Struggling to find a haircut that makes you feel like your best self? Trending styles may be a great source of inspiration, but the flood of ever-changing ‘dos can be counterintuitive to finding the perfect fit for your features. When searching for a haircut that truly suits you, start with the one thing that never changes: your face shape. Consider it the foundational blueprint for tweaking any emerging or storied style that comes your way.

We spoke with some of the best celebrity hairstylists around to for tips, tricks, and advice on how to choose a haircut and style that suits you the best. Keep scrolling for more!

How to Determine Your Face Shape

Many people have a distinct face shape. They are generally categorized into six shapes: oval, long, square, round, diamond, and heart-shaped. If you can’t tell by looking in a mirror what shape you are, there is a way to measure the face that can point you in the right direction.

If you try that and still aren’t sure about your face shape, chances are it doesn’t really matter—beauty advice about face shapes is primarily designed for women with strong features that they want to downplay, such as those with distinctly round, square, long, or heart-shaped faces.

Women with oval and diamond faces tend to have the most versatility; instead of focusing primarily on flattering their face shapes, they may want to pay more attention to hair texture and thickness. The same applies if you don’t have an obvious face shape.

Maybe your personality or the length of your hair is more important to you. If you have a distinct hair texture like super fine or very curly, exploring flattering cuts for a specific hair type may be a better road to take. Remember, too, that everyone is different and you don’t have to follow every beauty rule in the book.

Highlighting the Best Features For Your Face Shape

Since there will be many hairstyles that suit your face shape, it may be difficult to know where to begin. The basic rule of finding a great haircut for your face shape is to highlight your best features.

According to the “rules,” there are a few features to look for:

• Heart-Shaped Face: Try to draw attention to your eyes and cheekbones with bangs or volume along the sides.
• Long Face: The longer your hair is, the longer it will make your face look. It’s often best to go with shorter styles or those that have plenty of volume. Bangs are great as well.
• Oval Face: Nearly every hairstyle flatters this shape. If yours is on the longer side, follow some of the suggestions for long faces. Finding a good style for your hair texture is probably more important.
• Diamond Face: Soften the more pointed chin and forehead by opting for shorter cuts or various fringe styles. Concentrating fullness at the cheekbones can create balance by emphasizing the fullest part of the face.
• Round Face: Some of the better options include haircuts that are below your chin. With curly or wavy hair, going too short may add more width to the cheek area. Short styles that add volume on top can elongate your face.
• Square Face: You may want to play down a strong, angular jaw. Texture, in the form of curls or choppy ends, does a brilliant job at this.​

Bangs are really more an issue of hair texture than face shape. Curly hair and super wavy hair are two of the biggest concerns with bangs, but that doesn’t rule them out entirely.

Round Face Shapes

Round faces are vibrant and have a healthy look. Yet, many women who have a round face want to make their face appear longer, leaner, and less round.

According to celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa, if you have a round face, you want to create height and length. “A hairstyle with longer layers will make your neck and face appear more slender,” she explains. Celebrity hairstylist Kristan Serafino also recommends a center part, long bob, and short cut with a full top. “Avoid harsh angular styles, tight curls, and thick bangs that all shorten the appearance of the face,” she says.

This does not mean that you cannot go short with a round face. Pixies with plenty of volume and long bobs are also very flattering.

Square Face Shapes

Square faces look great with side-swept bangs and shoulder-length hair. Both of these can soften some of the stronger features of this shape.

Celebrity hairstylist Enzo Angileri says a tousled bob works well with a square-shaped face since it emphasizes layers and will de-emphasize squareness. Serafino also notes that styles that soften a wider forehead and jawline are ideal: “The best hairstyles will soften the edges of the face line with wispy layers, sweeping side fringe, and volume at the crown of the head.”

Long Face Shapes

Long faces are lean and offer many style possibilities. It’s a shape that looks fabulous with extra body on the sides, so waves and curls are a great choice. Consider adding bangs if you feel your hairline’s too high. They not only shorten the face but will also highlight your eyes.

Oblong faces are best complemented with styles that have width at the cheekbones to distract from the length. Potempa suggests side-swept bangs to shorten the face. Says Angileri, “A shoulder-length haircut is the most flattering—somewhere between the chin and shoulders. You want to create width, which you can easily do with waves.”

Oval Face Shapes

Oval faces tend to look good in everything, so you can follow whatever hair trend you like. From pixies to shags and really long locks to short, funky styles, they’re all up for grabs. To help you narrow down your options, concentrate on styles that fit your hair texture, personality, and lifestyle.

Practically unanimously, the stylists interviewed for this piece said that women with oval face shapes can sport the most versatile cuts. Potempa says long layers allow for movement, especially when waving your hair. Additionally, adding volume to the sides rounds out an oval face by adding width.

Byrdie Tip

If your oval face is on the longer side, avoid styles that add height since they may elongate your face even more. These include a big bun, a teased updo, or a spiky short cut.

Diamond-Shaped Faces

While diamond-shaped faces are amongst the minority, they rival the versatility of their more oval counterparts. Styles that soften the more angular features of this shape, mainly the characteristic pointed chin and narrowed hairline, may prove to be the most flattering across various hair textures.

Shorter styles like bobs or lobs are great for softening a more defined jawline. Shags or other layered cuts that emphasize fullness at the cheekbones can provide balance by highlighting the widest part of the face. You may opt for deep side parts or side-swept bangs to further deemphasize the forehead, while fuller fringe or curtain bangs create the illusion of a wider or longer shape.

Heart-Shaped Faces

Heart-shaped faces tend to have a beautiful bone structure that is neither too hard or too soft. You’ll also find that many hairstyles naturally look very romantic with your shape.

According to PRO Beauty Tools’ Celebrity Hairstylist Johnny Lavoy, heart-shaped faces can compensate for a wider forehead with long, face-framing layers. Potempa says bangs are a great way to conceal a wider forehead, and that styling your long layers “down and out” (e.g., curling them away from your face) helps draw away from the width of your forehead.

Hairstyles for All Face Shapes

The Bob

If there is one style that looks great on almost everyone, this is it. Some people call it the “perfect haircut” because it is so flattering on all face shapes and hair textures. It can also be styled to fit your personality and lifestyle.

This universally flattering cut falls between the chin and shoulders. It looks good straight, wavy, curled, air-dried, or blow-dried straight.

Short Cropped Hair

Short hair tends to suit all face shapes, although each face shape has things to consider when going short. Round faces, for example, can look rounder with the wrong short cut, but some short haircuts can look simply amazing.

Bangs

Bangs can freshen up an ordinary cut. They can take years off a face and they bring attention to the eyes. Better yet, bangs are flattering on almost all face shapes.

Again, your goal is to get bangs that make your face appear more oval.

Do What Makes You Feel Best

When you read about hairstyles and face shapes, you may feel inundated by rules. While these are guidelines for flattering haircuts, they are really just suggestions. The secret to looking gorgeous is really in one’s attitude. The last thing you want to do is get a haircut that makes you feel unlike yourself.

The good news is that almost all of the trendiest hairstyles can look great on all face shapes. Bobs do. Shoulder-length cuts really do. Bangs do. Long hair does. Even the pixie works on most face shapes.

If you want a haircut that doesn’t abide by the “rules” of your face shape, then, by all means, get that haircut. How you feel about yourself always trumps what the beauty industry thinks is flattering. And if you have your heart set on a certain cut, tell your stylist. The two of you can work on finding the best style within the cut that suits you best.