Strong jaw, equal width top to bottom. A square face has a broad, angular forehead and a jaw with a defined, often 90-degree-adjacent corner at the hinge. Width stays consistent from temple to jaw rather than tapering, and the chin is flat or minimally curved rather than pointed.
Geometry & Proportions
A square face has a broad, angular forehead and a jaw with a defined, often 90-degree-adjacent corner at the hinge. Width stays consistent from temple to jaw rather than tapering, and the chin is flat or minimally curved rather than pointed. Forehead, cheekbone, and jaw widths are nearly equal; face length is close to face width.
Forehead
Broad and straight across, roughly equal in width to the jaw
Cheekbones
Angular, similar in width to the forehead and jaw rather than flaring out
Jawline
The defining feature — strong, straight, with a visible corner at the angle
Chin
Flat or squared rather than rounded or pointed
How to Identify It
Run a finger along your jaw from ear to chin. On a square face you can feel a distinct corner partway along, rather than a continuous curve. Forehead, cheekbone, and jaw width measurements will all land close together, usually within about 5% of each other.
The Styling Goal
Soften the jaw's hard corner and add movement at the temples and chin. Rounded shapes — in a haircut's ends, in frame lenses, in a beard's edge — counter the squareness without erasing the jaw's natural strength, which most square-faced people are better served by softening than hiding.
What to Avoid
Blunt, geometric bobs cut in a straight line at jaw height (this doubles the squareness), angular rectangular frames, and beard lines trimmed in a hard straight edge that echoes the jaw instead of rounding it off.
How Common Is It
Square faces appear in roughly one in seven people.