It depends on your face shape, but generally, hair up (especially high with volume and face-framing tendrils) creates a vertical line, elongating the face and creating a slimming, lifted effect, while hair down (long, layered, wavy) can balance rounder cheeks by adding length and drawing the eye downward, making the face appear slimmer and more balanced. A combination, like a half-up style with loose pieces, offers a middle ground,.
It seems counterintuitive but sometimes bringing all your hair up can, in fact, make your face appear slimmer, and the addition of face-framing pieces creates a shadow that can make your cheeks look super sculpted.
Face-Framing Layers
Like long hair and asymmetrical bobs, having face framing layers will elongate your face for a slimming look. Keep the layers long so that they fall below your chin. It will make your jawline look lower and your face longer and thinner.
Pulling your hair up everyday could cause the appearance of thinning, but it's not so much thinning as it likely is breakage. Tight ponytails can pull and break hair, especially if it's fragile or you heat treat it/color it/etc.
Hairstyles to Make You Look Thinner and Younger
Sleek, straight hair is flattering on a round face because long hair creates the illusion of length in the face.
What Shape is Considered the Most Beautiful? While beauty is subjective, the oval face shape is often considered the most universally attractive due to its balanced proportions. The oval face is versatile, and individuals with this shape can often experiment with various hairstyles and makeup looks.
Cardiovascular Exercise: While you can't spot-reduce fat, losing overall body fat will naturally lead to a slimmer face. Incorporate regular cardio activities like running, swimming, or dancing into your weekly routine to boost your metabolism and burn calories.
The "7-day haircut rule" suggests that while a fresh haircut looks sharp, it often hits its peak and looks most natural, effortless, and "lived-in" around one week (7 days) after getting it, as the hair softens, settles, and blends better. It's a guideline for timing major events or understanding when your hair finds its sweet spot, allowing the initial starkness to fade into a more comfortable style, similar to breaking in new shoes.
The "3-inch hair rule" (or sometimes the 2.25-inch rule) is a hairstylist's guideline to help you decide if short hair suits your face shape: place a pencil horizontally under your chin and a ruler vertically under your ear; if the measurement from the pencil to your earlobe (where the ruler sits) is less than 3 inches (or 2.25 inches), short hair will likely flatter you, while more suggests longer styles are better, though it's just a guide, not a strict rule.
Instead of a blunt cut, make sure your long hair creates a subtle framing of the face. It creates a focal point into the center of your face which is slimming. It also gives you a more oval shaped face which makes the sides and cheeks appear thinner.
Keep it simple with a ponytail
If you want to keep your hair up, you can't go wrong with the classic high or low ponytail. Instead of wearing your hair down, wearing a classy bun or ponytail can give a professional look to your style while keeping you comfortable.
Shoulder-length hair (or longer) with layers
Forget what you thought about long hair past the age of 40—thick hair actually looks more youthful and polished when it falls shoulder-length or longer. Shorter hair has a tendency to expand at the ends, leaving you with an unflattering triangle effect.
Many men love straight hair for its sleek look and glamorous, flowy vibe. Straight hair is smooth, silky, and super shiny, which definitely catches a lot of guys' eyes. Whether it's short or long, straight hair always seems to fall beautifully, which can give women a soft look that plenty of guys go crazy for.
The diamond shaped face is the rarest of face shapes, and is defined by a narrow forehead, wide cheekbones and a narrow chin.
A Beautiful Face Is All about Symmetry and Proportion
How well shaped your cheekbones, jaw, nose, lips, and eyes are in relation to one another. It's all about symmetry and proportion. This facial attractiveness ratio is sometimes referred to as the “golden ratio” by plastic surgeons.
Typically, features such as larger eyes, a slender nose, pronounced cheekbones, plump lips, and overall harmonious proportions are deemed attractive. However, beauty is subjective and varies across cultures and individuals.
The answer is surprisingly simple. There's an easy, and we mean easy, way to decide if short hairstyles are in your future. We call it the 2.25 rule. Practically fool proof, this rule states that if the longest part of your chin is less than 2.25 inches from the tip of your earlobe, then short hairstyles are for you.
Oblong Faces
What to avoid: Don't grow those locks out too long. Very long, flat hair can be too much for a long face shape to handle. In fact, most one-length styles will drag the oblong face down—and that's the last thing you want.
Overall, hairstyles with plenty of body and movement tend to be especially flattering on round face shapes. If you prefer to wear your hair long, ask your stylist for soft, wispy layers or a choppy shag to add height at the crown and create a lengthening effect.
The rarest hair type is generally considered Type 1A, which is extremely fine, straight, and wispy, lacking any natural bends or waves, making it difficult to hold a curl but naturally sleek and prone to oiliness. While curly hair types (Type 3 & 4) are less common globally, 1A stands out as the least voluminous and textured straight hair, often seen in people of East Asian descent, though it's considered rare across all populations due to its unique fineness.
The "Big 3" for thinning hair, especially male/female pattern baldness, are typically Minoxidil (Rogaine), Finasteride (Propecia), and sometimes Ketoconazole shampoo, or even Microneedling, forming a multimodal approach to stimulate growth and block hormones (DHT) causing hair loss, with Minoxidil boosting circulation, Finasteride inhibiting DHT, and Ketoconazole reducing inflammation and acting as a mild anti-androgen.
HIGH UPDOS
Focusing more volume on top makes the face appear slimmer and more proportionate. High updos, especially chignons, lift hair from the nape area. This lifting of the nape line can make the face appear more elongated, especially if the hairstyle is concentrated closer to the top of the head.