A heart-shaped face is widest at the forehead, a little narrower at the cheekbones and much narrower at the jaw, so it tapers to a fine chin. Measured, the forehead is at least as wide as the cheekbones and the jaw sits at roughly 65 to 80 percent of the cheekbone width. Enter your four measurements in the Face Shape Calculator to check.
Heart is a styling category, one of the seven outlines in the face shape chart. It describes how the face reads at a glance, which is what a haircut or frame changes, not an anatomical type.
How to tell if you have a heart-shaped face
Take the four measurements in the measuring guide: forehead (A), cheekbones (B), jaw (C) and length (D). Divide each by B.
| Ratio | Heart: most typical range | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A/B (forehead) | 1.00–1.12 | Forehead as wide as the cheekbones or wider |
| C/B (jaw) | 0.65–0.80 | Jaw much narrower than the cheekbones |
| D/B (length) | 1.25–1.50 | Moderately long |
Widest point: the forehead. This is the defining measurement and the one to take with the most care. Pull all hair back, including baby hairs at the temples, and measure across the widest part of the forehead, usually about halfway between brows and hairline.
The taper. From forehead to jaw the face narrows steadily, and the jaw is the narrowest of the three widths by a clear margin. The chin often looks pointed or fine because the jaw line runs inward to meet it.
Length: middle of the scale. Heart faces range from fairly short to fairly long. The widths identify the shape; the length mostly decides which neighbor is second.
A typical heart face: forehead 13.5 cm, cheekbones 13 cm, jaw 9.5 cm, length 18 cm. The ratios are 1.04, 0.73 and 1.38, and the calculator scores it 98 for heart, 67 for diamond and 61 for oval.
Heart or diamond, heart or oval?
Two shapes share the narrow jaw.
- Diamond also has a narrow jaw, but its forehead is narrow too, under about 0.88 of the cheekbones, so the cheekbones are clearly the widest point. The whole question comes down to forehead versus cheekbones, which heart vs diamond settles with a side-by-side table.
- Oval has a forehead slightly narrower than the cheekbones and a gentler taper, with the jaw typically at 75 to 88 percent. A heart face with a softer chin often scores oval second.
Two things people use to diagnose a heart face are not part of the measurement. A widow’s peak is the shape of the hairline at the center of the forehead; it says nothing about how wide the forehead is. When you measure length, start from where the hairline runs on either side of the peak, not from its tip. Inverted triangle is the name some charts use for the same outline: wide at the top, narrow at the chin.
Hair for a heart-shaped face
The forehead already carries the width, so a good cut does one of two things: keeps the top quiet, or adds fullness lower down. Volume around the jaw and chin, as in a lob or soft waves that start at the jaw, fills in the narrowest part of the face. Side-swept or curtain bangs cover part of the forehead width with a diagonal instead of a solid band.
What works against it is lift and width at the crown and temples combined with flat, close sides at the jaw, which widens the top and narrows the bottom further. See bangs by face shape and where a bob should end for the two cuts where this matters most.
Glasses for a heart-shaped face
Frames follow the same idea: little visual weight at the top, a little more at the bottom. Rimless, semi-rimless and thin metal frames keep the brow line light, and shapes that are slightly fuller along the lower rim, such as aviators, pull the eye down. Frame width should sit at or just under your forehead width. Heavy browline frames do the opposite, drawing a thick line across the widest part of the face.
Glasses for a heart-shaped face has the full frame-by-frame verdict, and glasses frame size shows how to translate a measurement into the numbers on a frame.
Earrings, necklines and brows
Earrings that are wider at the bottom than the top, such as teardrops or chandeliers, add width at the jaw where the face narrows; the full guide is earrings for your face shape. Wider necklines such as scoop and sweetheart repeat that balance below the chin, and necklines for your face shape adds neck length and bust to the decision.
For brows, a soft, rounded, fairly low arch suits a heart face better than a high dramatic peak, which adds emphasis at the widest part. The brow shape guide shows how to map yours.