18 Flattering Hairstyles for Pear-Shaped Faces

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What are the best hairstyles for pear-shaped faces?

When getting a new haircut or simply styling your hair at home, your face shape plays a big role. 

You can’t just pick a style just because it’s trendy or because your favorite celebrity wears it. It’s important to determine first what your face shape is.

A woman with a brown bob and red lipstick is laughing with her mouth open on a gray background.

This way, you can figure out which hairstyles can balance your face shape and show off your strongest features.

Do you think you have a pear-shaped face? This triangular face shape isn’t something we come across often, so it can be difficult to find a hairstyle that works for you.

Well, don’t worry, because we’re here to help.

Read on to discover what a pear-shaped face looks like and find out how to flatter this shape using the best pear-shaped face hairstyles.

The Pear-Shaped Face

Professional hairstylists use face shapes as their guide to the perfect haircut for their clients.

There are different face shapes:

  • Oval
  • Pear
  • Heart
  • Round
  • Square
  • Diamond
  • Inverted triangle
  • Rectangle/oblong

Among these shapes, the pear shape is the most uncommon.

What are the features of a pear-shaped face?

A pear face is also called a triangle face because the head resembles an upright triangle. That is, the forehead is slimmer at the top and goes wider toward down the jaw.

To be precise, the top part of the face that includes the forehead up to the temples is narrow. Additionally, the cheekbones are rather flat in this face shape.

The strongest feature of a pear-shaped face is the wide jawline. It’s similar to a square face, but the broad jaws appear softer. With this structure, the chin is rounder.

This face shape is the exact opposite of a heart-shaped face.

Need more help picturing out a pear-shape face?

Here’s a list of celebrities with pear-shaped faces.

  • Jodie Foster
  • Kelly Osbourne
  • Jennifer Aniston
  • Ellie Kemper
  • Kathy Ireland
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
  • Jonah Hill

Choosing the Best Hairstyles for Pear-Shaped Faces

With the triangle or pear shape, your goal is to soften your jawline and balance it with your forehead.

The key here is adding heft to the top part of your head. But be wary of putting too much weight because this may overwhelm your delicate forehead.

So what will do the trick?

Camouflage the hairline and give width toward the cheeks using bangs and layers. Also, avoid smoothing out the hair in the crown and temple area.

Another thing you can do is add side-swept or deep-parted bangs to create the illusion of a wider forehead.

Those steps will make sure that the attention is drawn to the top part and not to the chin.

As for the jawline, you can try to reduce its width by covering the sides with soft layers.

Tapered haircuts are great for pear-shaped faces as well because they add width to the top part of the hair.

Remember, the best hairstyle for pear-shaped faces has a big volume at the top that gradually lessens at the bottom.

7 Hairstyles for a Pear-Shaped Face

When you style your hair, keep in mind that your goal is to widen your forehead and narrow your jawline. These hairstyles will complement your pear-shaped face.

1. Side-Swept Loose Waves

A beautiful woman with wavy hair and makeup, touching her face, smiling isolated on a gray background

This look adds softness to your strong jawline. Whether they’re natural or styled with a curler, the waves will soften your angles.

Styling tip: Gather all your hair to one side. You can use a hair spray or hair gel to keep the other side of your hair sleek and frizz-free. You can even accessorize with a cute hair clip to keep the focus on your forehead.

2. Textured Pixie

A beautiful woman with brown hair, wearing makeup. The woman is looking on her side while touching her shoulders, smiling. Isolated on a gray background

In order to balance a wide jawline and narrow forehead, you need to make the top of your face appear wider.

A pixie cut can do that job if you add texture. That means you can make a beautiful mess out of short hair.

Styling tip: To rock a disheveled pixie, use hair clay or a texturizing spray on your dry hair. Then start scrunching your hair and brushing your fingers through your locks to give them a messy textured look.

3. Funky Colored Pixie

A woman with short hair, smiling while looking at the camera isolated on a red background

Another way to style short hairstyles for pear-shaped faces is by coloring your locks with an unnatural hair color. The striking hue of your hair will surely grab everyone’s attention.

Styling tip: Keep in mind that most unnatural hair colors only work on prelightened hair. So if you’re a brunette, you’ll need to lighten your hair first.

