Accentuating good features while downplaying the less than ideal

[Happymaman]

It seems to me that the general "beauty" advice for people regarding hairstyle with face shape ("Don't wear a chin-length bob with a round face!" "Change the symmetry of a square face with a deep part"), body type ("If you have wide shoulders don't have a shoulder length cut!" "20 Great Styles on Big Girls!"), and specific features "Don't cut layers at your midface if you have a big nose"), etc. is almost always geared for people with shorter hair and also pegs "long hair" as like APL or maybe BSL. Sometimes "long hair" is even just shoulder or collarbone length.

I think we can all agree here that long hair is generally very beautiful, and that it works for a wide variety of people. One can also buck every 'rule' and still wind up looking good. Everyone is also worthy of feeling beautiful and we all have good features. But, how do you go about accentuating your good features while downplaying the ones you don't quite like, specifically with long hair?

It seems like you can do a lot of the things the general advice might imply by choosing bun placement wisely, for instance. And the nice thing is that people with long hair have even more flexibility than with short hair in terms of accentuating parts of the body we like and hiding ones we don't. Have you used your hair to your advantage in any particular way? Are there general "long-haired beauty" rules/pieces of advice? I've seen some posts about blunt ends vs u-shaped vs fairy and some claiming one option suits themselves better, for example, so maybe there are other things like that?


And in shameless self-interest, please use my self-described features as a free example human (but of course please also share your own experiences and examples)!

I'm 5'9" (175cm) and I like my height. I have an oval face (sometimes it can appear squareish). I like most of my facial features, think I have decent symmetry, a nice smile, etc. I have a long neck, a nice long torso that shows a decently-tapered waist for my weight. I weigh 184lbs right now and am slowly but steadily losing (1.25lbs a month for the past 13 months since I started losing postpartum). My body has always been pear-shaped, which I like. My posture is not so great anymore, but there are some things I can do to work on that. My chest is saggier than it has ever been and I doubt the girls will be going in the opposite direction. I like my shoulder width, and my arms are objectively nice but they used to be one of my favorite features and they are quite different from how they were when I was slimmer and stronger, which dampens my appreciation of them. My head/skull is way smaller than those of most people my size, and that fact gets unfortunately innately focalized by my thin 1a hair that has a tendency to look painted on. My head has always made me self-conscious. And I don't like my calves. I feel there's a nice contrast between my tawny hair and my super fair skin. I have a great butt.

[lapushka]

I don't tend to follow standard beauty advice, I mean the stuff you find in beauty magazines, nothing about face shape, all that stuff, because I think it is a whole lot of nonsense, pardon me for saying so, but it's what I think of it all.

If you want long hair, go for it, you'll always find a braid or bun to suit your own specific style, trust me!

[lapis_lazuli]

Well, I like floor length because it's equal my height and that's visually pleasing to me. Not that anyone really sees that except me, but :)

As far as bun placement, I try to do mine as high as possible without causing pain so that the top is visible from the front. Just think it looks better and, as I don't have bangs, makes my head/forehead look less wide.

[GoatLady]

I'm no help in this department. I don't put too much thought into my appearance. I choose my clothing and hairstyle more for comfort and practicality than for how it looks. I really don't care two figs if I appear attractive.

[WednesdayAddams]

I find these rules don't work the way I expect them to. I have nothing against beauty advice, it can be fun, but when I want to know what works for me...I look at pictures.

I know that sounds overly simplistic, but when we look in the mirror, we are seeing a mirrored image (obviously) which has a whole science of perception behind it. A picture doesn't do that. In addition, in the mirror we tend to move around a lot and may over or under focus on specifics of our looks rather than the actual overall look.

Pics have their own perception drawbacks but I find them the only thing that has ever worked for me to legitimately know what styles work for me. Off the face tends to make my eyes show more, for example. For others bangs will do that. For me it's the opposite. Weirdly, bangs seem to "take over" my face and detract from my eyes...go figure.

My face shape is a diamond and I'm supposed to look amazing in side bangs and cat eye glasses. Both are awful on me, my face disappears in them. So these are just my personal examples of why certain rules don't seem to work for me. I hope you find looks for you that you love. You can do a lot with long hair to mimic hair/face/body advice - more or less height on top with half-up styling, adding fullness to the sides of the face or taking it away with pretty clips, changing your part and so on.

[MoonLady]

I definitely do a little of this. I've been wearing my hair completely back and out of my face since the framing hasn't been "right" in the front. The long framing layers I have are at least breast length when they were originally cut at about jaw length. At this length, I notice they're dragging my face down and making it look longer (which I don't prefer) and they cut across and obscure some of my nicer features (eg. cheekbones, jawline). I find my ideal framing is jaw to collarbone length with a centre part to emphasize the near-symmetry of my face. And I always curl them under slightly with a blowdry or just a heatless curl, so they expose the cheekbone and highlight the shape of my jaw. I don't love a deep side part on me (I think it's unbalancing) but a slight one looks good too.

