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We’d all like the killer look. The haircut that’s supremely flattering and confidence boosting. And fashion is far less dictatorial now. Until the 1960s the French fashion houses issued their proclamations and everybody slavishly followed.
Swinging ’60s London took over briefly and the 1970s ushered in a turning point in fashion freedom. People began the journey towards confidence in their own unique looks from a seemingly endless smorgasbord of choice. Now almost anything goes if you can carry it off.
That said, we are bombarded with ideals of perfection through the media and in each fashion era there will be a general consensus of what is and isn’t more attractive in terms of body shape, and how we project our best look for attractiveness and status. Clothing, hair and make-up can all trick the eye in moving our look towards that ideal.
So here we discuss balancing out and making the most of 5 common face shapes.
And it’s not to say that you can’t confidently make a beautiful feature of a strong part of your look whether that be chin, nose, forehead, eyes, whether or not it’s seen as ideal in the current zeitgeist.
These are generalisations and assume most people will want to move towards a balanced look of beauty and also not want to look older, shorter, fatter, poorer or less intelligent. The eye doesn’t see everything. It picks up key coordinates and fills in the rest from its stored memory of experience. So drawing the eye to key points of baseline and silhouette shape are key.
Examples
With the looks below imagine a clockface over each model with the centre on the nose. I will use time to highlight where the hair shape can compensate with extra or less width or height.
Oval
Often considered the ideal face shape. Avoid styles that make the look more ovular. So you wouldn’t want lots of height at 12.00 above a high forehead and long flat hanging hair that closes down the sides of the face. Think of styles that keep the face open and provide width and movement. You could close the forehead down with a soft subtle fringe. Or if a full fringe, keep it wide.
Rihanna
Square
It can work to have long hair literally hanging over a wide jaw line. Better to have something layered more suggestively that can narrow down the jaw. Extra width and fullness around 10.00 and 2.00 helps compensate by drawing the eye up and out. Conversely this gives a narrowing down effect on the jaw line. Fringes or long fringe that create movement and softness also help draw the eye away from features you want to make less of and towards more positive features.
Olivia Wilde
Round
Tendency to appear baby face, which is beautiful in its own way. But if you want an edgier more sophisticated look we need to bring in some stronger lines and angles to distract the eye from the roundness. Styles that provide lift at 10.30 to 1.30 and width at 7.30 and 4.30 will elongate the face and narrow it in at 9.00 and 3.00. A longer Bob well past chin length with ends pointing out can work well. Be careful of fringes if the forehead is low. Keep full fringes narrow.
Selena Gomez
Heart
If the forehead is broad and the chin a little pointy you may want to create the illusion of a slightly narrower forehead and broader chin. Long or short fringes can do this easily for the upper part. Keep interest and movement around the lower part of the hairstyle, either chin length or longer to make the hair a strong and interesting distracting feature.
Reece Witherspoon
Oblong
Probably the easiest to work with as so many styles and shapes can give a subtle tweak where not much is needed.
Jessica Alba
Styling
If your hair is healthy and you get the cut right you can say goodbye to styling struggles, as the haircut will do most of the work. Use LifeSaver Prewash Treatment system by 3’’’More Inches to keep hair in peak condition. Wash at least every 2 to 3 days with the appropriate Cashmere Protein Shampoo and Conditioner.
Towel dry hair and apply the styling products that suit for either boosting thickness or smoothing, control and shine. Thicker Quicker for boosting finer flatter hair, Volumising Mousse to smooth and control textured hair, Magic Oil as a natural replacement for silicone serums to ease blowdrying and give loose frizz-free hair.
Prep the hair into shape with a diffuser to take most of the moisture out. Then start with the brush and dryer to give finish around the hairline, the top layers and the tips of the hair. These are the most important parts. If you have more time, the style really needs it, or you just love blowdrying, then the unseen hair underneath at the back can be tackled for a complete finish. Finally, a little Ten Second Transformation provides that smooth natural texture and shine to most styles, and if needed, a mist of Holding Spray keeps everything in place.
Michael Van Clarke
The word ‘healthspan’ has been absorbed into our daily lexicon. It pops up as often as lifespan now as the movement to maximise health progresses. Healthspan is the length of time a person is healthy, not just alive, and was coined by gerontologists in a 1987 Science article. A period of life in which you are healthy and free from chronic disease or disability.