4. Casual Updo

The back of the hair of a ponytailed blonde-haired woman wearing pink long sleeves and a watch isolated on a purple background

You might be doubtful about this hairstyle because it will show your jaws more, but yes, you can put your hair up.

The key is to not make the ponytail too tight so that there’s still volume on the top of your head while you accentuate your features.

Styling tip: Before you put your hair up, use a dry shampoo to refresh your hair or a dry texture spray to add volume. Then backcomb through the sections of your hair at the crown area to tease the locks a bit.

Next, gather all your strands and tie them into a ponytail. It’s up to you if you want it high, mid, or low.

What’s more, you can also pull a few strands loose from the front and side hairline to softly frame your face.

5. Space Buns

A brown haired woman with a space buns hairstyle, touching her face, smiling isolated on a yellow background

Draw everyone’s attention away from your jawline with a totally stunning space bun. This fun hairstyle is easy to do for medium or long hair lengths.

Here’s a quick tutorial from Brittany Nichole.

Styling tip: While the two front pieces of hair look really cute with space buns, they may make your forehead appear more narrow.

Since we don’t want that for your pear-shaped face, you may want to just tuck those pieces into your space buns.

6. Deep Side Part

A brunette woman wearing makeup with a wavy hairstyle holding a coat isolated on a black background

Almost anyone with any hairstyle can try this look. It doesn’t really matter if your hair is straight or curly. The main factor for this hairstyle is where you part your hair.

You see, hair parted in the middle will emphasize the jawline, but a deep side part will highlight your forehead.

Styling tip: This one’s pretty easy to do. Grab a comb and start your part at the outer corner of the eye. Use the comb to create a line and part the hair on either side.

7. Full Top Knot

A brunette woman with a full top knot hairstyle, looking down the street

A full top knot is a great hairstyle for a pear-shaped face, for both men and women with long hair. This hairstyle can give your cheekbones a chance to be seen. 

Styling tip: To make the full top knot complement your angles, don’t aim for a sleek ponytail. Instead, let some hair strands loose to soften the look.

7 Haircuts for Pear-Shaped Faces

Before your next salon appointment, take a look at these haircuts for a pear-shaped face. These will help show off the best part of your face so you wouldn’t have to hide behind your hair anymore.

1. Wispy Bangs

A blonde woman with wispy bangs and blue eyes, sitting on a couch

Consider bangs your best friend if you have a pear-shaped face.

Wispy bangs are softer than blunt bangs, with a mixture of short and long feathered strands.

The bangs will add volume to your narrow forehead and make it the focal point of your face. Just make sure that they don’t go too short.

2. Thick Side-Swept Bangs

A brunette woman with thick side-swept bangs and wavy hair, smiling on a beach background

Another option you have for bangs is thick side-swept ones. Whether you have straight, wavy, or curly hair, you can add fringe to your side-parted hair.

Furthermore, you can keep your bangs from being too flat using flat irons for short hair.

3. Pixie with Extra Long Bangs

A pink short-haired woman smiling while holding her hands near to her mouth isolated on a gray background

For an edgy look, pair up your side-swept bangs with a pixie. You can even ask for a new hair color for your much-needed glow-up!

This cut will help a pear face look slimmer by having length at the bottom and creating height with some pixie layers.

4. Short Shag

A closeup of a brunette short haired woman, wearing a makeup, smiling. Isolated on a gray background

If you want to go short but not as short as a pixie, you can ask your hairstylist for short shaggy hair.

It’s a popular haircut for women created by razoring, which results in lots of texture and a messy layered look.

The fullness of this short hair helps make the top and bottom parts of your head symmetrical. Just make sure the lengths reach just above the chin to avoid highlighting the jaws.

5. A-Line Bob

A brunette woman with a bob cut hair style facing at the side isolated on a gray background

The pear or triangle shape has a prominent jaw, so the goal is to soften or feminize the bottom half of the face.

A soft-angled bob will do the trick. The tapered ends of the bob gently frame the jawline. You can also try a stacked bob for this look.

6. Mid-Length Layered Haircut

A brunette woman with a mid-length layered haircut, wearing a hat on a greenery blur background

A pear-shaped face needs hair with volume and movement. That’s why women with this face shape prefer lots of layers.

