What is An Oblong Face Shape? Plus the Best Hairstyles & Accessories

Are you wondering if you might have an oblong face shape—and, if so, how best to accentuate it? We’ve got you covered. An oblong face is rectangular, narrow, and longer than it is wide. Thus, hairstyles and accessories that add width, volume, and dimension to the face are most flattering with an oblong shape. In this article, we’ll explain the defining features of an oblong face and show you how to determine your face shape, plus offer plenty of styling tips to complement an oblong face shape!

Oblong Face Shape: Overview

Oblong faces are long, narrow, and rectangular, with a forehead, cheekbones, and jawline that are all similar in width. To complement the shape, try hairstyles and accessories that add the illusion of width. For hairstyles, try bangs, loose waves, or a curly bob. Square and cat-eye glasses look great on an oblong face.

Section 1 of 8:

What is an oblong face shape?

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Oblong faces are long and narrow. This face shape is also sometimes called a “rectangular” face shape; it’s similar to the square shape but elongated and slender, with the forehead, cheekbones, and jawline all approximately the same width. Oblong faces can also feature a high forehead, well-defined oval chin, high cheekbones, and long nose.^{[1]
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- Female celebrities with oblong faces: Liv Tyler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, Alexa Chung, Riley Keough, and Meryl Streep
- Male celebrities with oblong faces: Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Adam Levine, and Ricky Martin

Section 2 of 8:

Hairstyles for an Oblong Face Shape

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Feminine hairstyles Opt for textured and layered hairstyles if you have an oblong face. Volume is key: the fuller your hair looks while framing the sides of your face, the better! Steer clear of flat, straight hairstyles with minimal volume. Curly or wavy hair is ideal, especially with face-framing layers, side-swept bangs, and a side part. Here are a few specific ideas:^{[2]
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- Wide waves: If you have natural waves, flaunt them! If not, you can use a flat iron to create a wavy pattern in your hair. Aim to have the widest waves hit around your cheekbones.
- Blowouts: Give your hair a blowout when styling it by blowing around your face with warm air, then lightly spraying your hairline with hairspray to give it more volume and keep it away from your face.
- Bangs: Whether you opt for side-swept, curtain, or blunt bangs, they can definitely help shorten your face.
- Loose curls: Curls look fantastic with oblong face shapes—so if you have them, wear them loose and wild-looking to create more width around your face. Try teasing your curls to create even more volume!
- Lob (long bob): Lob haircuts typically fall close to shoulder length, and a layered lob is perfect for an oblong face. You could also opt for an asymmetric lob with bangs!
- Messy bun: When you want to put your hair up in a bun, leave a few pieces to hang loose and frame your face.
- Choppy shag: Shag hairstyles are the perfect option when you want volume and lots of layers—and the best part is they work with any hair length and texture!
- Curly bob: If you prefer wearing short hair, a curly chin-length bob with a soft side part is best; the curls will add width to your face. You could alternatively opt for an angled or French bob to create the illusion of a rounder face.
- Pixie cut: Want to go even shorter than a bob? A rounded pixie cut with soft bangs can shorten your forehead and create the illusion of width.
- Mid-length or long hair: Get long layers at the eye and cheekbone level for added texture, keeping the sides of your hair away from your face.
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Masculine hairstyles Just as with feminine styles, a flattering masculine hairstyle for an oblong face should add some width, with volume on the sides of your head. Additionally, you can wear a beard to shorten your face and visually counterbalance its length. Specific masculine hairstyle ideas include:
- Side-swept: For a side-swept style, keep the hair on top of your head parted to one side; this can break up the length of your face and add some width.
- Shortened sides and back: Keep the sides and back of your hair trimmed short with a little extra length on top, and opt for a side part to add dimension.
- Messy and tousled: Keep your hair at a medium length overall, and use texturizing products to give it a naturally tousled look with dimension.
- Fringe: Opt for a textured fringe to break up the length of your face and make your forehead look a little shorter while keeping the sides of your hair full.

Section 3 of 8:

Glasses Types for an Oblong Face Shape

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Glasses Glasses with striking frames and tall rims are ideal, but many styles will look good on an oblong face shape. Keep an eye out for bold, thick frames that can balance out the length of your face—even better if they have a pop of color! Your frames should highlight your eyes and add width while downplaying the length of your face. Try:^{[3]
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- Square glasses. Their sharp angles and strong shape will complement and accentuate your facial features.
- Cat-eye glasses. Their wider frames can add dimension to your face while highlighting your eyes and upper facial features.
- Aviator glasses. Aviators feature wide, teardrop-shaped lenses that work perfectly with an oblong face.
- Glasses with decorative temples. Any pair of glasses with some sort of decoration at your temples can add width to your face.

