Round Face Shape: How to Tell If Your Face Is Round

A round face has a length close to its width. The widest part is across the cheekbones and cheeks, and the outline curves continuously from the temples, around the jaw and to the chin without a clear corner anywhere. The chin is broad and rounded rather than pointed.

Round is the shortest of the common face shapes. Of the 22 front-facing portraits we used to calibrate our detector, the two round faces had the lowest length ratios, around 1.1 times their cheekbone width, compared with about 1.2 for most oval faces and 1.3 for oblong ones.

These are the measurements our face shape detector treats as typical of each shape. Widths and length are divided by the cheekbone width, so they compare faces of any size. Real faces vary around these values, and a face between two columns reads as a blend of both shapes.

Pull your hair back and check these points in a mirror or a straight-on photo:

• Measure your face length from the top of the forehead to the chin and your width across the cheekbones. In a round face the two are close.
• Trace your jawline with a finger. A round face has no clear corner where the jaw turns toward the chin.
• Look at the chin. Round faces have a broad, rounded chin rather than a narrow or pointed one.
• If the length and width are close but your jaw has clear corners and a flat chin, compare with the square face shape.
• If your face is clearly longer than wide but still soft, compare with the oval face shape.

Round and square faces are both short and wide. The difference is the jaw: a square face has a wide jaw with visible corners and a flatter chin, while a round face curves smoothly through the jaw. In our calibration the two were each other's most common runner-up, so a reading that splits between them is normal.

Oval faces share the soft jaw but are clearly longer. Weight changes the cheeks more than the bone structure, so a face can read round at one weight and oval at another.

Styling advice for round faces usually aims to add length and some angles. Height on top, side parts, long layers that fall past the chin and asymmetrical cuts make a round face read longer. Chin-length rounded bobs and a lot of volume at the cheeks tend to add width.

For glasses, rectangular and angular frames add structure, and frames slightly wider than the face balance the cheeks. Small round frames tend to repeat the roundness. As with any face shape, these are starting points rather than rules.

See seven hairstyles for a round face, for women and men →

Close-up selfies are the most common cause. A phone's wide-angle lens held near the face enlarges the nose and cheeks and makes the face look wider and shorter. Smiling widens the lower face, and tilting the head down shortens it. Take the photo at eye level from arm's length or farther, with a neutral expression, and compare two or three readings with the face shape detector.