Hairstyles and Face Shapes

Not considering your face shape when deciding on a hair cut is like not considering your skin tone when choosing a foundation — if you don’t pick one that’s right for you, something that was supposed to make you feel like a new woman is going to look really off-color…literally.

Hairstyles and face shapes must, must complement one another. While it’s important to consider your hair texture and skin tone when deciding on a cut and color, face shape may be the thing that people overlook most often, though it’s the most crucial element.

Oval, heart-shaped, oblong, square, round or diamond: most people fall into one of these categories when it comes to face shape. To give you some examples of each:

Oval: Halle Berry

Heart-shaped: Reese Witherspoon

Oblong: Liv Tyler

Square: Florence Welch

Round: Kirsten Dunst

Diamond: Rihanna

The idea behind hairstyles and face shapes is to pick a hairstyle that balances out your face. For example, if you have a prominent forehead like Emma Stone or Reese Witherspoon, sideswept bangs and layers around your face will detract from that. Those with round faces like Ginnifer Goodwin should have layers cut that fall under their chin to lengthen the face.

For help figuring out what works with your face shape, check out Haircuts for Your Face Shape.