Section 4 of 8:

Makeup for an Oblong Face Shape

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Contour your jawline and temples. If you wear makeup, you can easily use it to create a flattering effect for your oblong face shape! As with hair, glasses, and other accessories, the goal is to add width and dimension to your face—and contouring can help with this! So, start by contouring your jawline and temples to create the appearance of more width than is actually there.^{[4]
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- Apply a darker makeup shade to the hollows of your temples and blend it up toward your hairline.
- Then, apply the darker makeup under your chin and blend it to contour your jawline.
- Need more contouring tips? Check out our guide to contouring oblong faces!
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Use blush and highlighter to emphasize your cheekbones. Because oblong faces are long and straight, they can sometimes look a little flat in the cheekbone area—so a combination of blush and highlighter can add some extra dimension and depth. First, apply blush horizontally across the apples of your cheeks. You don’t need a lot of it! Then, use highlighter on your cheekbones to make them stand out.
- While you have the highlighter out, you could also apply some to the center of your forehead (to add to the contouring there).

Section 5 of 8:

Clothing & Accessories to Accentuate an Oblong Face

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For clothing that’ll accentuate your oblong face, try tops with wider necklines to create more visual width, as well as necklines that end close to your neck. This includes boat neck, scoop neck, Sabrina, turtleneck, mock neck, off-the-shoulder, and square neck tops.^{[5]
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Jewelry Wear wider earrings or earrings that dangle beside your face to give your silhouette a little extra width. Wear earrings with colors closer to your skin tone (light gold for pale skin and bronze shades for darker skin) if possible. Additionally, wear shorter necklaces and chokers as opposed to longer pendant necklaces.^{[6]
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- If you have a long necklace, you could loop it around your neck a couple of times to make it appear shorter and add some depth to your look.
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Hats Try long-brimmed hats that can cover part of your forehead or wide-brimmed, floppy hats with shorter crowns. Ideal hat styles include sun hats, wide-brimmed fedoras, cloches, crusher hats, bucket hats, newsboys, derby hats, beanies, and berets (if you wear them low and tilted to one side).^{[7]
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- Avoid narrow or flat-brimmed hats with deep crowns.

Section 6 of 8:

How rare are oblong faces?

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The most common face shapes are oval, round, heart-shaped, and square, while diamond is the rarest face shape. That means oblong faces aren’t particularly common, but they aren’t a total rarity, either. Oblong faces are also considered quite attractive—even regal—because of their strong, defined features.^{[8]
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Section 7 of 8:

Determining Your Face Shape

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Measure your face and compare it with common face shape features. Using a ruler or flexible tape measure, take note of the following facial dimensions. First, measure from the center of your hairline to the bottom of your chin (the length of your face). Then, measure the width of your face a few different ways: across your forehead, cheekbones, and jawline. Compare the measurements to determine your face shape.^{[9]
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- If your face fits the description above—longer than it is wide with your forehead, cheekbones, and jawline all similar widths, you have an oblong face shape!
- To be more precise, oblong faces tend to be around 1.5 times longer than they are wide (though this doesn’t have to be exact).
- If your face measurements don’t fit the description for an oblong shape, check the section below on other face shapes to see which one fits you better.

Section 8 of 8:

Other Face Shapes

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Oval face shape Not to be confused with oblong, the oval face shape is also long, but with a forehead wider than the jaw and chin (whereas oblong faces have a similar width throughout). If you need a visual, picture an oval face like an upside-down egg—wider top, narrow bottom. Oval faces also have high cheekbones, tall foreheads, and balanced features.^{[10]
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- Celebrities with an oval face shape: Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Julia Roberts, Tyra Banks, Justin Bieber, Ryan Reynolds, and George Clooney.
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Square face shape A square face shape consists of straight sides almost as wide as they are long, angular features, and a strong jawline without many curves. Essentially, if you have a square face shape, the distance from your temple to your jawline is nearly the same as the distance from one side of your jaw to the other.^{[11]
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- Celebrities with a square face shape: Olivia Wilde, Keira Knightley, Emily Deschanel, Zendaya, Margot Robbie, Liev Schreiber, Daniel Dae Kim, and Kumail Nanjiani.
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Round face shape Round faces feature a wide forehead, full cheeks, and a rounded chin, with an overall circular appearance. Additionally, the length and width of a rounded face are nearly equal. Typically, if you have a round face, your cheekbones will be the widest part of your face.^{[12]
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- Celebrities with a round face shape: Kelly Clarkson, Emma Stone, Selena Gomez, Gemma Chan, Elle Fanning, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ed Sheeran, and Zac Efron.
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Heart-shaped face Heart-shaped faces feature high cheekbones, broad foreheads, and pointed, defined chins. The widest part of a heart-shaped face is the top, and the slimmest is the bottom. A heart-shaped face may also have a widow’s peak hairline (like an inverted triangle), but that’s not a requirement.^{[13]
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- Celebrities with a heart-shaped face: Sydney Sweeney, Scarlett Johansson, Alyson Hannigan, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, and Keanu Reeves.
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Diamond face shape A diamond-shaped face features broad cheekbones offset by narrow eyes and jawlines, with a pointed chin. Basically, if drawing a line from the center of your hairline to your cheekbones and then to your chin would form a diamond shape, that means you have a diamond face!^{[14]
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- Celebrities with a diamond face shape: Jennifer Lopez, Viola Davis, Vanessa Hudgens, Eiza Gonzalez, Kate Hudson, Matt Damon, and Robert Pattinson.