The best hairstyles for a long face do two things: put width at the sides, around the cheekbones, and take length off the top. Volume on top and long, flat lengths both add to the vertical line; bangs, fullness at cheek and jaw level, and ends that stop around the collarbones break it. That is the whole method, and the rest of this guide is about where exactly each line should fall.
A long face, also called oblong, measures at least 1.50 times as long as it is wide, with forehead, cheekbones and jaw close in width. Check yours in the Face Shape Calculator, and if you are between oval and oblong, read oval vs oblong first: a long oval needs less of this.
Why width, not length, is the lever
A long face already has length, so a haircut has one useful job: add width and interrupt the vertical. Hair works as part of the outline. Height at the crown extends the face upward; long, straight hair falling flat along both cheeks draws two more vertical lines beside it. Fullness at the sides does the opposite, because a horizontal mass at cheekbone level makes the face read wider and therefore shorter.
This is also why the advice for a long face is close to the reverse of the advice for a round one. Face shapes are a styling framework, and these rules describe how lines read, not what you are allowed to wear.
Bangs: the strongest tool
Nothing shortens a long face as directly as bangs, because they cover part of the forehead and move the visible top of the face down. Full bangs that skim the brows do this most. Curtain bangs work too, if they are long enough to reach the cheekbones and dense enough to cover a good part of the forehead.
How long and how heavy depends on your forehead. A high forehead can carry fuller, longer bangs; a short forehead needs lighter ones, or it reads crowded. Comparing the three vertical sections of your face, as facial thirds and fifths explains, tells you which you have. Bangs by face shape goes through the bang types in detail.
Where the layers should start
For a long face, the fullest part of the hair should sit between the cheekbones and the jaw. That puts the shortest layer around cheekbone level, with the layers below it adding movement and width down to the jaw.
To brief a stylist precisely, find the line yourself. Look straight into a mirror, hold a comb horizontally at your cheekbones and note where it crosses your hair; do the same at the jaw. Those two marks are where the volume should be. Layers that start much higher add height; layers that start at the shoulders leave the face framed by flat lengths.
Lengths that work
| Length | Why it works or not |
|---|---|
| Chin-length bob with fullness at the sides | Adds a horizontal at the lower face; one of the best lengths |
| Lob to the collarbones, layered | Width at cheek and jaw level, ends that stop before the length takes over |
| Shoulder length with waves | Waves add width all the way down |
| Long, layered from the cheekbones | Works, especially with bangs |
| Long, one length, straight | The hardest: two long vertical lines |
| Pixie with height on top | Adds length; keep short cuts fuller at the sides |
The bob has its own guide, where a bob should end, because a long face is one of the few where a bob ending near the chin helps rather than hurts.
What adds length, and the part
- Height at the crown. Backcombed volume, high top knots and high ponytails all extend the face upward.
- A center part with flat sides. It splits the face down the middle and lets the hair hang in two straight lines. A side part adds a diagonal sweep across the forehead.
- Sleek, scraped-back styles. They show the full length of the face with nothing at the sides. A low bun or ponytail with some looseness at the temples is the easier version.
For frames, earrings and brows, see the oblong face shape guide; for glasses specifically, glasses for a long face.