A soft layered cut in medium length elongates your face and makes your jaw narrower.

7. Wolf Cut

This cut, as the name suggests, is inspired by a wolf’s mane, where there are shorter choppy layers at the top and longer layers that taper toward the ends.

The volume on top helps balance a pear face shape.

In addition, a wolf cut can be done on either curly or straight hair but will work best on medium or longer lengths.

Men’s 4 Best Short Haircuts for Pear-Shaped Faces

If you’ve got a face shape like that of Dwayne Johnson and you’re looking for a haircut for a pear-shaped face, we’ve got you covered.

Let’s take a look at which styles look best on men with pear head shapes.

1. Pompadour

A man wearing black long sleeves with a short sides and a longer top hairstyle isolated on a gray background

High and tight with volume at the top are the best cuts for pear faces.

One of those is the classic pompadour haircut. This look has short sides and a longer top that’s usually brushed back.

To make your pompadour sleek and shiny, wear your hair with a grease or water-based pomade.

2. Thick Quiff

A man with brushed up front of the hair for volume, smiling while sitting

Another haircut that will give fullness to your top is the quiff. This style works for different face shapes but is something a heart shape should avoid.

Many celebrities rocked this haircut: Robert Patinson, David Beckham, and even Miley Cyrus.

Similar to a pompadour, the quiff involves brushing up the front of the hair for volume. However, the quiff is brushed forward instead of backward to create a light and airy body.

3. Low Fade Spiky Top

A kid smiling while looking at the side with a spiky hairstyle

Spiky hair is on trend again, and it’s one of the hairstyles for your face shape. 

Whether short or medium in length, these spikes will draw attention to the upper part of your head.

Combine the spiky cut with the equally trendy low fade cut and you’ll have a low-maintenance, carefree look.

4. Curly Top

A man with curly top of his hair wearing a light-colored turtle neck sweater isolated on a brown background

This one is another low-maintenance cut for men, but this time, for naturally textured hair.

The curls give body to the top of your head without much effort. This results in the appearance of a symmetrical top and bottom half.

The curly top haircut is best paired with no beard if you have a pear-shaped face.

FAQs About Pear Face Shape

What are the best bangs for a pear-shaped face?

Since one of the pear face shape characteristics is the narrow forehead, you may want to get bangs that widen the forehead. Wispy or side-swept bangs will do the trick.

Another thing bangs can do is make the jawline more pointed. Such bangs are long side-swept bangs with tapered ends that reach the chin.

What are the hairstyles to avoid for pear-shaped faces?

The worst hairstyles for pear face shapes are ones that are heavy on the mids and ends because they make the bottom of the face wider.

Also, skip hairstyles that can make the forehead look narrow.

Veer away from these hairstyles:

  • Full bangs
  • Mid-length curled hair
  • Pixie with baby bangs
  • Curly hair with no layers
  • Long, straight and sleek hair
  • Flipped out lob with center part

Choose Hairstyles That Flatter Your Pear Face Shape

A pear-shaped face is similar to a triangle, where the top part is narrow and the jawline is wide.

Choosing the right haircut and the best hairstyles for pear-shaped faces is easy if you know which features to highlight.

The perfect haircuts need to balance the top and bottom areas of the head.

Don’t get buried in thick full bangs. In addition, avoid parting your hair at the center or your forehead will appear more narrow.

What you can do is add volume on top of your head to make it symmetrical to your jawline.

With those tips in mind, your hairstyles may help you look your best.

Looking for Other Hairstyle Inspiration?

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Authors

  • Rachelle Velasco

    Rachelle, is a sought-after freelance hair and makeup artist, shines particularly in the world of hair color. From subtle ombres and balayages to vibrant hues and intricate root work, she crafts unique styles tailored to individual preferences. Beyond her artistic talents, Rachelle also holds a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, showcasing her diverse skill set and dedication to learning.

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  • Anna Mastenbrook

    Amanda Mastenbrook is an accomplished beauty professional and salon owner with a decade of experience in the industry. Educated at NDSU and licensed from Josef's School of Hair Design, she's a master of color and balayage. Amanda founded The Chair in 2015 after launching a successful mobile spray tanning service. Known for her award-winning avant-garde styling and expertise in toning, she continues to redefine beauty standards and client satisfaction through her work.

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