Hairstyles for Oblong Faces

An oblong face, sometimes called rectangular, is longer than it is wide, with cheeks that look straighter than a classic oval. The forehead, mid-face, and chin can each take up a fair amount of vertical space. That’s why most advice for this shape focuses on one goal: add width and avoid adding more length.

Why “add width, skip height” is the usual advice

Height at the crown, like a tall pompadour, a high top knot, or a lifted quiff, adds to a vertical line that’s often already the most noticeable thing about an oblong face. Width does the opposite. It draws the eye across instead of up and down. Bangs shorten the forehead, which is the top third of that long line.

None of this is a hard rule. Plenty of people with oblong faces like a lifted, elongated look on purpose. It can come across as sleek rather than simply long.

Cuts worth exploring

Bangs or a fringe are the most direct option, since they visibly shorten the forehead. A soft, textured fringe usually looks more natural than a hard, blunt one, and less like it’s there to fix something.

Waves or volume at the sides add width along the whole face, not just at the top. Soft waves at shoulder length or longer do this well, and the movement breaks up the straighter cheek line that sets oblong apart from oval.

Shoulder-length cuts hit a sweet spot for a lot of people. They’re long enough to add width when the hair moves or waves, and short enough not to add length the way very long, straight hair can. A layered lob is a good example, with movement built in.

Layers that start around the cheek, instead of only at the ends of long hair, add width in the middle of the face, where an oblong shape needs it most.

A low fade or a short cut without extra height works if you want short hair without making the face look longer. The key is keeping the top fairly flat rather than stacked upward. A textured crop styled without extra crown height is one way to do it.

What makes the face look longer

Very long, straight, center-parted hair with no bend or fringe is the most common way an oblong face ends up looking longer than intended. Nothing interrupts the vertical line. A fringe or some wave usually fixes it, if a longer look isn’t what you’re after.

High top knots and tall, narrow crops do the same thing from the top of the head. They’re not wrong, and they can look striking. They just make the length of the face more obvious.

Compare before you commit

Oblong and oval are easy to mix up, and the right amount of width or fringe depends on how long your face looks in a photo. So it helps to try a few directions first. Compare a fringe with waves against a sleeker, longer look on your own photo with Hairover. For help telling the shapes apart, see the oblong face shape guide.