A long, narrow face shape can distract people from your other features. So, how can you make your face look shorter?
You can use your hair or beard to make your face shorter because it can add balance to your face to reduce the length. Additionally, mewing is another excellent way to help shorten your face, especially if you were a mouth breather with bad tongue posture. Some surgeries can also shorten your face.
Why Is My Face Long?
Well, for one thing, it’s most likely genetics. Genetics play a huge role in your appearance. While you may be able to tweak some things a bit, genetics are your base and determine most of your looks.
However, mouth breathing could also be the cause of a long face. There is a lot of evidence that children who breathe using their mouths have longer faces (Mew et al., 2011).
That is because mouth breathers have lower tongue posture and don’t let the two jawbones support one another. Without the correct tongue posture, swallowing technique, etc., your maxilla will not get the stimulus it needs to move upward and forward.
Therefore, the lack of pressure on your palate can create a longer face. Your face may also appear longer because of other features of mouth breathers, such as a set back jaw and poorly defined cheekbones.
As described in the study above by Mike Mew, your face grows downwards when you breathe orally. It does not grow in width and often stays narrow, making your face look longer.
How to Make My Face Look Shorter
Mewing
Mewing is popular because of its aesthetic benefits. For instance, it helps you get prominent cheekbones, a sharper jaw, and more. However, mewing can also help make your face look shorter.
Mewing encourages forward and upward facial growth. As your midface goes up and forward, it can make your cheekbones more prominent. Therefore, it can make your face look fuller and decrease how long it looks.
Additionally, mewing can help strengthen your jaw and move it forward. Bringing your jaw up and forward can help balance your facial symmetry and make your face look shorter.
Most people who neglected proper tongue posture often have set back jaws. Therefore, correcting it can help push it forward.
Additionally, mewing could potentially help your face look more balanced. People can get higher and more prominent cheekbones from mewing.
People with long, oblong faces often lack high cheekbones. Since mewing encourages your cheekbones to go up and forward, it can help make your face look wider.
To learn more about mewing and how to do it correctly, see our guide.
Children and young adolescents benefit the most from mewing. Since they are still developing, their bones are more malleable than adults. They can see evident results after 3-6 months.
There is much debate on how effective mewing is for adults 30 years old and above. However, adults can still get results when they mew, especially when they are consistent. Most adults can see results after a few years of consistent mewing. But keep in mind this will be mostly in the soft tissues and a minuscule amount of change in your bone structure.
However, if fully-developed 21-year olds can get results from mewing, 30+ years old adults can see results.
Click here to see different people’s results from mewing.
Style Your Hair
Women can easily hide the length of their face by changing their hairstyle. A few styling tools or a haircut can make your face look shorter.
For instance, you may want to stay away from straight, long hair because it can emphasize your face’s length. If you stick to long hair, you can make curls or waves with a curling iron to add width to your face.
If you have a long forehead, though, you can get bangs to shorten your face. There are different bang styles like full bangs, side-swept, etc., so make sure you choose one that suits you.
Grow a Beard
Men can use hair to their advantage as well. Growing a beard and shaping it strategically can help create the illusion of a shorter face.
However, you need to avoid getting a long beard. It can make your face look longer.
Instead, focus on keeping a short beard that helps make your jaw look square. If you want to look more chiseled, you can add volume to the sides.
The idea is that you add more volume to the sides to balance your face shape. Try not to make it too long, especially around the chin.
You can also opt for stubble. The stubble can create a shadow that makes your face look shorter. You can see how stubble can enhance your face shape below.
Facial Bone Contouring
In extreme cases, you can get surgery to shorten your face. The operation you get will depend on what part you want to reduce – your upper, mid, or lower face.
It would be best to consult with a surgeon to know which part you ought to shorten. Most people focus on shortening their lower face. However, if you have a long upper face and a short lower face, you could add volume to your lower face.
Most people can get double jaw surgery to correct malocclusions and shorten their midface, shown in the photo above. However, people can opt for philtrum reduction surgery if they want less invasive surgery and have a normal or near-normal malocclusion.
The type of surgery you will get for your lower face will vary based on your needs. For instance, you may only need chin shortening using two parallel osteotomy lines if you only want to shorten your chin, as shown below.
Another effective way to shorten your face is to have a mini V-line or V-line surgery.
