How to Work Out Your Face Shape With a Mirror and a Tape Measure

To work out your face shape, take four measurements with a soft tape measure: the width of your forehead, the width across your cheekbones, the width of your jaw, and the length of your face from hairline to chin. Then look at which measurement is largest, whether the face is longer than it is wide, and whether your jaw has a sharp corner or a curve. Those three answers will put you in one of six common shapes: oval, round, square, oblong, diamond or heart. The whole thing takes about five minutes. A photo taken straight on, with your hair pulled back, is a useful cross-check.

Why it is worth knowing

Face shape is not the only thing that decides which haircut suits you. Hair type, how your hair grows, your hairline, your lifestyle and how much time you will spend styling all matter at least as much. But face shape is a useful starting point, because it tells you where a cut needs to add height, width or softness, and where it should hold back.

It also saves time in the barber’s chair. Saying “I think my face is quite long, so I do not want much height” gives the barber something concrete to work with. Our broader guide to choosing a haircut for your face shape takes it from there.

What you need

• A soft tape measure, the kind used for sewing or tailoring. A metal one is awkward around the face.
• A mirror with good, even light. Daylight facing a window is ideal.
• A phone camera.
• A hairband, a little water, or a cap to keep hair off your forehead.
• A pen and paper, or your phone’s notes.

The four measurements, step by step

1. Clear your face. Pull hair back off the forehead and away from the ears. If you have a beard, you will need to feel for the jawbone underneath it; that is fine.
2. Forehead width. Measure across the widest part of your forehead, roughly halfway between your eyebrows and your hairline, from one side to the other where the forehead meets the hairline.
3. Cheekbone width. Find the most prominent point of each cheekbone, just below the outer corner of your eye, and measure straight across between them.
4. Jaw width. Find the angle of your jaw, just below the ear where the jawbone turns towards the chin. Measure from that point to the chin, then double it. (Measuring straight across the front of the face is less accurate.)
5. Face length. Measure from the centre of your hairline down to the tip of your chin. If your hairline has receded, use where it used to sit, roughly where the forehead starts to curve back.

Write the numbers down. Precision to the nearest half centimetre is enough.

Reading the numbers

Use the table to match your measurements to a shape. Few faces fit a category perfectly, so look for the closest match.

Shape	Widest point	Length vs width	Jaw
Oval	Cheekbones, slightly	Longer, about one and a half times	Gently rounded, narrower than forehead
Round	Cheekbones, all fairly equal	About equal	Soft, no corner
Square	All three about equal	About equal	Sharp, angled corner
Oblong	All three about equal	Clearly longer	Straight or slightly angled
Diamond	Cheekbones, clearly	Longer	Narrow, often pointed chin
Heart	Forehead	Longer	Narrow, tapering to the chin

Then ask yourself three questions:

• Which is widest: forehead, cheekbones or jaw? Or are they all similar?
• Is the face clearly longer than it is wide, or roughly equal?
• Does the jaw have a corner, or is it a smooth curve?

The photo check

Numbers are good; a photo can be better, especially for the jaw. Stand facing a window, hair pulled back, and take a photo straight on at eye level, arm’s length or more away. A close photo distorts the face and makes the nose and middle look wider. Ideally ask someone else to take it from two metres away and zoom in slightly.

Then look at the outline only. Some people find it helps to trace around the face on the screen with a fingertip, or use the markup tool to draw the outline. The shape that line makes is usually more convincing than the numbers.

Mistakes that give the wrong answer

• Including hair in the outline. Fringes, beards and full sides change how the face looks. Measure the face, not the haircut.
• Measuring the jaw straight across the front. This tends to underestimate it. Measure to the angle below the ear.
• Taking a selfie at close range. Phone lenses up close make the face look rounder and the middle wider.
• Tilting the head. Chin up makes the face look shorter; chin down makes it look longer and narrower.
• Forcing a category. Many faces sit between two shapes, oval and oblong, or round and square. That is normal and useful information in itself.

Beards make it harder

A beard changes the visible shape of the lower face completely, which is partly why men grow them. To find your underlying shape, feel for the jawbone under the beard and measure from there. Then think about it in two ways: the shape of your face, which affects the haircut, and the shape you want the beard to create, which can balance it. A round face with a beard longer at the chin, for example, will look longer and more oval. Our post on haircuts for a round face covers how cut and beard work together for that shape.

Let the barber confirm it

Doing this at home is useful, but an experienced barber will usually see your face shape within seconds of you sitting down. At Highgate Cuts every visit starts with an assessment: the barber looks at your hair, how it grows and what you need, and then makes recommendations. If your measurements and their eye disagree, ask them why. It is often down to hairline, head shape or the way the hair grows, which a tape measure cannot see.

You can see the cuts and beard work on offer on the Highgate Cuts barbershop page.

Questions we get asked

What is the most common face shape for men?

Oval is often described as the most common, but most faces sit between two shapes. Measure rather than assume.

Can my face shape change?

Your bone structure does not, but weight changes and ageing can make a face look rounder or longer over time.

Is there an app that does this?

Some do, with mixed accuracy. A tape, a straight photo and a barber’s eye are more reliable.

How do I book a consultation and cut?

Email us with the service and the day that suits. For prices, see the barber menu or email us. More on our barber services in Highgate and on the homepage.

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