Should I get bangs? How to match fringe to your forehead & face shape

Two measurements decide 80% of whether bangs flatter your face: your upper facial third (hairline-to-brow height as a percentage of total face length) and your cheekbone-to-jaw taper. If your upper third is 35% or more of your face height, bangs visually rebalance your vertical thirds immediately. If your upper third is compact (under 30%), heavy blunt bangs will crowd your eyes, whereas long parted curtain bangs that start deep at the crown elongate the face.

Classic curtain bangs part cleanly down the middle with an open triangle showing the center of your forehead, sweeping outward past the cheekbones. Bottleneck bangs keep a wispy, sheer bridge of shorter hairs across the center of the brow (shaped like the narrow neck of a bottle) before curving wider around the eyes and cheekbones - making them much more flattering for taller foreheads that still want movement.

Oblong (long) and oval faces with a taller forehead carry straight blunt or French bangs best, because the horizontal line across the brow visually shortens total face length and emphasizes the eyes. Round and square faces should avoid heavy straight-across blunt cuts, which boxy-out the cheeks and jaw - wispy see-through or diagonal side-swept fringe works much better.

Yes - the key is keeping vertical skin visible in the center of the forehead and extending the outer corners of the fringe past the cheekbones toward the jaw angle. Long cheekbone-grazing curtain bangs or airy wispy bangs create diagonal lines that slim a round cheek and soften a square jaw.

Always ask your stylist to cut bangs dry or minimal-tension damp, and specify the exact landmark where the shortest center piece and longest outer piece should hit when dry (for example, 'center grazing the bridge of my nose, outer wings tapering to the bottom of my cheekbones'). Wet hair shrinks by 1 to 2 cm as it dries, especially if you have wavy (2A–2C) or curly hair.