Heart Face Shape
A heart face is widest at the forehead and tapers to a narrow, often pointed chin. This test calls a face heart-shaped when the forehead is at least 1.24× as wide as the jaw.
- ≥ 1.24×
- forehead ÷ jaw
- 7
- face shapes
- 4
- measurements
- Free
- photo not uploaded
Drop a photo into the panel and it will say whether your four measurements read as heart.
ExampleChoose your own photo
Discover your face shape and proportions.
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Front-facing · Even lightingStraight-on, even lighting, at arm's length gives the most comparable reading.
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How a heart face is measured
Forehead width, measured at the temples, is at least 23.9 per cent greater than jaw width — the face carries its width high and narrows clearly to the chin. The cheekbones are still the widest single point on almost every face, so heart is defined by how far the jaw falls below the forehead rather than by the forehead being widest.
- Forehead is the widest part of the face
- Cheekbones sit close to forehead width
- Jaw narrows sharply toward the chin
- Chin often pointed
A heart face is widest at the forehead and narrows steadily to the chin. The name suggests a widow's peak and a great many articles treat the hairline as part of the definition — it is not. The shape is a forehead-to-jaw ratio, and a straight hairline with the same ratio is still a heart face.
Also called: Inverted triangle face.
How to tell if you have a heart face
The heart shape is decided by comparing the top of the face to the bottom, so both ends need measuring.
- Pull all hair off your face — a fringe makes the forehead measurement impossible.
- Measure across your forehead at its widest point.
- Measure your jaw from below one ear to below the other.
- If the forehead beats the jaw by more than about a fifth, the shape is heart.
- Check the cheekbones as well: if they beat the forehead, you are looking at diamond instead.
A tape measure held against your own face is accurate to maybe half a centimetre, which is enough for the clear cases and not enough for the borderline ones. The tool above takes the same three widths from 478 landmarks instead.
Heart vs Diamond face shape
Both narrow to the chin. The forehead decides it: a heart face is widest at the forehead, a diamond is widest at the cheekbones. If your forehead measurement beats your cheekbone measurement, it is heart, regardless of how pointed the chin is.
The diamond face shape in full →Heart vs Triangle face shape
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.
The triangle face shape in full →Hairstyles for a heart face
A heart-shaped face is widest at the forehead and narrowest at the chin, so everything useful moves weight downward. Heart and diamond need opposite things at the forehead, which is why misidentifying one for the other produces advice that makes the imbalance worse.
Haircuts for a heart face — women
Chin-length or jaw-length bob
Puts a horizontal line at the narrowest part of the face, which is the single most efficient way to widen a pointed chin.
Soft layers starting at the jaw
Weight below the cheekbone rather than above it, so the volume lands where the face needs filling out.
Waves concentrated at the ends
Width at the bottom of the hair is width at the bottom of the face, which is where a heart shape has none.
Deep side part
An asymmetric parting reduces the visible width of the forehead more cheaply than any cut.
Shoulder-length textured shag with weight at the ends
Short layers are kept off the crown, and the choppy, fuller ends collect below the jaw, where a heart face is narrowest.
Haircuts for a heart face — men
Medium length with fullness at the jaw
Hair kept longer around the lower face adds the width the jaw does not have.
Textured fringe worn forward
Covering forehead width directly is the fastest correction available to a shape defined by having too much of it.
Side part with moderate volume
Enough height to look deliberate without adding to the top-heaviness the shape already carries.
Full beard along the jaw
The strongest lever men have for this shape: a beard builds mass exactly where the face tapers away.
Forward-swept textured crop
Hair worn forward covers part of the forehead, the widest measurement on a heart face, with no added height.
Mid-length curtains with fullness at the jaw
The two front sections frame the upper face, and length down to the jaw adds the width the lower face lacks.
Short, medium or long hair for a heart face
- Short
Women: A pixie works only when it keeps length at the sides and nape — a longer pixie or bixie with side-swept pieces. A pixie cut close above the ears leaves the full width of the forehead exposed.
Men: Crops worn forward suit a heart face; avoid short cuts that stack height on top.
- Medium
Women: Between the chin and the collarbone is the safest band: the ends and their fullness land where the face narrows.
Men: Medium-length hair with fullness toward the jaw, such as curtains, adds width low on the face.
- Long
Women: Long hair works with weight at the ends and layers that start at jaw level; long, flat hair from a high crown makes the taper steeper.
Men: Longer hair tucked behind the ears at the top and full at the jaw balances the outline.
Bangs for a heart face
Long side-swept fringe
The strongest option: it covers part of the widest zone on a diagonal and narrows the forehead without a flat line.
