What counts as a big forehead?
There is no single answer, because “big” only means something next to the rest of your face. The usual way to judge it is by proportion: how tall your forehead is compared with the middle and the lower parts of your own face. A forehead that is much taller than the middle of the face looks big, and one that is much shorter looks small.
This test measures that on your own photo. It runs in your browser, your photo is read on your device and never uploaded, and the result is a cosmetic estimate from one photo.
How the forehead size test measures it
When you start, two small models download to your browser. A face landmark model finds the point between your brows, the base of your nose and your chin. A hair model marks which parts of the photo are hair. The test walks up your forehead in 45 columns to find where your hairline starts, then measures the forehead from the point between your brows up to the hairline.
Everything is measured in mid-face units: the distance from the point between your brows to the base of your nose. A forehead of 1.0 is exactly as tall as the middle of your face. Because the unit comes from your own face, the size of your head and of the photo do not change the result.
The test also measures your lower face, from the base of your nose to your chin, so it can say how your forehead compares with it. It reads your photo three times from slightly different crops and keeps the middle value. The models were made by Google’s MediaPipe team for photo effects and augmented reality, not for medical use.
Are the three parts of the face supposed to be equal?
That is the classical rule: forehead, middle of the face and lower face each about a third. It is a textbook ruler, and studies of real faces keep finding that people do not follow it.
- In 151 young Nigerian adults, only 1% had equal facial thirds, and the middle third was the shortest.
- In 50 Italian models, the middle third was shorter than the upper and lower thirds.
- In 168 young adults from the Arabian Peninsula, the three thirds were not equal, and most people had a longer upper and lower third than middle third.
Those studies measured from slightly different landmarks than this test does, so their numbers are not ours. The lesson carries over anyway: the equal-thirds rule describes an ideal and not a typical face. Plenty of healthy faces have a forehead that reads as tall or short against it.
What your forehead size result means
| Forehead height, in mid-face units | How the test describes it |
|---|---|
| Under 0.9 | On the small side for your face |
| 0.9 to 1.15 | About average for your face |
| Over 1.15 | On the large side for your face |
The test also compares your forehead with your lower face. If the two are within 0.12 mid-face units of each other it says they are about the same, and otherwise it says which one is taller.
These cut-offs are ours, written for this test. They are rules of thumb and not a medical or clinical definition. Real faces vary widely around them.
Big forehead or receding hairline?
A tall forehead and a receding hairline can look alike in a photo, but they are different things. A tall forehead with an even hairline means the temples sit level with the middle and the line is smooth. Recession is about the temples moving back over time, so the M shape deepens.
The test keeps them apart by reporting height and temples separately. If your forehead is tall but your temples are even, that is proportion. If your temples sit well back and keep moving, that is the shape worth watching, and the Norwood scale test and hairline test look at it. Our guide to how high a hairline should be covers the proportion in more detail.
Does forehead size matter?
For health, no: forehead height is a proportion, not a condition. People use it for practical choices such as whether a fringe, a side parting or a hat suits them. The test gives you a number to start from, and your own taste decides the rest.
How to take the photo
- Sweep your hair straight back, or tie it back, so the hairline shows from temple to temple. Take off hats and headbands.
- Face the camera straight on, with it at eye level and about an arm’s length away.
- Keep your eyebrows relaxed. Raising them makes your forehead look taller and moves the result.
- Use bright, even light from the front.
- Take the photo or upload one, and wait a few seconds.
If the test cannot read your photo, it tells you why: a fringe, a turned head, glare, a dark or blurry photo, or hair too short or covered to find.
What one photo cannot tell you
A photo shows proportion today. It cannot show whether your hairline is moving, why it changed or what is happening at your crown, and it is not a diagnosis. If your hairline is changing quickly or unevenly, or comes with itching, redness or soreness, talk to a doctor or dermatologist.
Watch it over time in the HairLens app
The HairLens app keeps every scan and lines them up month to month, so a tall forehead that is simply your proportion can be told apart from a hairline that is changing.