Triangle Face Shape

A triangle face — sometimes called pear-shaped — is widest at the jaw and narrowest at the forehead. This test calls a face triangle when the jaw is at least 0.79× the cheekbone width and the forehead is no wider than 1.13× the jaw.

≥ 0.79×
jaw ÷ cheekbones
≤ 1.13×
forehead ÷ jaw
7
face shapes
Free
photo not uploaded
10 of 102research faces · 10%0.79×median jaw ÷ cheekboneswomen 1 of 49 · men 9 of 53Face Research Lab London Set: 102 adults, neutral front photos. The face shape thresholds were set on this set, so the split shows how the detector divides faces, not how common each shape is. How these numbers were made

Drop a photo into the panel and it will say whether your four measurements read as triangle.

Sample photo — an adult woman facing the camera straight onExample

Choose your own photo

Discover your face shape and proportions.

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How a triangle face is measured

A triangle outline drawn from the three widths the classifier uses — forehead, cheekbones and jaw, with the dashed lines marking where each is taken. It is a diagram, not a photograph, so nothing here is a claim about a particular face.

The jaw measures at least 79.4 per cent of cheekbone width and the forehead is no more than 12.5 per cent wider than the jaw — the lower face carries nearly as much width as the upper. Textbook charts describe the jaw as wider than the forehead; in photo landmarks the cheekbones are the widest point on almost every face, so the measurable version is a jaw that comes unusually close to the forehead.

  • Jaw is the widest part of the face
  • Forehead narrower than the cheekbones
  • Width increases steadily downward
  • Jawline often strong and defined

A triangle face widens steadily from forehead to jaw — the exact inverse of a heart shape. It is the rarest result after diamond, and the one where the label sounds least flattering while describing a jaw many people are actively trying to acquire.

Also called: Pear-shaped face, Trapezoid face.

How to tell if you have a triangle face

The triangle verdict comes from comparing the top of the face with the bottom, in that order.

  1. Hair fully back, facing the mirror square on.
  2. Measure across the forehead at its widest.
  3. Measure across the cheekbones.
  4. Measure the jaw, below one ear across to below the other.
  5. If the three go up in that order — forehead smallest, jaw largest — the shape is triangle.

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.

Triangle vs Square face shape

Triangle face
Square face

Both have a strong jaw. In a square face the forehead and jaw are close in width; in a triangle the jaw is clearly the widest point and the forehead the narrowest. Measure the forehead — that is where they diverge.

The square face shape in full →

Triangle vs Heart face shape

Triangle face
Heart face

Exact inverses. Heart is wide at the forehead and narrow at the chin; triangle is narrow at the forehead and wide at the jaw. Every hair, glasses and makeup recommendation for one is reversed for the other.

The heart face shape in full →

Hairstyles for a triangle face

A triangle face widens steadily from forehead to jaw — the inverse of a heart shape. Everything here is the mirror of heart-shape advice: add at the top, subtract at the bottom.

Haircuts for a triangle face — women

  • Volume at the crown

    Height and width at the top narrow the visual gap against a wider jaw. The one shape where crown volume is the first recommendation rather than a warning.

  • Layers ending above the chin

    Weight kept off the jaw stops the haircut from adding to the widest part of the face.

  • Side-swept fringe

    It broadens a narrow forehead diagonally, which is the top half of the correction.

  • A blunt one-length bob cut level with the jaw

    Short bob with volume above the jaw

    Places the fullest part of the cut at cheekbone level rather than at the jaw, which is where the width already is.

  • A textured pixie worn with height at the crown

    Textured pixie with height

    Maximum top volume with nothing at all beside the jaw — the most direct version of the shape's whole logic.

Haircuts for a triangle face — men

  • A pompadour with height above the forehead and tapered sides

    Pompadour or quiff

    Height at the crown against a wide jaw is the single largest correction available.

  • A high skin fade with a textured crop on top

    Textured top with tapered sides

    Volume up, nothing at the sides, so the silhouette narrows as it descends instead of widening.

  • A hard side part with a razored parting line and disconnected sides

    Side part with lift

    Adds both height and apparent forehead width, the two things the upper third is short of.

  • Heavy stubble with a tidy neckline

    Short beard kept tight at the jaw

    Length or fullness at the jaw adds to the widest measurement. Keeping it close is the only version that helps.

By hair type

Straight
Straight hair sits flat and gives no height, which is the one thing this shape needs most. Root lift and a side part matter more than the cut.
Wavy
Useful if the wave is kept above the jaw. Waves that fall past it add width where the face is already widest.
Curly
Curl gives the crown height easily. The trap is length: curls that reach the jaw stack volume onto the widest point.
Fine
Fine hair provides no volume at the crown, so texturising product and a short-to-medium cut do more than length can.
Thick
An advantage at the top and a liability at the bottom. Keep the bulk high and thin anything that sits at jaw level.

Triangle face hairstyles to avoid

  • Long straight hair falling past the jaw

    It frames the widest part of the face with two vertical lines and adds weight beside it.

  • Flat hair with no crown height

    It removes the only counterweight to a wide lower face.

  • A blunt one-length bob cut level with the jaw

    Chin-length blunt bobs

    They land a horizontal line at the jaw, marking exactly the measurement you would want to downplay.

  • Volume concentrated at jaw level

    The same mistake in the opposite direction to a round face: width added where the face is already widest.