Curtain bangs
They cover the centre of the forehead and angle outward toward the cheekbones, reducing its visible width.
Wispy, feathered fringe
Light pieces soften the upper face without adding weight to it.
Blunt fringe at brow level — use with care
It draws a hard horizontal across the widest point of the face, the width you are trying to play down.
Heart vs diamond: why the fringe advice flips. Both faces narrow toward the chin, and both are told to wear a fringe — for opposite reasons. On a heart face the forehead is the widest point, so a fringe covers width. On a diamond face the forehead is narrow, so a fringe adds width there. What you add at the temples also flips: a heart face should not get extra volume there, a diamond face should. The comparison section above shows how to tell the two apart.
By hair type
- Straight
- Straight hair falls flat past the jaw and does not build width where it is needed, so a blunt jaw-length cut earns its keep here more than layers do.
- Wavy
- Ideal, provided the wave starts below the cheekbone. A wave that begins at the temple widens the part of the face that is already widest.
- Curly
- Curl adds volume in every direction, so the work is keeping it off the top: less height at the crown, full volume from the jaw down.
- Fine
- Fine hair gives little width anywhere, which makes a blunt line at the jaw and a side-swept fringe do most of the work.
- Thick
- Thick hair is an advantage here as long as the bulk sits low. Thinning the crown and keeping the length full is the right trade.
Heart-shaped face hairstyles to avoid
Height and volume at the crown
It extends the widest part of the face upward and makes the taper to the chin steeper.
A severe centre part with hair pulled back
It exposes the full forehead width and removes every counterweight at the jaw.
Very short pixies with no length at the sides
They leave a wide forehead above a narrow chin with nothing between them. A longer pixie that keeps side-swept length is the exception.
Blunt straight-across bangs at brow level
They draw a horizontal line across the widest point, which is the exact measurement you would want to downplay.
Haircuts men with a heart face should skip
A tall quiff or pompadour
Height stacked on the widest part of the face makes the taper toward the chin steeper.
A high skin fade with volume on top
Bare sides make the lower face look narrower still, and volume on top adds to the forehead.
A slicked-back undercut
It exposes the full width of the forehead with nothing adding width lower down.
Beard styles for a heart face
A beard adds mass exactly where a heart face is narrowest, so it is one of the more useful shapes for facial hair.
- Fuller along the jaw and cheeks rather than concentrated at the chin
- A short full beard squares off the taper effectively
- Avoid a narrow goatee, which sharpens the point the shape already has
Makeup for a heart face shape
The work is at the two ends: take width off the forehead, put apparent width at the jaw.
- Contour along the hairline at the temples to narrow the top of the face
- Blush low and blended outward, which broadens the middle and lower face
- Highlight along the jaw rather than down the centre of the chin
- Softer, less arched brows, which stop the eye from being drawn to the width above
Glasses for a heart-shaped face
The correction here is straightforward: take visual weight off the top of the face and give the lower half something to hold.
Aviator
Works
Oval
Also works
Browline
Fights the shape
Frame styles that suit a heart-shaped face
Each style below opens to name real frames that match it, with the measurement that matters. Price band: $ under $100, $$ $100–250, $$$ above $250. Links go to Amazon search results rather than a single product, so they keep working when a colour or size sells out.
Frames wider at the bottom
Weight low in the frame counterbalances a narrow chin, which is the shape's defining shortfall.
Aviator
The teardrop lens carries its width low and narrows toward the top of the cheek, which is the balance a wide forehead and narrow chin need.
Aviator Classic RB3025 · Aviator · 649 / 714
Ray-Ban Aviator Classic RB3025
Sunglasses · $$
The same pattern since 1937. The teardrop narrows from cheekbone toward jaw — that geometry is the entire reason aviators get recommended.
Sunglasses · $$$
Built to military spec MIL-S-25948, with bayonet temples that run straight over the ear instead of hooking behind it. That, not the lens, is what you notice under a headset or after eight hours.
Sunglasses · $$$
A modified aviator: the same wide lens without the teardrop. The 714 is the identical shape that folds — that is the only difference.
Rimless
Nothing added at the brow means nothing reinforcing the width that is already there.
Titan Minimal Art (5599 chassis) · air titanium rim
Silhouette Titan Minimal Art (5599 chassis)
Eyeglasses · $$$
1.8 grams, no screws and no hinges. If the point of recommending rimless is to add no line to the face, this is the limiting case.
Eyeglasses · $$$
A titanium wire frame with a spiral hinge and no screws. Unlike fully rimless there is a hair-thin line around the lens, which protects the lens better than nothing at all.
Oval glasses
Soft curves ease the taper from forehead to chin rather than marking it, and a horizontal oval carries its width across the middle of the face.
