quality when resizing back and forth. You are forcing the program to "invent" pixels (interpolation/ extrapolation) and things get worse with every step as every consecutive step is based on already falsified information.. this is perfectly normal in any graphics program. The only way to avoid it is to use vector based artwork like a smart object originating as an Illustrator file.

Mylenium

[Sulaco]

You can convert your hair layer to a "Smart Object". Right click on the righ hand side of the layer in the Layers panel and chose "Convert to Smart Object". This way the layer will retain all of its pixels when your are resizing it. But of course, just as Mylenium points out, if you make it bigger than it's original size PS has to interpolate or invent the added pixels. Thus introducing blur. But Smart Objects should prove helpfull for you ...

[D Fosse]

"resize = lose quality" is the law of gravitation in pixel-based raster image editing. It's a fundamental axiom. There's no way to escape it.

Smart Objects is a clever way to postpone the final resizing so that it only happens once, at the very end, thus limiting the damage.

The way that works is to keep an embedded copy of the original inside the file, while projecting "an image of the image" in Photoshop. This projection can be transformed and distorted as much as you like, while the original just sits there unchanged. Each subsequent transformation refers back to the same original.

But sooner or later you have to push the button, if you want to output the file. Then the original is resized/transformed, with the degradation that always happens when resampling pixel data. But it only happens once. It doesn't accumulate.

[jane-e]

@TysTamado 

In addition to what DFosse says, change your zoom level from 139.13% to 100% and look again.

Jane