What face shape am I? A 2-minute way to tell

How do I find my face shape?

Measure four distances with a soft tape or a ruler held flat, then compare them. Measure the forehead at its widest, roughly halfway between the brows and the hairline. Measure the cheekbones at their widest point, just below the outer corner of each eye. Measure the jaw from the point below one ear where the jaw turns, to the same point on the other side. Then measure face length from the centre of the hairline to the bottom of the chin. The calculator above does the comparison for you, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded and no photograph is needed. If you do not have a tape, a photograph taken straight on at arm's length works for proportions, because only the ratios between the numbers matter, not the units.

What are the seven face shapes?

Each shape is a description of which width is largest and how long the face is relative to its width.

Oval

Longer than it is wide, about one and a half times; the forehead slightly wider than the jaw, and the chin rounded.

Round

Length and width close to equal, the widest point at the cheeks, and soft jaw corners.

Square

Length and width close to equal, forehead, cheekbones and jaw of similar width, and angular jaw corners.

Oblong

Clearly longer than it is wide, with the three widths similar to one another. Sometimes called rectangle.

Heart

A forehead noticeably wider than the jaw, narrowing to a smaller chin.

Diamond

The cheekbones clearly the widest point, with a narrower forehead and a narrower jaw.

Triangle

A jaw wider than the forehead. Sometimes called pear; the least common of the seven.

Why do I seem to be between two shapes?

Because almost everybody is. The seven shapes are labels for regions of a continuous range, not categories faces are sorted into, and a face that measures halfway between round and oval is not a measurement error. Hair, beard and weight also move the reading: a full beard can make a round face measure square at the jaw, and a fringe hides where the hairline is. When the numbers sit near a boundary, read the advice for both shapes and use the parts they agree on. The point of knowing your shape is to understand which width you might want to balance, not to obey a chart.

Does face shape actually decide which haircut suits me?

Partly. Face shape tells you about proportion — where the face is widest and how long it is — and haircuts, beards and frames can add or remove visual width and height at specific points. That is real and it is the reason the advice exists. But it is one input among several. Hair texture and density decide what a cut can physically do; the hairline decides what a fringe has to cover; and how much time you will spend styling each morning decides what survives a week. A cut that is ideal for your shape and impossible for your hair is not ideal. That is the gap LEVEL's analysis is built to close: it looks at the hair, the hairline and the growth you actually have across seven photographs, rather than at a single outline.

Can an app tell my face shape from a photo?

It can estimate it, with the same limits as a tape measure plus a few of its own. A camera close to the face widens the nose and narrows the ears; a tilted head shortens or lengthens the face; and hair at the temples or a beard at the jaw hides the outline being measured. An honest tool says how confident it is and asks for a straight, level photograph at a normal distance. Be wary of any app that turns face shape into a score or a ranking: shape is a description of proportion, and no shape is better than another.