Oval Metal RB3547 · Percey
Sunglasses · 51-21 / 54-21 · $$
Genuinely oval — longer horizontally, unlike most frames marketed as round. It comes in a narrow fit, so it sits on small and narrow faces.
Eyeglasses · $$
A narrow round with a keyhole bridge. Smaller lenses than the three above, which makes it the right starting point on a small face.
Round
A circular line reads against the triangular outline and stops the face resolving to a point.
Round Metal RB3447 · Gregory Peck OV5186 · LEMTOSH · Percey
Eyeglasses & sunglasses · $$
The reference model for a true circle. Because the rim is thin metal the round reads as a line drawn on the face rather than a block sitting on it.
Oliver Peoples Gregory Peck OV5186
Eyeglasses & sunglasses · 47-23-150 · $$$
Acetate round with a keyhole bridge. Same circle as the metal version, considerably more weight — the mechanism is identical, the volume is not.
Eyeglasses & sunglasses · $$$
The thickest end of the round family: diamond rivets, keyhole bridge. The strongest available contrast against an angular face, but on a small face the frame starts running the face.
Eyeglasses · $$
A narrow round with a keyhole bridge. Smaller lenses than the three above, which makes it the right starting point on a small face.
Light-coloured or thin frames
The less the frame weighs visually, the less it stacks on top of an already top-heavy shape.
Women's frames for a heart-shaped face
Semi-rimless with a defined lower rim
Weight at the bottom of the frame and none at the top is the most direct counterweight to a wide forehead.
Light-coloured acetate
Pale or translucent frames add structure without visual weight, so they do not stack on the top of the face.
Soft cat-eye in a light colour
The version of the cat-eye that can work: a gentle lift, a thin top rim and a colour that keeps the upper line quiet.
Nina RB4314N · Esme · Louise
Sunglasses · 54 · $$
The measured version of a cat-eye: the outer corner lifts, but not far enough to read as costume in daily wear.
Eyeglasses · 55-16-145 · $$
A squared cat-eye. It combines the lifted outer corner with a straight top line, so it works where a face wants width and structure at once.
Eyeglasses · 52-15-140 / 55-16-140 · $$
The classic soft cat-eye, in two sizes. If your cheekbones are prominent, the smaller size keeps the frame from landing on the bone.
Men's frames for a heart-shaped face
Aviator
The teardrop carries its width low and narrows toward the top of the cheek — the balance a wide forehead and narrow chin need. The models are under the aviator style above.
Round acetate frames
A circle interrupts the triangular outline so the face does not resolve to a point. The models are under the round style above.
Wayfarer, with a fuller beard
A beard kept fuller along the jaw adds the lower-face width the shape lacks, which frees up frame choice: a moderate wayfarer then sits on a more balanced outline.
Original Wayfarer RB2140 · New Wayfarer RB2132
Ray-Ban Original Wayfarer RB2140
Eyeglasses & sunglasses · 50 / 54 · $$
It sits with a forward (pantoscopic) tilt and has a deeper lens than the New Wayfarer. This is the one to pick on a long face: it covers more vertical ground.
Eyeglasses & sunglasses · 52 / 55 / 58 · $$
No tilt, sits flat against the face, shallower lens. The model for people on whom the original looks oversized — and the three sizes live here.
Do cat-eye glasses work on a heart-shaped face?
It depends on the cat-eye. A pronounced cat-eye with a thick top rim and a sharp upward flick adds width exactly where a heart-shaped face is already widest, so it exaggerates the difference between forehead and chin. A soft cat-eye — a thin top rim, a gentle lift and a fuller lower rim — is borderline and can work, especially in a light colour. Advice online contradicts itself on this point because it treats all cat-eyes as one shape.
Heart vs diamond: why the frame advice flips
| Frame | Heart-shaped face | Diamond-shaped face | Why it flips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat-eye (pronounced) | Avoid | Works | Adds width at the top: a surplus on a heart face, a shortfall on a diamond |
| Browline | Avoid | Works | Weight at the brow, the same reason |
| Rimless | Works | Works | Adds no line at all, so nothing to flip |
| Oval | Works | Works | Soft curves suit both tapers |
| Aviator | Works | Borderline | Width carried low helps a narrow chin; on a diamond, a wide lens can mark the cheekbones |
What size frames fit a heart-shaped face
Keep the total frame width no wider than the forehead; temples that flare out beyond it add width at the top. A frame whose lower rim sits near the cheekbone line balances a narrow chin better than one that floats high. The three numbers printed inside a temple arm, such as 52-18-140, are the lens width, the bridge width and the arm length in millimetres. Lens height is usually not printed; product pages list it separately. Frames are fitted around your pupils, so your pupillary distance is worth knowing before you order online.
