Face Shape
Seven shapes, four measurements. Your forehead width, cheekbone width, jaw width and face length decide which one you have — and the relationship between them is what every styling rule is actually responding to.
Drop a photo into the panel and it will take all four measurements and name the shape. Nothing is uploaded — the model runs in this tab.
Click to choose a photo, or drop one here
Straight-on, even lighting, at arm's length gives the most comparable reading.
No photo to hand? Try one of these and see what the tool returns.
Runs in your browser. Your photo is never uploaded.
The 7 face shapes
01Diamond face shape
Full guide →A diamond face is widest at the cheekbones and tapers in both directions: a narrow forehead above, a narrow chin below. It is the least common of the seven and the one most often misread as heart or oval.
Key characteristics
- Cheekbones are the widest point of the face
- Forehead is narrower than the cheekbones
- Jaw narrows to a defined, often pointed chin
- Face length is usually greater than face width
What works
- ✓Side-swept fringes and curtain bangs, which add width where the forehead is narrow
- ✓Chin-length bobs that put volume at the jaw
- ✓Layers starting below the cheekbone rather than at it
Glasses
Oval and rimless frames
02Oval face shape
Full guide →An oval face is longer than it is wide, with a jaw that curves rather than corners. It is the most commonly assigned shape, partly because it is genuinely frequent and partly because it is where borderline measurements land.
Key characteristics
- Face length noticeably greater than width
- Forehead slightly wider than the jaw
- Jawline rounded, without a defined corner
- No single dominant widest point
What works
- ✓Almost anything — this is the shape stylists treat as the default
- ✓Blunt fringes, which shorten a long face if you want that
- ✓Mid-length layers that keep width at the cheekbone
Glasses
Almost any frame shape
03Round face shape
Full guide →A round face is close to as wide as it is long, with a soft jawline and full cheeks. It is frequently confused with square, and the measurement that separates them is jaw definition rather than proportion.
Key characteristics
- Face width and length close to equal
- Cheeks are the fullest part of the face
- Jawline soft, with no sharp corner
- Chin rounded rather than pointed
What works
- ✓Long layers that fall past the jaw, adding vertical line
- ✓Side partings, which break the symmetry that reads as round
- ✓Volume at the crown to add height
Glasses
Rectangular and square frames
04Heart face shape
Full guide →A heart face is widest at the forehead and tapers to a narrow, often pointed chin. A widow's peak is common but not required — the shape is defined by the forehead-to-jaw ratio, not the hairline.
Key characteristics
- Forehead is the widest part of the face
- Cheekbones sit close to forehead width
- Jaw narrows sharply toward the chin
- Chin often pointed
What works
- ✓Styles with volume at or below the jaw, to balance the narrow chin
- ✓Side-swept fringes that reduce apparent forehead width
- ✓Long bobs ending just below the jawline
Glasses
Frames that are wider at the bottom
05Square face shape
Full guide →A square face has a jaw nearly as wide as the cheekbones and a defined angle where the jaw turns. Forehead, cheekbones and jaw sit close in width, giving the face a straight-sided outline.
Key characteristics
- Jaw almost as wide as the cheekbones
- Defined angle at the jaw corner
- Forehead width close to jaw width
- Face length close to face width
What works
- ✓Soft layers and waves that break the straight sides
- ✓Side partings, which introduce a diagonal
- ✓Length past the jaw to lengthen the outline
Glasses
Round and oval frames
06Oblong face shape
Full guide →An oblong face is a long rectangle: the three widths are similar, and the length is what sets it apart. It is often called long face, and the styling problem is always the same — reduce apparent height, add width.
Key characteristics
- Face clearly longer than wide
- Forehead, cheekbones and jaw similar in width
- Often a taller forehead or longer chin
- Straight sides rather than a taper
What works
- ✓Blunt or curtain fringes, which cut the vertical
- ✓Volume at the sides, especially at cheekbone level
- ✓Waves and curls, which add width
Glasses
Deep frames that cover more vertical space
07Triangle face shape
Full guide →A triangle face — sometimes called pear-shaped — is widest at the jaw and narrowest at the forehead. It is the inverse of a heart face and needs the opposite styling.
Key characteristics
- Jaw is the widest part of the face
- Forehead narrower than the cheekbones
- Width increases steadily downward
- Jawline often strong and defined
What works
- ✓Volume at the crown and temples to widen the top
- ✓Shorter layers around the cheekbone
- ✓Side-swept styles that add apparent forehead width
Glasses
Cat-eye and browline frames
How to determine your face shape
Four measurements settle it: the width of your forehead at its widest, the width across your cheekbones, the width of your jaw at the angle, and the length from hairline to chin. Every shape is a specific relationship between those numbers — a round face has length and width nearly equal, an oblong has length above 1.6 times width, a diamond has cheekbones wider than both other widths. You need a mirror and a soft tape measure.
- 1Pull all of your hair back off your face and stand square to a mirror, with your eyes level with the glass.
- 2Measure across your forehead at its widest point, roughly halfway between your brows and your hairline.
- 3Measure across your cheekbones, from the outer corner of one eye straight across to the outer corner of the other.
