Is a heart face the same as an inverted triangle?

They are close, and some systems treat them as one. Both are wide at the brow and narrow at the chin. Where they are separated, heart usually implies a softer curve and a more pointed chin, and inverted triangle implies a straighter taper. The styling advice is effectively the same for both.

Do I need a widow's peak to have a heart-shaped face?

No. A widow's peak is a hairline pattern and is inherited independently of the width of the forehead. The shape is decided by measuring, not by the hairline.

What length is best for a heart-shaped face?

Anything that puts weight at chin level or below. A lob finishing just under the chin is the most reliable option because it adds width exactly where the face is narrowest. Very short crops are harder, because they remove the volume from the part of the face that needs it.

Heart face shape

The forehead is as wide as or wider than the cheekbones, near 1.00, while the jaw is much narrower, near 0.72.

Last reviewed 10 August 2026By Sravya

The ratios that define it

face

Length ÷ cheek: 1.22
Forehead ÷ cheek: 1.00
Jaw ÷ cheek: 0.72

These are editorial thresholds for a repeatable comparison, not anthropometric norms. Landing a few hundredths away from a figure means nothing. Landing a long way from one of them is what decides the shape.

Work out my face shape

A heart face is widest at the forehead and narrows through the cheekbones to a comparatively small chin. The taper is the point. Where an oval narrows gently, a heart narrows noticeably, so the lower third of the face carries much less width than the upper third.

A widow's peak at the hairline often gets treated as the definition of this shape. It is not. Plenty of heart faces have a straight hairline and plenty of other shapes have a peak. The proportion between brow width and jaw width is what decides it.

How to check whether this is your shape

Measure the forehead at its widest, the cheekbones at their widest, and the jaw from angle to angle. On a heart face the forehead figure will be close to or above the cheekbone figure.

Then compare the jaw with the cheekbones. The threshold used here puts a heart jaw near 0.72 of cheekbone width, which is a large gap and usually obvious once measured. If the jaw is only slightly narrower, the shape is closer to oval.

Take the measurement with hair fully off the face. A fringe or hair worn forward at the temples hides exactly the width this shape is defined by, and that single error sends more heart faces to a wrong answer than anything else.

What it gets mistaken for

Mistaken for
diamond
Diamond is widest at the cheekbones with a narrow forehead, near 0.78. Heart is widest at the forehead. If the brow is narrower than the cheekbones, it is diamond.
Mistaken for
oval
Oval also tapers, but far less: a jaw near 0.82 of cheekbone width rather than 0.72, and a forehead near 0.92 rather than 1.00.

Where the seven shapes actually sit

measured ratios

length ÷ cheekbone width →jaw ÷ cheekbone →

Round and square sit 0.04 apart on length and 0.09 apart on jaw. That is the entire difference between them, and it is why two sites can give you two different answers from the same face. Ours shows you where you landed rather than only what it decided.

The principle behind every suggestion below

The width sits high and the weight is missing low, so the useful moves put fullness at and below the jaw and keep bulk away from the temples.

Hair

Worth reaching for

A wavy bob or lob finishing below the chin, where the width is needed
Long layers that begin near the cheekbone and carry weight down to the jaw
A soft side-swept fringe that breaks up forehead width diagonally

Works against it

A heavy, blunt fringe, which flattens the forehead into an even wider horizontal band
Volume concentrated at the crown and temples with nothing happening lower down

See the cuts for this shape, and the wording to give a stylist.

Say this at the salon

My forehead is wider than my jaw, so I want the fullness sitting at chin level and below, and nothing that adds width up at the temples.

Naming the proportion and what you want done about it gives a stylist something to work with. A photograph of someone else does not, because their hair is not yours.

Glasses

Frames whose visual weight sits low move the eye down towards the narrower part of the face, which is the direction that balances the taper. A heavy browline does the reverse and widens the part that is already widest.

Worth reaching for

Aviator frames
Bottom-weighted frames
Light square frames without heavy brow bars

Works against it

Very top-heavy frames that add more width across an already wide brow

See the frame shapes for this face, and the width in millimetres.

Where people go wrong

Using a widow's peak as the test
The hairline shape and the face shape are separate things. Measure the forehead width against the jaw width instead, which is what actually defines the taper.
Cutting a full blunt fringe to hide the forehead
It covers the height of the forehead but keeps its full width, and the straight edge draws a horizontal line across the widest part. A side-swept or curtain fringe reduces the visible width instead of underlining it.
Measuring with hair over the temples
Hair sitting forward at the temples hides the exact width this shape is defined by. Pin everything back before measuring or the result will read as oval.

Common questions

Sources and review record

Google for Developers
Face landmark detection guide for Web
How the browser tool obtains face landmarks from a photograph.
Last checked 2026-07-31
Matrix
How to choose a hairstyle for your face shape
Face-shape descriptions and the visual-balance basis of the hair suggestions.
Last checked 2026-07-31
All Things Hair
How do I determine my face shape?
Comparing relative face length, forehead, cheekbone and jaw widths.
Last checked 2026-07-31
Zenni Optical
Face Shape Guide
The contrast and balance approach used in the glasses suggestions.
Last checked 2026-07-31

Not sure this is you?

The tool measures all seven and shows you how close the runner-up came, which is the useful thing when two shapes score near each other.