In part 1 of Colour Sculpting, we discussed Light, Tone, and Line techniques from 3 other artisic disaplines, and how they can be incorporated as colour techniques to enhance hairstyles designed for specific face shapes. In part 2, we will define those shapes, discuss styling requirements, and suggest colouring techniques to be used with each shape.

THE OVAL FACE SHAPE

Oval faces are really sort of egg shaped. They are just a tad narrower through the jaw, than they are at the brow bone. The cheeks fall moderately beyond those points. Both the hairline and chin are gently bowed, and the overall shape is 1 ½ times longer than it is wide. When you connect all these points, you will see an oval with the top part just slightly broader than the bottom. Like a chicken egg on point.

This is considered the ideal facial shape so you can do anything with her hair and not really have to worry. You can take her from sophisticated bob (an angular bob, if she has a particularly great chin line), to long beachy waves. Even bluntly cut, full bangs will work (particularly if she has beautiful eyes, and you really want to show them off). Just try to not cover up those pretty features with hair directed onto the face. This is considered the best kind of facial shape to work with because you don’t need to take the time to disguise the flaws…and you can spend all your time uncovering, and expressing the character she has within.

So now that you all absolutely hate Ms. Beyonce, because she’s so perfect….let me get a little katty, and point out her ONE FLAW (meow). Not such a terrific idea to put real short layers on the top of her head, because it adds too much height, and can lengthen face too much. If the height Ms B’s hairpieces creates, was not compensated by the width that the girl jacks into the sides, she’d look like SJP.

And if you have someone with a perfect oval face, BUT with real thick or curly hair, a blunt cut could end up stacking out like a pyramid, so you should eliminate that from your oval face shape repertoire.

As far as colour on these beauties, I always keep it pretty simple. The frame is supposed to enhance the art, not steal the show. My first choice is just a beautiful base colour, really concentrating on a colour that harmonizes with the skin and eyes. Any enhancements would be evenly place around the face, so as not to change any of the original proportions. Tone-on-tone face frame would be what I suggest if she wanted highlights.

THE ROUND FACE SHAPE

A round face is as wide as it is long. The hairline and the chin curve about as much as the cheeks and jaw. With a round face, the goal is to create height and minimize width. She’s going to need some layering to release the weight and allow the hair to rise up off the top of the scalp before it comes crashing down on the sides….just stacking out and making extra width we have to hide. She may even need a little chemical support at the apex, some root stiffening product, or even a little old fashioned teasing to get that puppy up there. (Not my fault, it’s just the laws of gravity … if you have a problem with that, go kvetch at Sir Isaac Newton).

Your best bet for this type of facial shape is to suggest to her that your cut falls below the chin, and have at least some soft layers that are below the cheeks, chin, and even around the collar bone if she wants to keep her length. Do these with wispy, tapered ends. Side parts with long swept bangs work well too. This will give you good proportions for an overall oval-ish silhouette. Draw a line from the top of Cameron’s hair, as if you were cutting her away from the back ground of this picture, and slide that line down the left side of her head, stopping at the hair that is pointing to her collar bone. Isn’t that a nicely proportioned half-chicken egg? Stick on the other side, and you have just started turning a round face into an oval one.

Things to stay away from are any shapes that round out the face even more. Don’t flatten the top and widen the sides with short blunt cuts on thick or curly hair. It will stack out, into pyramid on this face as fast as it would on Beyonce’s.

For colour, I would use toplights to lengthen the shape. Mags had an interesting block colour w/foil technique that would work well here. She showed long vertical triangular slices that had points at the crown and ended with the bases touching the hairlines. Fill those foils with a low light and weave some highlights between them along the top of the head from apex to front hairline, and you’ll have a beautifully contoured colour.

THE HEART FACE SHAPE

The heart shaped face has a wide forehead, wider cheeks, a sloping jawline that is narrower than the forehead, and a pointed chin. I always thought that the heart shape had to have a widows peak to be a true heart, but in some of the examples I have seen by other people who have discussed this topic, evidently it’s optional.

