I want to talk alittle about face shapes and suitability, giving a rough guide to advise both clients and stylists when discussing hair styles for individuals. Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, people who like to go for character and fashion rather than being safe and being suitable all the time, but I hope it gives you a clearer general idea…
The perfect face/head shape is the Oval (egg) shape. It would be ideal for hairstylists if everyone’s head shape was a standard oval shape, unfortunately life is not so simple. Head shapes vary from square to triangular to rectangular. Here’s some examples I’ve drawn to show you:
There are many other face shapes which are a mixture of the ones above. A stylists job is to create hairstyles which are as close to the perfect oval shape as possible., but you also should take into consideration other facial features egg. nose, ears etc, which we will go into in another post.
Guides to suiting face shapes:
Round face – People with round faces should consider a style which adds more height and less width. If the face is very round then length and softness can be added to frame and soften the edges, but still keeping the shape as close to the sides as possible – see below..
Square face – This does not necessarily mean that the face shape is actually square but gives the appearance of a wide jaw line etc. With a square shape he style ideally should be made to frame the face and depending on the length of the face, height can be varied as long as there is not too much weight build up about the temple area. All lines should be rounded and not angular, see below…
Long/Rectangular face – With the rectangular shape, as you can see from the 2 face shapes combined, alot of width is needed to fill out the sides. Ideally hair shouldn’t be swept onto the face, as this will only crowd and make the face narrower. No height is needed here as this will lengthen the face even more, also try to keep some hair onto the forehead to help shorten the face, see below….
Triangular/Heart Shaped – The heart shape is one of the easiest shapes to disguise as it is very similar to the oval shape, only height is needed. Width at the temple areas should be avoided as this will create a wider top half. This head shape is sometimes quite difficult to assess. If the protrusion at the top of the head is minor, then it can be classed as an oval shape, see below…
Pear shaped face – also known as the upside down triangle. This is not a very easy head shape to work with, particularly if the shape is very prominent. In this case, the style chosen should be built out at the temples and preferably with hair working onto the jaw line to soften out the wider proportion, see below…
The styles shown here are merely a guide to what can be done to counteract different face shapes, but obviously with the stylists experience and imagination, many other styles can be varied to suit the individual. Come visit again as I will go into more suitability details.