What is a widow’s peak?
A widow’s peak is a V-shaped point at the middle of the hairline, where the hair comes down toward the forehead instead of running level or curving back. A 2021 review in the Journal of the German Society of Dermatology describes it as a V-shaped descending extension of the front hairline at the centre of the forehead. The name comes from an old folk belief that it predicted early widowhood. There is nothing to that belief, and the review notes that a widow’s peak is now understood as a trait of how the hairline forms.
This test looks for that point 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 widow’s peak test reads your photo
When you start, two small models download to your browser. A face landmark model finds your brow line, the point between your brows and the base of your nose. A hair model marks which parts of the photo are hair. The test then walks up your forehead in 45 columns, from just past one outer eye corner to just past the other, and records where hair starts in each. Those points are your traced hairline.
To decide whether the middle dips, the test compares the middle of your hairline with the hairline a little way out on either side of it. If the middle sits lower than its neighbours, that is a dip, and the test measures how far.
Distances are measured in mid-face units: the distance from the point between your brows to the base of your nose. Because the unit comes from your own face, the size of your head and of the photo do not change the result.
The test reads your photo three times, from slightly different crops, and keeps the middle value, so one lucky or unlucky frame cannot decide it. The models were made by Google’s MediaPipe team for photo effects and augmented reality, not for medical use.
How deep is your widow’s peak?
| What the test says | How the test decides, in mid-face units |
|---|---|
| No widow’s peak | The middle dips by less than 0.04 below the hairline either side |
| A slight widow’s peak | The middle dips by 0.04 or more |
| A clear widow’s peak | The middle dips by 0.08 or more |
| A pronounced widow’s peak | The middle dips by 0.15 or more |
These cut-offs are ours, written for this test. They are rules of thumb and not a medical or clinical definition, and a hairline that sits between two of them is common. We chose them on illustrative portraits and on shapes drawn to test the code, so treat the result as a reading of one photo.
How common is a widow’s peak?
Common, though no single number is right, because studies count it differently and measure different people.
- A questionnaire of 456 healthy Japanese adults found a widow’s peak in 29.6% of women and 32.8% of men.
- A study of 360 women at an informal hair salon found one in 81%.
Those two figures are far apart, and the gap says more about who was asked and how the peak was defined than about hairlines. The useful takeaway is that a widow’s peak is an ordinary hairline shape, and having one puts you in a large group.
Is a widow’s peak a sign of hair loss?
On its own, no. The 2021 review says that in the majority of cases a widow’s peak is a normal variant. The same review notes that it has also been associated with several genetic syndromes, so if you are worried about a shape in yourself or your child, a doctor is the person to ask. A photo test cannot tell you that.
What a widow’s peak can do is look sharper over time if the temples on either side of it move back. That is the reason people mix it up with a receding hairline.
Widow’s peak or receding hairline?
They are different questions. A widow’s peak is about the middle of the hairline dipping down. Recession is about the temples moving back. You can have either, both or neither.
This test reports the dip in the middle and, separately, how far the temples sit back, so the two do not blur together. If your temples are even with the middle and the point is stable, it is just a shape. If the temples are set back and keep moving, that is the part worth watching, and photos taken months apart are how you see it. Our guide to mature and receding hairlines goes through the signs, and our widow’s peak guide covers the shape itself.
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 changes where the hairline sits.
- Use bright, even light from the front. Side light throws shadows that can hide a narrow point.
- 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 the shape of your hairline 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, lines them up month to month and shows where coverage is changing first, from the hairline to the crown.