Hairstyles for Round Faces: 30 Styles, From Pixies to Long Layers

The top is left long enough to sweep across the forehead in one diagonal line, and that line breaks up the width of the face. It also takes the emphasis off a round forehead. Michelle Williams wears one. A little paste on the fringe keeps it in place.

One side is cut longer than the other, so the outline has an angle instead of a curve. Angles are the point here: round faces need “interest and angles in the haircut to elongate the face,” according to Color Wow’s Dom Seeley. Wear the long side swept down past the cheekbone and the short side tucked.

Half bob, half pixie: a short bob with a pixie’s texture and layers. Volume on top and longer layers at the front are what make it work on a round face. The version here keeps one long piece falling past the cheekbone on a diagonal.

Shaving one side takes the width out at the sides, so the eye goes to the height on top. It’s the edgy cousin of the layered pixie, and the texture on top does the same lifting job. Grown out, the shaved side softens into an asymmetrical crop.

This is the lob for medium or thick hair, worn sleek, with the front a touch longer than the back. The length passes the widest point of the face before it stops. Long bobs “elongate round face shapes to draw the eye longer,” says L’Oreal Paris’s Jonathan Colombini. Gabrielle Union wears a lob. A flat iron keeps the line sharp.

The back is stacked short and the front angles down, so the outline slopes toward the jaw instead of sitting flat across it. “A-line cuts elongate the face while adding angles that counteract the roundness,” says stylist Jennifer Nast. A side-swept fringe adds a diagonal of its own.

One side falls longer than the other. The longer side draws the eye down, and the cut skips the stacking an inverted bob needs. Side-sweep the long side and tuck the short one behind your ear.

Most round-face advice warns you off this one: it ends at the jaw, and L’Oreal Paris says a blunt chin-length cut emphasizes roundness. Stylist Samantha Cusick’s fix is asymmetrical layers, shorter at the back and longer at the front. She says that shape “introduces flattering angles without adding width to the cheeks.” The ends here turn under, so the shape hugs the jaw instead of flaring.

Choppy layers break up the solid line a bob makes at the jaw, and the crown gets the volume instead of the sides. Kirsten Dunst wears a shaggy lob. Scrunch in a texture spray and leave the ends messy.

Curtain bangs part in the middle and fall to each side, framing the face instead of covering it. Longer ones “complement round faces,” says R+Co’s Marwa Bashir. Blow-dry them away from the face with a round brush.

A thin fringe at brow level, light enough to show the forehead through it. Matrix suggests wispy, choppy bangs at this length for round faces. Nina Dobrev wears them. Plan on a fringe trim every two to four weeks.

A fringe cut on an angle and swept to one side. “They break up the width and create flattering angles,” says celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa. Dry them with the brush going across the forehead toward the side you part on.

Short, heavy bangs are the fringe to skip, because a hard line across the forehead makes the face look shorter. A long one works differently. Rebekah Forecast of Serge Normant at John Frieda backs a sharp-line bang for a rounded face. The fringe here sits past the brows, and its sides blend down into long waves.

This one is for straight or slightly bendy hair: choppy layers that start at the cheekbone and end at the shoulders, so the outline falls well past the chin and the ends flick. Starting the layers at the cheekbone shades the widest part of the face, a built-in contour. You’ll find more cuts at this length in our guide to shoulder-length hairstyles.

Shorter face layers over longer length, blown out so they flick away from the face. On a round face the face layers should stay long and tapered, because ultra-short ones can widen it, says stylist Danielle Garner. Our butterfly haircut guide has the full set.

Choppy layers, volume at the crown and texture through the ends. A modern shag’s layers make vertical and diagonal lines, the kind that lengthen a round face, says Matrix ambassador Castillo Bataille. This one runs past the shoulders with a wispy fringe, so the eye travels down the layers. See our shag haircut guide for more.

A wolf cut mixes a shag’s crown with a mullet’s longer, thinner ends. On a round face, keep it long: L’Oreal Paris lists the long wolf cut among cuts that lengthen one, and the volume belongs on top, not at the cheeks. Diffuse or scrunch it for the shaggy finish.

This one is for hair that’s naturally wavy. Long layers let each wave sit apart, so the waves don’t bunch out at the cheeks. The waves move up and down rather than out, so they add length to the outline. Drew Barrymore wears beach waves. Air-dry or diffuse it with a little cream.

The plainest of the long options: length past the chest, a center part, and layers only in the lower half. Nothing short sits near the cheeks, so the length does the work, and the layers stop it looking like a harsh blunt sheet. Our long haircuts guide has more on long layers for round faces.

This is the volume version. The front pieces start at the cheekbone and the whole head is blown out, so the height sits at the crown and the waves fall down the sides. Mila Kunis has worn a bombshell blowout with long layers. A large round brush and velcro rollers at the crown hold the lift.

Layers let long curls stack instead of spreading at the ends, and the length past the shoulders pulls the shape down. Davines suggests face-framing curls at the front for round faces. A dry cut lets the stylist see how each curl falls before it’s shaped.

Curls add width, so the length has to do the lengthening. Stylist David Lopez says a curly bob’s volume and texture “can elongate the face, especially if the bob is cut just below the chin.” Diffuse it and leave the curls alone once they’ve set.

Shorter curls work too, if the shape builds up rather than out. A dry cut matters more at this length: “you look at how someone’s hair naturally dries before you take each curl and cut it at an angle,” says Sarah Potempa. Trims can wait 12 weeks or more.

Fine hair needs a different lob: shorter, with no internal layers, so every strand reaches the hem. The blunt hem keeps it looking full, and stopping just above the shoulders keeps it past the chin. A loose bend with a wand adds body, and Kate Bosworth wears loose waves on fine hair. For more cuts like this, see our guide to bob haircuts for fine hair.

Thick hair left heavy adds width at the cheeks. A razor takes the weight out and leaves the ends feathery, and curtain bangs blown away from the face finish it.

Short, choppy and lifted on top, it frames the cheekbones and eyes, and the volume helps if the hair has thinned. There’s more at this length in our guide to short haircuts for women over 60.

The sides and back are tapered short and the curls left longer on top, so the face looks longer. Define the curls on top with a cream and pick out the crown. For braids, locs and more, see our guide to hairstyles for Black women.