Heart face shape: how to tell and what suits it
A heart face shape is widest at the forehead and narrows through the cheekbones to a slim jaw and a pointed chin, sometimes with a widow's peak at the hairline. The most flattering styles add fullness low on the face, like chin-length volume and bottom-heavy frames, and use bangs to break up the forehead. Our free face shape detector can confirm it by comparing your forehead and jaw widths in a selfie.
How to tell if you have a heart face
Pull your hair back, look straight into a mirror in even light, and check these:
- With your hair pulled back, your forehead looks like the broadest part of your face.
- Your face narrows clearly from the cheekbones down to a slim jaw.
- Your chin comes to a soft point when you look straight on.
- You may have a widow's peak, a V-shaped dip in the middle of your hairline, though plenty of heart faces do not.
- Forehead
- The widest part of your face, sometimes topped by a V-shaped widow's peak.
- Cheekbones
- Wide and often high, about as wide as the forehead or a little narrower.
- Jaw
- Clearly narrower than the forehead, sloping inward toward the chin.
- Chin
- Narrow and often pointed: the tip of the heart.
- Length
- A little longer than the width at the forehead.
Heart or diamond or oval?
Heart vs diamond
Both taper to a narrow chin, so look at your temples. On a heart face the forehead stays full width above the cheekbones. On a diamond face the temples curve inward, so the forehead looks clearly narrower than the cheeks.
Heart vs oval
An oval face also narrows toward the chin, but gradually, and its forehead is a bit narrower than its cheekbones. A heart face has a more obvious step from wide forehead to slim jaw, and the chin ends in more of a point.
Hairstyles for a heart face
Collarbone lob with bent ends
Ends that flick out or bend between the jaw and the collarbone put width where your face is narrowest, which balances the forehead.
Long layers with waves from the jaw down
Keeping the hair smooth near the temples and letting waves or curls begin at the jaw shifts the volume to the lower half of your face.
Side-swept long pixie
Longer pieces swept across the forehead soften its width, while the short back and sides show off your cheekbones and eyes.
Textured crop with a forward fringe
For short hair of any gender, brushing some length forward or to the side covers part of the forehead, and tidy sides avoid adding width up top.
Curly A-line shape, fullest below the cheekbones
Ask for longer layers at the bottom so curls or coils build volume around the jaw instead of at the crown. Twist-outs and wash-and-gos worn with a side part do this well.
Low, loose bun with face-framing strands
Gathering the hair low at the nape, with a few strands left out at the jaw, avoids stacking height above the widest zone.
Bangs
Bangs sit right over the widest part of a heart face, so they do a lot of the balancing for you. Side-swept bangs, or curtain bangs that end around the cheekbones, break up the forehead. If you have a widow's peak or a cowlick, skip short blunt bangs, which tend to split or stand up there, and go for longer, wispy pieces you can sweep to one side.
What to skip
- Lots of height at the crown, like a teased top or a high, tight bun: it makes the top of your face look even broader.
- Short cuts that are full at the temples and tight at the nape and jaw: they exaggerate the taper.
- Heavy browline frames or frames decorated along the top: they add weight to the widest part of your face.
Glasses for a heart face
- Bottom-heavy frames. Thicker lower rims, or lenses that are deeper at the bottom, put visual weight below the eyes, toward the narrower half of your face.
- Oval frames with a thin top. Soft lenses echo the curve of your chin, and a slim upper rim keeps the brow line light.
- Rimless or thin metal frames. With little or no frame across the top, nothing adds bulk at forehead level.
Makeup, brows, and beards
Contour and blush
Contour along the sides of the forehead near the hairline and a tiny bit at the tip of the chin. Keep blush on the apples and blend it outward toward the ears, staying low rather than sweeping up to the temples. Highlight under the eyes and on the cupid's bow to draw attention toward the center and lower half of your face.
Brows
Keep the arch low and rounded. A high, sharp peak adds drama to the top of the face, which is already the broadest part. Medium thickness works well, and tails left at their natural length, rather than drawn out, keep the forehead from looking wider.
Beards and facial hair
A fuller beard that adds bulk at the chin and lower jaw, such as a full beard or a boxed beard kept wider at the bottom, balances a broad forehead. Skip a pointed goatee, which stretches the point of the chin.
How the detector reads it
Heart needs two readings at once: a forehead at least 92% of your cheekbone width (a typical face reads about 90%), and a forehead at least 19 percentage points wider than your jaw. A forehead of 95% with a jaw of 72%, for example, qualifies, and a bigger gap scores higher. A narrow chin, where the two sides of the jaw meet at under 95 degrees, adds a small bonus. A wide forehead paired with an average jaw does not qualify and usually comes out oval. Pull your hair off your forehead before the photo, since hair over the temples can hide its true width.
Try the free face shape detector. It measures your face from one photo, and the photo never leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is a heart face shape attractive?
Attractiveness does not come from a face shape, and no shape is better than another. Heart faces often have features people like to highlight, such as wide cheekbones and a defined chin. Styling is about choosing what to show, not fixing anything.
Does a heart face shape always have a widow's peak?
No. A widow's peak shows up on many heart faces and often appears in descriptions, but the shape is defined by a wide forehead and a narrow chin. A straight or rounded hairline can still be heart-shaped.
Is short hair good for a heart face shape?
Yes, as long as you keep some length or fringe at the forehead and avoid volume at the temples. A side-swept pixie or a chin-length bob with fullness at the ends both work.
What is the difference between a heart face and an inverted triangle face?
Many guides treat them as the same shape: wide on top, narrow at the chin. When the two are separated, inverted triangle usually means straighter lines and a flatter hairline, while heart means softer curves and a pointed chin.
