Byrdie Boy: How to Determine Your Face Shape

We’ve all done it: We've shown up at our hairdresser’s or barber’s with a photo of some celebrity and said, “I want this.” After a hearty chuckle, the stylist does as we ask, but when they hand us the mirror, the cut never looks quite how we imagined it would. The problem: face shape. 

The shape of our face can be a major influence on how hairstyles, eyeglasses, beard styles, even brow shapes appear. What looks great on Brad Pitt might not work for Justin Bieber—or for you. There’s a reason why only one Jonas brother dared to go long. 

That’s not to say your face shape should dictate how you do your hair. It’s just that some male-identifying individuals are super into this, using their face shape as a guide to choosing a hairstyle, a beard length, or eyeglasses that fit a certain proportion. But there are those who don’t care and do what they like anyway—and if they are happy, more power to them. 

As most articles involving face shape tend to cater to those who identify as female, we did the leg work to show you how to determine your face shape if you’re male-identifying, and what to do with that knowledge. 

To help us get the scoop on all things face-shape-related, we gathered a group of plastic surgeons, stylists, and those in the know to share some insight into how to determine your face shape if you’re male-identifying—and how to make the most of it. We talked to plastic surgeon Smita Ramanadham, MD; plastic surgeon Roxanne Grawe of Roxy Plastic Surgery, MD; NYC-based double board-certified facial plastic surgeon Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD; dermatologist Terrence Keaney, MD; and Jason Biggs, senior master barber at Babe of Brooklyn.

What Determines Face Shape? 

While we all share a more or less identical skull at the outset, Keaney explains that it’s the sex hormones (namely estrogen and testosterone) that inevitably kick in during our development that influence the growth of the skull and underlying soft tissue, ultimately determining face shape as well as the unique features and characteristics of our face. On the surface, Vasyukevich points to the forehead, cheeks, jawline, and chin as the most important structures that determine how facial shape is perceived. 

How Are Male-Identifying Face Shapes Different From Female-Identifying? 

Traditionally, face shape has fallen into two camps: masculine and feminine, but with new takes on gender revising such polarization, we’re looking at face shape from a more neutral perspective. Grawe claims that while female-identifying individuals more commonly have oval- and heart-shaped faces (traditionally thought of as “feminine”), male-identifying individuals tend to have boxier (“masculine”) faces that are more square-shaped, with a larger, more angled jaw and an upper and lower face that is more equally balanced than its feminine counterpart, which usually narrows toward the lower third (hence the heart shape). 

Keaney adds that the male forehead tends to be higher and broader, sloping backward and ending at a prominent supraorbital ridge (that bony line that runs atop the eye area). The stereotypical male cheek is also flatter and wider. And let’s not forget the nose: While a stereotypically masculine nose tends to be straight and wide, a stereotypically feminine nose is usually narrow and concave, with a “swoop” to it.

Grawe points out that not every male-identifying individual has traditionally masculine features, and vice versa. Essentially, when it comes to face shape, there’s no such thing as an ideal.

How to Find Your Face Shape

Face shape is determined primarily by the relationship between the most prominent features of the face to each other, Vasyukevich explains; however there are no hard and fast rules or measurements involved. Rather, Ramanadham recommends paying attention to four facial dimensions: 

•Forehead: The width at the widest portion of the forehead or frontal bones. Measure from the end of each eyebrow at the widest part.

•Cheeks: The width at the widest portion of the cheekbones, just below and lateral to the outer corner of the eye. Measure from widest portion of the upper cheek to the other cheek.

•Jaws: The width at the widest portion of the jaw or mandibular angles. This is typically the area in which you can feel the muscle that tightens and becomes fuller when you clench your teeth (the masseter muscle).

•Center of Face: The length measured at the center of the forehead at the hairline to the bottom edge of the chin in the center.

Now grab a mirror and find some good lighting as we show you below how to determine your face shape from the eight basic face shapes if you’re male-identifying, and what to do with that knowledge: