Face length-to-width ratio and face shape

What face length-to-width is

Face length-to-width ratio is how long your face is compared with how wide it is. It is one of the four ratios LookFlex uses for face shape: a ratio near 1.2 on LookFlex's scale is the classic oval, a lower ratio leans round or square, and a higher one leans rectangular or oblong.

The measure is a starting point for practical choices such as haircuts, glasses and facial hair. The same ratio can look different depending on jaw and forehead width, which is why LookFlex also measures those for face shape and why shape is a spectrum rather than a box.

How LookFlex measures it

LookFlex measures the vertical distance from the top of the face mesh to the tip of the chin and divides it by the width of the face between the outermost cheek contour points at eye level. The face is levelled and corrected for head pose first.

The top of the mesh sits below the real hairline, so these numbers are smaller than a tape-measure ratio taken from hairline to chin. LookFlex deliberately avoids the hairline, because hair and hairstyles would otherwise change the result.

The calculation: ratio = (top of mesh to chin tip) ÷ face width at eye level.

Landmarks used

LookFlex reads these points from the 478-landmark face mesh. The numbers are each point's index in that mesh.

• Top of the face mesh: 10
• Tip of the chin: 152
• Widest points of the face at eye level: 234, 454

The full pipeline, including how pose and mirror-averaging reduce noise, is on how LookFlex measures your face.

Typical and scoring ranges

LookFlex shows two ranges. The typical range is the middle half of its reference set, from the 25th to the 75th percentile: half of the faces fell inside it. The scoring range is where a reading earns a closeness score of 100; outside it the score falls smoothly, with no cliff at the edge. Both differ for men and women, and LookFlex blends the two if you choose Other or prefer not to say. Unit: unitless ratio.

How to read your result

"The range" here means the scoring range. The impressions below are common styling descriptions, not research findings. What research does show is in the next section.

• Below the range: A wide face relative to its length, usually a round or square face. Height at the crown elongates it.
• Inside the range: A length-to-width ratio inside the scoring range, close to the classic oval.
• Above the range: A long face relative to its width, often rectangular. Fuller sides balance it.

What the research says

Limited evidence Face width relative to height is linked to body mass; its link to attractiveness is not established.

• Face width-to-height, cheek-to-jaw width and outline measures tracked body mass index, and observers used them to judge weight (Coetzee et al., 2010).
• Close-up selfies distort proportions: a camera at about 30 cm made the nose look roughly 30% wider than one at 1.5 m (Ward et al., 2018).
• Real faces vary continuously, so named face shapes are conventions (Farkas et al., 1985).

No study we cite tests LookFlex's own ranges. They come from the calibration described on the methodology page, and every source is listed under References below.

What influences it

Mostly fixed

• The overall vertical growth of the face and the width of the cheekbone arch, both skeletal.
• Age, which can change the soft tissue of the face.

Things that move the reading

• Head pitch. Chin up or down changes the apparent length.
• Mouth position. An open mouth lengthens the lower face.
• Cheek fullness and body composition, which change the contour width at the sides.
• Hairstyle, which alters how long or wide the face reads even though the number is unchanged.

How to improve how it reads

These suggestions change how the measurement reads or how well the photo captures it. Styling tips are common practice rather than tested in research, and none of them promises a change in bone structure.

• Scan with the head level and the mouth closed.
• Choose a haircut for your shape. Our face-shape guides list styles to try and avoid, in the same words used in the app.
• Glasses and facial hair can add width or length visually: a wider frame broadens a long face, a short beard shortens a narrow one.
• Treat the ratio as a description of your face, not a target to hit.

Common myths

Myth: Your face shape is fixed by this one number.

Shape also depends on forehead, jaw and chin width. Many people sit between two shapes, and LookFlex reports blends such as Oval to Round.

Myth: Ratios on a tape measure and in the app should match.

They use different reference points. The app does not use the hairline, so it reads lower than hairline-to-chin by tape.

How it feeds your score

This measurement is one input to one sub-score, which then combine into your Glow Score:

• Harmony: 10% of the sub-score. Harmony carries 22% of the Glow Score.

Precision. Every reading of this measurement comes with a 95% margin, estimated by measuring your photo three times. Across the reference set the median margin was ±0.014: a retake in similar conditions usually lands within that much of the first reading. A change between two scans counts as real only when it is bigger than both scans' margins combined.

Confidence. LookFlex starts this measurement at a confidence of 85% and lowers it when your head angle, the lighting or image quality weakens the reading. The weight of each input in a sub-score scales with its confidence. Details are on the methodology page.