So the first thing we need to get rid of is that pointy chin. That’s a dead giveaway that we are harboring a heart or diamond shape under our hair design. The next thing to do is get down on your knees, lift your eyes toward the heavens, and pray to God that we have beautiful eyes and cheekbones to work with, and then do everything we can to draw the attention to them, and away from the bottom of her face. Side swept bangs, or a strong side part with brow grazing fringe, will do the trick. Keep the length at least past the jawline, the last thing we need is the hair to stop and point at the chin saying, ”Look at me, look at me. I’m Margaret Hamilton … ‘I’ll get you, my pretty!. And your little dog too!’ ”

The things we should avoid are chin length blunt cuts on thick or curly hair ‘cause they make a pyramid, yadda ,yadda ,yadda. (Have you figured out yet that I’m not too keen on chin length blunt cuts?) Well, we should also stay away from super blunt cut bangs, because they will emphasize the width of her forehead and cheeks. And stay away from anthing that has choppy layers….it just turns a heart shape, into a broken heart shape.

Using the opposite colour technique that you would employ on a pear or diamond shaped face, lowlights placed at the temples can draw a wide forehead inward. A few singles, or slices at the front roll of the head, will split and curve down toward either side of the face, creating the top part of the oval we are striving for.  One or two rows of highlighs woven around the back hairline,  from behind the ear, along the nape, and to the back of the other ear (on longer hair), will lighten the area exposed by such a small chin when viewed from the front. The lighter hair will appear closer to her skin tone and will blend with the chin,  instead of the stark contrast dark under hair would give.

THE RECTANGULAR or OBLONG FACE SHAPE

Well, we finally got to poor, tortured SJP. The girl with the most perfect smile, sitting on a face as long as the Berlin wall. This was actually the most flattering photo I could find of her. With the exception of the center part, this is the way her stylist should be treating her hair instead of yanking it back, off of her face, and piling it up in a big pouf on the top of her already long head, adding length to her face and turning the Berlin wall into the great wall of China.

She has either an oblong or rectangular face, and you can tell because those facial types are 1 ½ (or more) times longer than they are wide. The forehead, cheeks, and jawline, are all the same width. If she has a square jaw and forehead, she’s rectangular. If her jaw and forehead are slightly rounded, then she’s oblong. And if she has one of each….she’s combination. Anything we do has to add width, and not drag her face down any more that it already is.

The most flattering thing you can do for her, is to introduce her to some kind of curl, wave or movement to her hair, which will add width to the sides. Just because Jennifer Aniston looks good in that long straight “Rachael” hairdo, doesn’t mean everyone will look good.
Blunt cut bangs, or at least some brow length fringe, will cover up that forehead, and cut that facial length down to size. And stay away from center parts, because the are like an arrow drawing the eye in a vertical motion, instead of a horizontal one. (they also tend to cut the face in half, allowing you to compare the inconsistencies from one side to the other. Both sides of your face are NOT created equal, and this just points it out. Don’t believe me? Look at any Disco movie from the 70’s and tell me we didn’t look stupid.)

Just below the chin, to shoulder length bobs are a good choice because you can usually get enough fullness on the sides, to widen the silhouette. If she just HAS to have long hair (like, longer than collarbone length) talk her into some soft layers around her face, from the chin down. While she’s in the shop, pull most of the hair that falls below the shoulders, back behind her, so your clients can’t see the real length, and they will think she’s perfect. Then she can satisfy her long hair fetish outside the shop, where she will pull all the hair forward where she can see it. After all, it is HER hair.

You should avoid extremes like super-short, skull hugging (Halle Berry type) or long stick straight (Cher like) styles. This is one facial shape where super thick or curly hair might actually look GOOD cut in a blunt just-below-the-chin length style.

As far as colour goes, we need to frontlight this facial shape, putting lighter colour around the sides of the face to push them outward. Turn the top lights off completely with low lights at the apex.

THE SQUARE FACE SHAPE

Square faces are similar to round faces, except they are not quite so short. They are shorter than rectangular faces, but just a tad longer than they are wide. The cheeks, forehead, and jawline are all the same width (and the outlines are squared) but, if you are lucky, the chin will curve down a little, giving you a little more length than a round face. You still have to add length to this one, and be careful not to add any width.

Good haircuts to consider will play down the angular jaw. (texture in the form of curls or choppy ends will do this brilliantly). Side swept long bangs will reveal the center part of the forehead, while covering the wide square corners. Short spiky haircuts that add height will work, along with long, sleek styles cut with layers that start at the jawline and continue downward. The shorter layers kicking up, can mask the angles of the jaw and point to that chin that is saving us. Center parts will add a little length, but on this short a face, probably not enough length. I think a short side part, with the rest of the hair drawn back and up, will do a better job.