- 4Measure your jaw from the point below one ear across to the point below the other, following the bone rather than the soft tissue under it.
- 5Measure face length from your hairline straight down to the base of your chin.
- 6Divide the length by the cheekbone width, then compare the three widths to each other. Those two comparisons decide all seven shapes.
Two things go wrong with the manual version. A tape held against your own face is accurate to perhaps half a centimetre, which is fine for a clear case and useless for a borderline one; and it is very hard to keep your head straight while measuring, so the horizontal widths drift. The detector takes the same four measurements from 478 landmarks and does it from a single photo, on your device.
Face shape comparison chart
All seven side by side, on the measurements that separate them. Reading down the columns also shows where the categories overlap: round and square share a length-to-width ratio and differ only in the jaw, while oval and oblong differ only in whether the jaw tapers.
| Shape | Widest point | Length : width | Jaw | Chin | How often |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond | Cheekbones | ~1.45 : 1 | Narrow | Pointed | Least common |
| Oval | Cheekbones | ~1.5 : 1 | Rounded, gentle taper | Rounded | Assigned most often |
| Round | Cheekbones | under 1.2 : 1 | Soft curve, no corner | Rounded | Common |
| Heart | Forehead | ~1.4 : 1 | Narrow, tapered | Pointed | Moderate |
| Square | Near-equal across | under 1.2 : 1 | Angular, visible corner | Square or flat | Common, under-reported by tools |
| Oblong | Near-equal across | over 1.6 : 1 | Straight sides | Flat | Common |
| Triangle | Jawline | ~1.25 : 1 | Wide, prominent | Flat or wide | Second least common |
The last column is deliberately qualitative. Charts elsewhere put percentages here — a given share of scans being oval, a fraction of a per cent being triangle — and those figures come from one site's own traffic rather than from a measured population. What can honestly be said is how narrow each geometric condition is: diamond needs cheekbones wider than both other widths, which is a tighter requirement than any other shape, and oval absorbs everything that does not clearly meet another condition.
The three pairs people mix up
Almost all misidentification comes from three pairs, and each one turns on a single measurement. If your result surprised you, the answer is usually in one of these.
Oval vs Oblong
Oval and oblong are both longer than they are wide, and the difference is where the width sits. An oblong face keeps roughly the same width from forehead to jaw — a rectangle. An oval face narrows measurably at the jaw, by at least fifteen per cent against the cheekbones.
Round vs Square
The proportions are nearly identical — both are close to as wide as they are long. What differs is the jaw. A square jaw measures at least ninety-five per cent of cheekbone width and turns a visible angle below the ear; a round jaw is narrower than the cheekbones and curves. Proportion will not separate these two, only jaw definition will.
Heart vs Triangle
These two are exact inverses, which makes them easy to separate and easy to confuse in words. A heart face is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom; a triangle face is narrow at the top and wide at the jaw. Every styling recommendation for one is reversed for the other.
Why face shape quizzes disagree
The seven categories are not mutually exclusive across their whole range — they are cut points on continuous measurements, and the cut points are conventions. Round and square share the same proportions and are separated only by whether the jaw turns a corner. Oval and oblong are both long, and are separated only by whether the jaw tapers. A face sitting in one of those bands can be labelled either way without either label being wrong.
Photo angle does the rest of the damage. A head turned ten degrees compresses the far side of the face, and every horizontal width on this page shrinks with it while the length stays put — which pushes the result toward oval and oblong. This is why the tool asks for a straight-on photo, and why it is worth taking a second one if a result surprises you.
Face shape — frequently asked questions
What are the seven face shapes?
Oval, round, square, heart, oblong, diamond and triangle. Charts vary — some merge triangle into pear, some split rectangle out of oblong — but these seven cover the standard set.
What is the most common face shape?
Oval is assigned most often, partly because it is genuinely frequent and partly because it is where borderline measurements land when no other shape's conditions are clearly met.
How do I find my face shape?
Four measurements settle it: forehead width, cheekbone width, jaw width and face length. The detector takes all four from a photo in your browser.
Can my face shape change?
The underlying bone structure is fixed after growth, but facial fat distribution changes with age and weight, which can shift a face between round and oval readings over years. A receding hairline does it too, because face length is measured from the hairline.
What are the most attractive face shapes?
No published work ranks facial outlines, and any list that does is quoting a styling convention as a finding. Oval is named most often, which reflects how often it is assigned rather than how it is rated. What the research does support — averageness and symmetry — is indifferent to which of the seven you are.
Why do two face shape quizzes give me different answers?
Because the categories overlap. Round and square share the same proportions and differ only in jaw definition; oval and oblong are both long and differ only in taper. A face sitting in one of those overlap bands can legitimately be labelled either way, and different tools break the tie differently.
Do I measure my face length from the hairline or the top of my head?
From the hairline. Every ratio on this page assumes it, and using the top of the skull inflates the length figure enough to move a round result to oval. If your hairline has receded, use where it sits now — that is what the measurement means.
What is the rarest face shape?
Diamond, followed by triangle. Diamond needs cheekbones measurably wider than both the forehead and the jaw, and triangle needs the three widths to increase steadily from top to bottom. Both are narrower conditions than the other five.