Choosing the Right Men’s Hairstyle for Your Face Shape

April 6, 2008

Posted by SUWARNAADI

If you know yourself, you will find how amazing what the right hairstyle can do for your face, although you don’t follow the latest hair trends. Choosing the right hairstyle is so important. Why? Because it can minimize or maximize non pleasing attributes while promoting and complimenting positive or negative ones. You can imagine that choosing ahairstyle is about doing the right thing, while cutting is about doing thing right.

There are several things you must know about yourself before you get a new haircut. One of the most important things of haircut suitability is knowing your face shape. A general rule that applies to face shape balancing is that you should try to achieve an oval shape, which is the most perfect and pleasing shape to the human eyes. To do this, long faces need shortening, just as wide faces need lengthening.

Note: this post has been updated in May 2011. I’ve added more explanation to make it more clear.

Different Types Of Men’s Face Shapes

There are seven distinctive shapes that all men’s faces can be categorized into. Within these shapes is room for the full range of facial features for all races. The good thing about being able to make these generalizations is that they provide guidelines for choosing the best hairstyles and others choices to make one look his best. Here, I will discuss the different types of men’s face shapes and how they relate to hairstyles.

1. Oval Face
   Oval is considered to be the ideal face shape for anyone to have, male or female. Unfortunately, this is a relatively rare facial shape. When it comes to hairstyle, any style of any length can be worn and will be flattering to the face. This is one shape that is best left completely uncovered by hair, so avoiding heavy bangs is the one rule of thumb for choosing a hairstyle.
2. Square Face
   Square faces are marked by the jaw line and the hairline on the forehead forming a square. Facial features are often sharp, almost chiseled in appearance. On a man, this shape of face often makes him appear to be strong and completely virile.
   For the most part, choosing a hairstyle for square faces consists of finding ways to soften the edges. This is accomplished by having the hair cut in layers in a manner that makes the face seem longer. Keep the bangs off the forehead and avoid styles that require parting in the center.
3. Oblong Face
   An oblong face is similar to an oval except that it is stretched out longer. Most hairstyles will work well with this facial type, but it is a good idea to choose a style that adds volume to the sides of the face. A style that includes bangs that just skim across the brows may be ideal. Any style with a full fringe will help to maintain balance and add volume where it is needed. Medium length cuts will be easier to style in a manner that flatters this face.
4. Heart Face
   A heart shaped face is wide at both the temples and hairline, holding its size pretty uniformly to the cheekbones before narrowing to a small chin. Hairstyles for this facial shape are mostly longer, intended to add volume below the cheekbones. Most men should avoid short hairstyles that tend to emphasize the upper part of the face. Slicked back styles are also a bad idea. For the most part, one wants to avoid the appearance of being top heavy by putting too much of the hair’s weight on the top.
5. Triangular Face
   A triangular face is almost the opposite of a heart shaped face. Men with this facial shape have narrow foreheads and a wide jaw line. Hairstyles that are flattering to this facial shape seldom, if ever, extend below the neckline. Styles that add width at forehead and temples and volume on top usually look best.
6. Diamond Face
   Men with a diamond facial shape have prominent, wide cheekbones and narrower foreheads and chins. Hairstyles should be chosen that add width at the forehead and chin while narrowing the cheekbones. Avoid any cut that emphasizes the ears, as this will make the face look wider than it is and may create the illusion that the ears stick out more from the side of the head than they do.
7. Round Face
   Round face is the rarest of all facial shapes. It differs from an oval face in that all the lines and angles are smoothed out. This is not to be confused with a fat face, but it is characterized by chubby cheeks and a soft, round chin.

Some men have a combination face shape that seems to blend features of two or more different standard shapes. This is very rare indeed. Men who have a face that does not conform to any one of the above facial patterns probably have combination faces. Choosing a hairstyle should be done based on which characteristics are most prominent in the face and which shape the face most closely resembles. Look in the mirror or look at a photo of yourself that has the hair off your face and find the best match from the above pictures. It’s important to remember that even though your face may not be an exact match of any single shape, it will resemble one shape over all.

Read more: http://coolmenshair.com/2008/04/choosing-right-hairstyle-for-your-face.html#ixzz20xMnGzId