We need to stay away from one length bobs and blunt cut bangs as they add width and cut the face in half, respectively. Overall one length styles are a poor choice too, because we all know that she’s going to tuck that front behind her ears so she can see. And that’s just going to put that angular jaw right where everyone can see it. Whatever you do, the hair should be long enough to cascade around the tops of the shoulders (best case scenario), or at least fall below the chin.

For colour, toplights are in order here. Try to bring all the attention to her eyes and the top part of her face, Play down anything that going to point to her jaw. One or two slices in the top part or her long bangs will fall into a line that looks like the top part of an oval, visually rounding out the top of her face, and covering the square temples.

Oh….and…note to Angie: Now you know why he agreed to all those kids. He knew you’d need a Nanny. What did you expect? Look at how YOU got him. Jen wasn’t frigid, she was SMART!

THE PEAR FACE SHAPE

The Pear shaped face is also (sometimes) called the inverted heart face. The chin is round, the jaw is wide and the cheeks are very full. The eyes are slightly closer set and the forehead is very narrow. Yep, if she had a cleft in her chin it would definitely look like an inverted heart.

What you need to do is to concentrate on adding width and height to the top half of the head. If you style her hair back and up, held there with carefully constructed texture (or LOTS of hairspray) you’ll be drawing the attention away from the lower half of the face. Full sideswept bangs will add a flattering diagonal line where straight, blunt cut bangs will only chop the face in half, and reveal the fuller, lower part of the face.

For colour, remember Jan Norris’ dominate streak and toplights….they’ll work here perfectly. The highlights at the crown will add height and the lowlights on the sides will play down the cheeks and jaw.

THE DIAMOND FACE SHAPE

The word “diamond” originates from the Greek word “adamas”, meaning indestructible and invincible. Diamonds are the crystalline form of elemental carbon, that is remarkably hard and disperses light well.
Diamonds are formed when carbon-rich rock submerges in the earth’s mantle and the carbon atoms become liquified. When the temperature dips and specific pressure and temperature conditions are met, the carbon atoms then crystallize and form diamond-bearing rock.
Once the diamond has formed and hardened, it can take thousands of years for geologic events (tectonic plate movement and volcano eruptions) to bring the crystals to the surface where they can be mined. Luckily we do not have to wait millions of years for this diamond, Sophia Loren, to rise to the surface. Clearly the most beautiful woman that ever walked this planet, even at 75, she is like the glistening gemstone that describes her facial shape, outshining celebrities half her age,

A diamond facial shape has a narrow forehead, a dramatic out-sweep of the cheeks, and narrow jaw that is about the same width as the forehead. Connecting these points reveals the diamond form that the facial shape is named after.

The best hairstyles are those that widen the forehead areas, add softness and diminish width at the cheekbones, and fill out a pointy chin. Style choices should increase the fullness across the jaw-line and forehead while keeping the hair close to the head at the cheekbone line to help create a more oval appearance. All of this will transform the angular diamond shape, into a softer shape, with a more balanced appearance.

Avoid hairstyles that lift away from the cheeks or move back from the hair line on the sides or near the ear area. Curls near the cheeks will only make them wider, so if you must have curl, keep it smoother near the cheeks and let the stronger curl formations fall closer to and below the chin where more width is needed.

Lighter colour through the temples can give the illusion of width, even though it may be hidden by side swept bangs. When the bangs move, the lighter colour beneath them appears closer to the skin colour and temple hairlines are less discernable. Lowlights through the sides, near the cheeks can play down the width.

A few more more tips you may need to know:

1. If you can’t figure out which side of the face is best to part her hair, stand behind your client and look straight down at the top of her head. Her nose will be pointing to one side or the other. (weird, huh???). No one (or almost no one, anyway) has a nose that points straight out. It will either point slightly to the left or slightly to the right. It points to the narrower side of the face. Always suggest a part on the wider side of the face. Visually, you will be combing more hair over to the narrow side, and cuting the width of the wider side.
2. If you are not sure if your client has a short forehead, measure the length of her nose from bridge to under the tip, with your thumb and index finger. This is the exact length you should have between the bridge of her nose and the top hairline. It’s also the same length you should get when you measure from the  under the tip of her nose to the tip of her chin. A face is three noses tall, and 5 eyeballs wide.

(Colour Sculpting©2009 by RJSpina – You may freely use this information in your daily colouring services. However, no part of the text or original art may be reproduced in any way without prior written permission from the author. You MAY, however, pass on the link to this article freely, to anyone, in the spirit of sharing. THANK YOU in advance for respecting my intellectual property.)