[EggLover]

I do wonder how long hair will look on my long, rectangle face, but to be honest I’d rather have long, shiny, and healthy hair again. So I’m growing. Even if it’s not ideal for my face shape, I may just try to enhance other aspects of my appearance (fastidious skincare, nice thick brows, etc).

[Arcticfoxes]

mostly with my hair I just aim to not look bald (when hair is up) and my double chin to not be too obvious...

[Jools69]

I don’t take much advice (especially online) regarding what suits my particular face shape, hair type, texture, density, etc. I find the advice very conflicting and not suitable for everyone, as we are all different and don’t fit into ‘stereotypes’.

For example, for most of my early life and some beauty ‘experts’ in magazines, I was advised a side parting for a oblong/rectangular face shape with a high, broad forehead helps to shorten the forehead. However, in recent years, I’ve gone against this advice and swapped my parting to the middle, which IMO shortens and softens my face. Since I have a ‘U’-shaped hairline, which recedes into the upper corners and coupled with thinning hair. This hides the ‘bald’ spots of the upper corners, given me a more of an oval face shape and shortens the forehead. Since the shortest point is the middle of my forehead. Whereas having a side parting, only accentuated my forehead by elongating the height into the receding corners. Furthermore, I’ve ditched the advice of having a fringe/bangs to hid my forehead, which gave me a ‘helmet’ appearance and grown out it out.

Since I’ve made this change, I’ve had people ask me why didn’t I try this earlier. In comparison with some early photos, when i was also advised to have shorter hair too, longer hair does suit me much better. Rather than the more severe shorter bob styles, which I wasn’t happy with, but only to appease family.

The point I’m making is: there’s no need to feel that you must conform, but do what you like and what makes you feel happy. Don’t care what other other people. As with some advice is not always the wisest.

[tuanyiji]

I have a very flat and asymmetric scalp shape so I almost always try out bun styles that will make the back of my head fuller.

I keep experimenting and taking videos showing the buns from all angles to see if I can improve it somehow.
I find that if I start the pony-base (no elastic) for the bun the same height as my ear tip, it often gives me a more ideal scalp shape. On the other hand, I hate low buns or chignons because they are really unflattering on me.

Also, I am rather short so I almost never really go outside with loose hair because long hair does make me look even shorter (or rather, the hair looks longer on me).
I also work out very hard to train for a very fit figure - good posture, slim waist, lifted booty, etc, this way when I take the monthly length shots, the hair actually looks more voluminous on me lol.

[Bri-Chan]

I'm quite short (5' 3'') and I don't really care? I like long hair how it is and this has nothing to do with what would suit me, and this go to several things in my look, since I have a quite specific style. I have a long oval face and it is also very asymmetrical. I'm sure a collarbone length bob will suit my face shape, for both length and texture, I do look better with voluminous hair.
However, something I find to fit me much more than my hair down, it's a bun or side braid but with some face framing pieces (that on me are hip length at least) down.

[lithostoic]

I've read that I should not wear a middle part because I have an oval face with a big forehead. But I think it can look quite nice middle parted! I often leave two strands out in front of my hairstyles like we did back in the early 2000s and it looks great, despite what fashion articles tell me.

[angel-baby]

If I went by standard beauty industry advice for my face shape (long, slender) I would have a chin-length bob, collarbone length at the longest. I've done that before and it was cute, but I like long hair better. I do try and keep a curtain bang or some face framing as a compromise, but that's about it. I also do a slight, just off center side part, to combat the fact that my face is a little asymmetrical, like most people. But that's about it!! We only get this one life, so if you want really long hair, just do it.

[sarana]

If I went by standard beauty industry advice for my face shape (long, slender) I would have a chin-length bob, collarbone length at the longest. I've done that before and it was cute, but I like long hair better. I do try and keep a curtain bang or some face framing as a compromise, but that's about it. I also do a slight, just off center side part, to combat the fact that my face is a little asymmetrical, like most people. But that's about it!! We only get this one life, so if you want really long hair, just do it.

My face is quite asymmetrical too, but I've never thought of using side parts for that. Maybe I'll give it a try!

Over the years I've often worn my hair down because I think my head is very small compared to my neck and the rest of my body. For this reason some hairstyles don't look flattering on me in my own opinion.

Also, with thin hair, half-ups look nice from the side but dreadful from the front xD

[Arcticfoxes]

Over the years I've often worn my hair down because I think my head is very small compared to my neck and the rest of my body. For this reason some hairstyles don't look flattering on me in my own opinion.

Also, with thin hair, half-ups look nice from the side but dreadful from the front xD

I relate to this! I love half up half down on me, from the side!

I don't know if I feel like my head is too small, or I want to have a smaller body frame, or what, but definitely feel a bit of that too.