Beard styles for a triangle face

Facial hair adds bulk exactly where a triangle face already has the most, so this is the one shape where less usually reads better.

  • Keep the jaw line clean and closely trimmed
  • Short stubble rather than a full beard, if any
  • Avoid full beards and wide cheek lines, which extend the widest measurement

Makeup for a triangle face shape

The work is the mirror image of the heart advice: add at the top, take away at the jaw.

  • Contour along the jaw corners to narrow the widest part
  • Highlight the forehead and temples to add apparent width above
  • Blush higher on the cheek, angled toward the temple
  • Fuller, slightly wider brows, which broaden the narrow upper third

Glasses for a triangle face

Weight belongs at the top of the frame. Anything that adds width at the brow narrows the difference between forehead and jaw, which is what defines this shape.

Cat-eye

Works

Browline

Also works

Bottom-heavy

Fights the shape

The same outline three times — drawn from the forehead, cheekbone and jaw widths that define a triangle face, not from a stock photograph. These are illustrations of shape, not fit: bridge width and temple length decide whether a frame actually sits, and a front view cannot measure either.

Frame styles that suit a triangle 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.

  • Cat-eye frames — outer top corners swept upward

    Cat-eye

    The outer flick adds width high on the face, directly against the taper.

    Nina RB4314N · Esme · Louise

    • Ray-Ban Nina RB4314N

      Sunglasses · 54 · $$

      The measured version of a cat-eye: the outer corner lifts, but not far enough to read as costume in daily wear.

    • Warby Parker Esme

      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.

    • Warby Parker Louise

      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.

  • Browline frames — a heavy top bar over a thin lower rim

    Browline

    A heavy top bar is the most literal version of putting weight at the brow.

    Clubmaster RB3016 · Clubmaster RX5154

    • Ray-Ban Clubmaster RB3016

      Sunglasses · 51-21 · $$

      The definition of the category: heavy acetate above, thin metal below. The purest form of moving weight to the brow.

    • Ray-Ban Clubmaster RX5154

      Eyeglasses · $$

      The prescription version of the RB3016. Same geometry, as everyday glasses.

  • Wide frames

    Width at eye level pushes the widest visible line up the face, away from the jaw.

  • Frames heavier at the top

    The general principle. Anything decorative on the upper rim serves it.

  • Aviator frames — teardrop lenses on a thin metal double bridge

    Aviator

    Works in spite of tapering downward, because the top bar sits wide and the drop is gradual rather than a corner.

    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.

    • Randolph Engineering Aviator

      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.

    • Persol 649 / 714

      Sunglasses · $$$

      A modified aviator: the same wide lens without the teardrop. The 714 is the identical shape that folds — that is the only difference.

Sunglasses for a triangle face

Cat-eye and browline sunglasses for the same reason. Oversized frames also help, provided they are widest at the top rather than the bottom.

Frames to avoid

  • Frames heavier at the bottom

    They add weight beside the jaw, which is the widest part of the face already.

  • Small or narrow frames

    They leave the forehead looking narrower still and make the jaw the only wide thing in the picture.

Not sure this is your shape? Glasses for face shape measures it from a photo and lists the frames that suit the result.

The triangle face shape on men

On men a triangle measurement usually describes a wide, heavy jaw under a narrow brow, and it is the one shape where the popular aesthetic and the styling advice point in opposite directions: the jaw the outline is named for is the feature most male readers arrive wanting more of, not less.

Triangle face shape celebrities

Triangle has the fewest celebrity lists of the seven, and the ones that exist mostly reuse the same handful of names. As with the other six, this site does not assign a shape to anyone it has not measured from a straight-on photo.

Procedures that change a triangle face

A triangle result usually leads to questions about the jaw rather than the forehead.

One credit renders one of these on your own photo. Each is an AI simulation on an example face, not a treatment result and not a prediction of yours. Where a frame says “generated”, the before image was made by AI too.

A simulation is a visualisation, not a surgical plan, and nothing on this page is medical advice.

Triangle face shape — frequently asked questions

Is a triangle face the same as a pear-shaped face?

Yes. Both describe a face that is widest at the jaw and narrowest at the forehead, along with trapezoid in some charts. The textbook condition is identical — jaw wider than cheekbones, cheekbones wider than forehead. A photo test measures a milder version, because cheekbones are the widest landmark on almost every face: here triangle means a jaw at least 79.4 per cent of cheekbone width with a forehead barely wider than it.

Will the tool ever tell me I have a triangle face?

Yes. Triangle is the second rule the detector checks, right after oblong: a jaw at least 79.4 per cent of cheekbone width with a forehead no more than 12.5 per cent wider than the jaw. In the open research set of 102 adult faces the detector was calibrated on, 10 read as triangle, nine of them men, because a wide jaw relative to the forehead is more common in male faces.

What hairstyle suits a triangle face shape?

Volume at the top and nothing at the jaw. Height at the crown, layers that stop above the chin and side-swept fringes all widen the narrow upper third; long straight hair falling past the jaw emphasises the widest point.

Is a triangle face shape rare?

It is the second least common after diamond. It requires the three widths to increase steadily from forehead to jaw, and most faces are widest at the cheekbones or the forehead instead.

Does a beard make a triangle face look wider?

Yes, and this is the one shape where that is worth thinking about before growing one. A beard adds bulk at the jaw, which is already the widest measurement on the face. Close stubble or a clean jaw line keeps the outline where it is; a full beard extends it.

The other face shapes

All 7 face shapes