What haircut suits me? Here is how to work it out
Your face shape tells you where a cut will add width and where it will add length. That is useful, and it is only half the answer. Below: the six shapes and the cuts that tend to work for each, the three things that matter more than the chart, and a way to check the shortlist on your own photo in about a minute.
Free to download. iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later. ★★★★★ 5.0 on the App Store from 2 ratings.
The six face shapes and what each one is asking for
Pull your hair back, stand in even light, and compare the width of your forehead, your cheekbones and your jaw. Then compare the length of your face to its width.
Oval
Noticeably longer than it is wide, forehead a touch broader than the jaw, and the chin curves rather than corners. Almost everything works, which is less helpful than it sounds. Because there is nothing to correct, pick for interest instead: a blunt collarbone cut, curtain bangs, or long layers that start at the jaw. The one thing to watch is very heavy, flat length, which can drag an already long face longer. Detail in the oval face haircut guide.
Round
Length and width are close to equal, the widest point is the cheek, and the jaw is soft with no hard corners. You are adding vertical, not horizontal. A long layered cut past the collarbone, an A line bob that ends below the jaw rather than at it, and side swept or curtain bangs all lengthen the line of the face. The classic mistake is a blunt chin length bob, which parks a straight horizontal line across the widest part. More in the round face haircut guide.
Square
The jaw is roughly as wide as the forehead and it turns a corner rather than curving, with face length close to face width. Curves and diagonals soften those corners: a wavy lob, layers that begin below the jawline, a deep side part, or a textured shag. Avoid a blunt one length cut that stops exactly at the jaw, because it traces the corner you are trying to soften. Chin length works, it just wants movement in it.
Heart
Forehead and cheekbones are wider than the chin, which comes to a point, often with a widow's peak at the hairline. The geometry asks for weight low and less bulk high. A chin length bob or a lob with the ends turned under builds width where the face narrows, and curtain bangs or a side swept fringe cut the visible forehead down. Tight volume piled at the crown does the opposite and makes the chin look narrower still.
Long or oblong
Clearly longer than it is wide, with forehead, cheeks and jaw at a similar width and no strong taper. Here you want horizontal, the opposite of the round face brief. Blunt bangs or a heavy fringe cut the vertical run in half. A shoulder or collarbone length cut with waves adds width at the sides. A long, poker straight center part with no layers is the one to skip, because it draws two vertical lines down an already long face.
Diamond
Cheekbones are the widest point, with a narrow forehead and a narrow chin. The job is to add width at the top and bottom so the cheekbones stop being the only thing with volume. A chin grazing bob puts fullness near the jaw. A side part with lift at the front, or a soft textured fringe, widens the forehead. Slicked back hair with all the volume at ear level exaggerates the cheekbones rather than balancing them.
Not sure which one you are? Work through the measurements in how to know your face shape, or skip the tape measure and put a cut on your photo with the HairGlam try on. If you are new here, the HairGlam home page covers what the app does.
Three things that matter more than the chart
Face shape rules are guidelines written to be printed on one page. They are not laws, and three other factors will change your result more.
1. Hair texture and density
The same cut is two different haircuts on fine straight hair and on thick curls. A shag needs enough density to hold the layers apart, or the ends go stringy. A blunt bob is heavy and flattering on fine hair and can turn into a triangle on thick, coarse hair unless the stylist removes weight underneath. Curls shrink, often by several inches when dry, so a curly cut has to be measured wet and planned for the bounce. Before you ask whether a cut suits your face, ask whether it suits your hair.
2. Your hairline and growth pattern
This is the factor that quietly ruins otherwise sensible haircuts. A cowlick at the front hairline will split a blunt fringe every time it dries, no matter how it was cut. A widow's peak changes where a center part naturally falls. A high or receding hairline changes how much forehead a fringe actually has to cover. A crown whorl decides which side your hair wants to fall on, which is why a stylist may push you to a part you did not plan. Look at your hairline dry and unstyled before you commit to anything with a fringe in it.
3. How much styling you will actually do
Be honest about mornings. A blunt bob wants a blow dry with a round brush most washes to keep the line clean. A curly shag wants product and a diffuser. A sleek high ponytail look on textured hair is a standing appointment with a flat iron. Long layers are the low effort option because they still read as a haircut when they air dry. The cut that suits you is the one that still looks like the photo on a Tuesday when you have nine minutes.
So is the face shape chart wrong?
No, it is just narrower than it pretends to be. The six shapes are a fast way to generate a shortlist of three or four cuts worth considering, and that is genuinely useful when the alternative is scrolling for an hour. What the chart cannot do is account for your specific hairline, your hair's weight, or how a cut sits against your particular jaw. That is the part you have to see rather than read.
Test the shortlist on your own face
A cut you like on someone else is a cut on their bone structure. The only test that settles it is the same cut on your photo.
Take two or three cuts from your shape's shortlist and run them on the same photo, one after another. A butterfly cut and a long shag read almost identically in a catalog and land very differently on a wide jaw or a high forehead. Seeing them back to back on your face is the comparison the chart cannot give you.
Two things to watch while you compare. Look at where the shortest layer lands against your jaw, because that is the line doing most of the work, and look at the point where the hair meets your hairline rather than at the shine. What a render will not tell you is how much of that shape came out of a round brush, which is the question worth saving for your stylist.
Three steps to check a cut against your face
Upload one clear photo
Face the camera straight on in daylight with your hair pulled back off your forehead, so your hairline and jaw are both visible. Tap Upload Photo under Discover your perfect hairstyle. There is no account to create, though a short setup runs the first time you open the app.
Run your shortlist
Search Discover for a cut by name, or use the Bob and Curly filter chips to narrow the grid. Cards are labeled cut and color together, like Long Straight with Espresso, so you can hold the color steady while you change the shape.
Compare, then decide
Save the two or three that work and look at them side by side in the Saved tab. The one that still looks right an hour later is usually the answer. Take it to your stylist as a reference photo of your own head.
Questions about face shape and haircuts
What face shape do I have?
Does face shape really matter?
What haircut makes your face look thinner?
What if I am between two face shapes?
Do bangs suit my face shape?
Do the same rules apply to men's haircuts?
How does HairGlam decide what suits me?
Is HairGlam free?
Keep reading on your shape
How to know your face shape
Four measurements, a mirror and a piece of tape, plus the faster way to skip all of it.
Haircuts for a round face
Where the length has to fall, which bob works, and why the chin length blunt cut fights you.
Haircuts for an oval face
The shape that suits most cuts, and how to choose when nothing is ruled out for you.
Virtual hairstyle try on
How the render works, what makes a good photo, and what to expect from the result.
Stop guessing from a chart
Take the two or three cuts your face shape points to and see them on your own photo, before a stylist commits you to one of them.
Free to download. iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later.