Please bear with me as I set up this page, it's an all new forum to me.
Let's get started. The most common comment made by women who sit in my chair and look at themselves in the mirror is "I want a style that helps hide my round face." I understand that most women don't have the experience of standing in front of a mirror all day so when they do glance in a mirror, they are instantly critical. I'm here to tell you, a very small percentage of women actually have a round face. It's not a very common face shape. I think that comment has more to do with most of us feeling like we need to lose 5 lbs than it has to do with facial shape. Even if you are overweight by 20, 30 or more lbs, it still doesn't usually affect facial shape.
Face shape has to do with your bone structure. A stylist can be very helpful in determining your face shape but be aware, that is a subjective thing. One stylist may tell you your face is oval while another may say you are rectangular. Let's take some of the mystery out of it shall we?
Determining your face Shape
First, pull your hair back with a headband or into a pony tail. If you have bangs, pin them back. Now you can see your whole face. Look not at the whole of it but at the edges. What is the widest horizontal part of your face? Is you forehead wider than your cheekbones? Are your cheekbones wider than your jaw? Imagine (or actually do this if it helps) a ruler on a horizontal plane at each of these three areas: Forehead, Cheekbones, jawline. Which is widest? Now go to the next widest and finally the most narrow. Now that you have taken an objective view of these three areas, the rest is just geometry.
If you are the same width at the forehead, cheekbone and jaw, you have a square face. Think about what makes a square. Four points. We are looking at six points when we add in cheekbones so we are horizontally cutting the square in half, but only as a point of reference.
Now check out the length of your face and compare it to the width. If the length is greater than the width, you are rectangular. Think geometrically, a rectangle is just an elongated square. If the width and length are close to the same, you are still in the square family.
If your forehead, cheekbones and jawline are about the same width but the edges are rounded instead of prominently straight, you have an oval ( assuming that your face is longer than it is wide, most people's are). Again, think geometrically, an oval is nothing more than a rectangle with the edges rounded off.
Still looking at your face on a horizontal plane, if your cheekbones are wider than your forehead AND your jawline, your face shape is a diamond. Think back to 8th grade geometry, picture a diamond shape. It's smallest horizontal areas are the top and bottom with the middle being the widest. There you have it.
A triangle shape is present when the forehead is widest, with a smallest cheekbone and a still smaller shaped jawline. An upside down triangle is the exact opposite, jawline widest, with a smaller cheekbone and an even smaller forehead.
When you have a heart shape, the forehead is just slightly less wide than the cheekbones and the the jawline is smaller than either of the higher horizontal planes. Remember the hearts you drew on valentines? That is the shape we refer to. This face shape is made even more obvious if the chin is slightly 'pointy' or if there is a widow's peak at the forehead. Imagine that person in your mind. Do you see the heart shape if those components are present?
After determining your face shape, how do you know what style is best for you? When using hair to alter the appearance of your face shape, the stylist is trying to emphasize one area while deemphasizing another. For instance, a straight across bang with very straight sides will emphasize a square or rectangular face shape. Framing the face and creating a side-swept bang would deemphasize the angles of a square. The oval shaped face can wear almost any hairstyle. If you wish to change the appearance of face shape, talk to the stylist about what hairstyles would work on you. Be sure to first ask the stylist what face shape they think you have just to make sure you are both on the same page. Remember, face shape is subjective. They may see you as rectangular even if you believe you are square. Just be sure to communicate the areas you want to play up or down.
Hope this helps, you can email or comment if I can answer any questions. I will try to find some pictures to post.
Have a good hair day!
Cheri'
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