What is a face shape?
A face shape is a styling category: a short name for the overall outline of your face, used to choose haircuts, fringes, glasses and beards. The usual six are oval, round, square, oblong, heart and diamond. They are conventions that stylists share, not medical terms, and most faces sit somewhere between two of them.
This calculator works from four measurements you take yourself. It runs in your browser, nothing is saved or sent, and the result is a styling estimate and not a medical measurement.
Why measure instead of looking in the mirror?
Because judging by eye is surprisingly unreliable. A study of 313 school children in Colombia compared face type judged by clinical observation with the same classification worked out from measurements taken with an anthropometer. The two agreed only poorly (a kappa of 0.189, where 1 is perfect agreement).
Four numbers from a tape are repeatable. You can measure again next month, or ask someone else to, and compare.
How to measure your face
You need a soft tape or a ruler, a mirror and a minute. Keep your face relaxed and hold the tape flat against the skin.
- Forehead width: across your forehead from temple to temple, at its widest.
- Cheekbone width: across your face at the widest part of your cheekbones, usually just below the outer corners of your eyes.
- Jaw width: across the corners of your jaw, just below your ears.
- Face length: from your hairline in the middle of your forehead straight down to the tip of your chin. If your hairline has moved, use where it would naturally sit.
Then look at your jaw in the mirror and decide whether its outline looks angular, with clear corners, or soft, with a rounded curve. That one judgment is the only part the numbers cannot give, and it is what separates round from square.
How the calculator decides
Every width is turned into a ratio of your cheekbone width, and your length too, so the size of your face does not matter. Each of the six shapes has a rule, and the calculator picks the shape that fits its rule best.
| Shape | What it looks like | How the calculator decides, as ratios of cheekbone width |
|---|---|---|
| Oval | A little longer than wide, tapering gently | Length from 1.3 to under 1.55, jaw 0.88 or less, forehead over 0.8, jaw over 0.72, and the forehead less than 0.18 wider than the jaw |
| Round | About as long as wide, soft jaw | Length under 1.3, and a soft jaw |
| Square | About as long as wide, angular jaw | Length under 1.3, jaw 0.88 or more, and an angular jaw |
| Oblong | Clearly longer than wide | Length 1.55 or more |
| Heart | Forehead wider than jaw, narrowing to chin | Forehead 0.92 or more, and wider than the jaw by 0.18 or more |
| Diamond | Cheekbones widest | Forehead 0.8 or less, and jaw 0.72 or less |
These cut-offs are ours, written for this calculator. They are rules of thumb and not a standard, and the lines between shapes are blurry. When the best two shapes fit almost equally well, the calculator says it is a close call, where the gap is under 0.04.
Is this the same as a facial index?
No. Researchers use a facial index, which is face height divided by face width, measured from specific bone landmarks. A study of 200 adults in northern and southern India found that every facial parameter and index varied between regions and between the sexes. This calculator uses a simpler hairline-to-chin length that you can measure at home, and its own rules, so the numbers are not comparable with a published facial index.
What face shape is good for
Mostly practical choices. People use it to pick a fringe, a parting, glasses or a beard style. It says nothing about health, and no shape is better than another. Treat the result as a starting point, and let your own taste and the way your hair grows decide the rest.
Tips for a fair measurement
- Measure twice and use the average if the two differ.
- Keep the tape flat. Following the curve of the cheek will give a larger number than a straight line.
- Use the same unit for all four numbers. The calculator can work in centimetres or inches.
- Take the measurements with your hair pushed back, so the hairline is clear.
What four numbers cannot tell you
They cannot capture the shape of your jaw line, your profile or your features, and they are not a diagnosis of anything. If a measurement looks out of step with the others, the calculator asks you to check it.
Take it further in the HairLens app
The HairLens app builds a routine and product list around your hair type and what it reads from your photos, so a cut that suits your face also suits your hair.