Sunglasses for a heart-shaped face
Aviators are the natural fit — they taper downward the way the face does but carry their width low. Avoid a heavy top bar.
Aviator sunglasses
They taper the way the face does but carry their width low. The Persol 649 is a softer, modified aviator.
Round sunglasses
They break up the taper and suit most heart-shaped faces in thin metal.
Rimless or gradient-lens sunglasses
Little or no frame line at the top keeps weight off the widest part of the face; a lens that is darker at the top than the bottom does the same with colour.
Frames to avoid
Browline and heavy top-bar frames
They add weight exactly where a heart-shaped face already carries its width.
Pronounced cat-eye frames
A sharp upward flick and a heavy top rim pull the eye outward at the top, which exaggerates the difference between forehead and chin. A soft cat-eye with a thin top rim is borderline rather than a mistake.
Not sure this is your shape? Glasses for face shape measures it from a photo and lists the frames that suit the result.
The heart face shape on men
On a male face the heart outline shows up as a broad brow and temple area over a narrower chin, and it is often read simply as a strong forehead. Beard growth changes the balance more here than on any other shape except round, because the narrow end of the face is the end a beard fills out.
Heart face shape celebrities
Heart is one of the three most searched shapes for celebrity examples. The lists disagree with each other constantly, which is the tell — the same person is filed as heart on one site and diamond on the next, because neither measured anything. Run your own photo instead.
Procedures that change a heart face
The chin is the end people ask about with a heart result. These simulations change that geometry.
Before — generated
After — simulatedChin Augmentation
Before
After — simulatedJawline Filler
Before — generated
After — simulatedHairline Lowering
- Chin Augmentation →Changes chin projection and length.
- Jawline Filler →Changes definition along your jaw.
- Hairline Lowering →Changes the height of your forehead.
A simulation is a visualisation, not a surgical plan, and nothing on this page is medical advice.
Heart face shape — frequently asked questions
Is a widow's peak required for a heart face shape?
No. The shape is measured from forehead width against jaw width. A widow's peak often accompanies it but plenty of heart-shaped faces have a straight hairline.
Is a heart face shape rare?
No. On this detector the condition is a forehead at least 23.9 per cent wider than the jaw. In the open research set of 102 adult faces the detector was calibrated on, 12 read as heart — about as often as round, square, triangle and oblong, with oval the most common result. That set is not a population sample, so treat it as a rough guide.
What hairstyle suits a heart face shape?
Styles that put weight at the jaw and take it off the forehead: chin-length cuts, side parts, soft layers starting at the jaw. Height at the crown and severe centre parts both emphasise the widest part of the face.
Does a fringe suit a heart face shape?
Yes, and it is one of the few places a fringe is doing real work rather than decoration: it covers part of the widest measurement on the face. A soft, side-swept or curtain fringe works better than a blunt one, which draws a hard horizontal line across the width you are trying to reduce.
What is the difference between heart and inverted triangle?
They are the same shape under two names. Some charts split them by whether the hairline peaks, which is a hairline distinction rather than a measurement one, so this site treats them as one category.
Which frame shapes work best on a heart-shaped face?
Frames that carry their weight low and add little at the top: aviators, rimless or semi-rimless frames, oval and round shapes, and light-coloured acetate. Keep the frame no wider than the forehead, and skip pronounced cat-eyes and heavy browlines.
Do oval or round glasses suit a heart-shaped face better?
Both work, in slightly different ways. An oval frame carries its width across the middle of the face and eases the taper toward the chin; a round frame interrupts the triangular outline so the face does not resolve to a point. Choose oval if your forehead is very wide, round if your chin is very narrow.
Are aviators the best sunglasses for a heart-shaped face?
They are the most natural fit, because they are widest low down, but not the only one. Round sunglasses and rimless or gradient-lens styles also work. Avoid sunglasses with a heavy top bar or a sharp cat-eye flick.
Is a pixie cut flattering for a heart-shaped face?
A longer pixie can be. A pixie that keeps some length at the sides and nape, with side-swept pieces across the forehead, softens the width at the top. A very short pixie cut close above the ears leaves the full forehead exposed above a narrow chin.
Do heart-shaped faces look better with short or long hair?
Medium length, between the chin and the collarbone, is the safest band, because the ends and their fullness land where the face narrows. Long hair works with weight at the ends; short hair works when it keeps length at the sides.
The other face shapes
- Diamond face shape →
- Oval face shape →
- Round face shape →
- Square face shape →
- Oblong face shape →
- Triangle face shape →