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Your natural face shape speaks volumes about which styles will balance, complement and enhance you, and which won't. A great stylist is a portrait artist framing your face by contrasting opposites, making wide look taller, thin look fuller, and sharper look softer. So let's begin by getting a mirror and having a good look at you. Seven face shapes below offer the key features plus more detailed style info and a dedicated collection featuring many, but not all suitable wigs from our store selection. Although backed by science these style guide rules were made to be broken! If you want to top an oblong face with a 12-inch high mohawk, you go girl!

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME:

From the top first look at your 1) forehead, then 2) cheekbones, then 3) jawline and 4) the length of your face. Is your forehead narrow, slimmer than your cheeks? Are your cheeks full and your face round, or does a wide chin paint a squarer picture? Are you are heart or diamond kinda girl? With seven basic faces at play you may fall between shapes, eg, oval/triangle/heart), which could make your face so beautifully unique and adaptable you could make a floor mop look sexy!

A priceless face shape much like the heart-shaped face but with a narrower forehead and chin and beautiful high, prominent cheekbones. The diamond-shaped face's biggest flaw is that it can be mistaken for the endearing heart-shaped face! — Just add a little extra forehead width and a wider, softer chin. Your hair style choices are all about ways to draw length and especially volume to fill the angles either above or below the cheeks, and creating a rounder appearance. Use cascading curls and waves below the shoulder to really cut a dramatic balance.  If you're looking at soft, wide cheekbones and an equally-wide forehead, with a cheek-to-chin taper crafted like a fine silver tablespoon, then you have the instantly lovable heart-shaped face. The slender jawline topped by cheekbones as wide as the forehead create many of the styling trends used to compliment the Diamond or Triangular face. But with the Heart-shaped face the cheeks-to-chin ration is fuller and not so much work is required to create volume at the jawline. Although you can pull off an edgy, tousled Pixie you might favour shoulder-length or longer styles and long sideswept bangs.  Oval face shapes are likely one of the, if not the most common face shapes and yet, the differences between Ovals, Oblongs and Rectangles are sometimes so subtle that defining the quintessential oval is easier said than done. We know for sure your face will be longer than it is wide, with softer cheekbones and a rounded jaw not as wide as your hairline. The marvellous thing about Oval faces is they are so naturally well-balanced you rarely have to play the compensation game you might with other face shapes. Almost any great style is going to work including cascading length both straight or wavy, pretty little pixies, bangs, sideparts, ponytails and shags. The longest of oval faces may benefit from parts and fringes and sideswept styles.   Arguably a rectangular face is more like a stretched square than a squared off oval! Like the square, forehead, cheeks and jaw are often the same width, and yet like the oval, the cheeks and forehead are high and the chin may be slightly more rounded. Like all face shapes with less curve and more harder angles, the key is to balance your face with softer styles, layers, volume and bounce, often to create a wider appearance. Avoid top-heavy pixies and buns and focus on styles that fill your cheeks and chin.  If your face is as wide as it is tall you may be staring at near perfect symmetry, which will prove undeniably attractive to 98% of humanity. Children and small pets will want to cuddle you. Your chin is soft as are your cheekbones, both free of sharper angles and you may have a more youthful appearance to many.  To balance an already balanced round face one should focus on top-heavy shorter styles including shags, pixies and bobs or, centre parts for drawing the visual to the middle, as will longer, softer or whispy bangs. Length in waves work wonders and even a lob can compliment with drama. The intent with all styles is to either increase the vertical or draw the eye to the vertical centre, not the horizontal centre.

With a classic square-face the forehead, cheek and jaw are the same width and curves are few and far between. The signature wide jaw is likely your most striking facial feature. Square-faced girls were made for shoulder-length styles, long bangs, curly page-boys below the jawline, and top-heavy pixies with texture and air. The chief aim being to create volume and length with layers, that softens your square with a hint of oval, and not to add volume specifically to the sides.  

Otherwise known as Pear-shaped, the Triangle is an endearing combination of a narrow forehead, full cheeks and wide jaw, often more rounded than square. Usually Job 1 is to balance the wider jawline with volume and width above the cheeks to the crown. Almost any top-heavy style can work wonders with layers and texture. Bangs and sideswept styles can add drama exactly where you need it.  

There are hundreds if not thousands of hairstyles across cultures and time, so it may feel a bit daunting finding the single style that suits you best. Below we've compiled a dozen collections based on core styles that serve as foundations for the dreams of creative stylists and those bold enough to wear their visions. You'll find everything from Afros to Wedges, Bobs and Pixies and the countless variations that fill Abantu's shelves. Each core style below features one or more of the face shapes the experts would say are best suited.

If dazzling colour is your a major deciding factor, use these button links to see wigs featuring one or more Vibrant and/or Surreal colours.

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A natural style for lengthy, kinky hair texture, but for straight or curly hair holding gels and pick combing is the key to Afro success, drawing hair away from the scalp into a large rounded dome. Popularized in the 60’s it endures generally as shorter, shaggier variations.

Waves and curls, twists and braids, flicks and feathers that dance below the shoulder forever. Thanks in great part to the 1970's Big Hair is here to stay and remains the epitome of ultra glamour.

Almost any short or medium-length style ending in a distinctly blunt cut defines a Bob. Born in the feminist wave of the 1920's the playful and bouncy Bob endures in endless variations. Typically shorter (earlobe and chin) Bobs can be angled in any direction with or without bangs.

Braided hair has proven a constant favourite across generations and cultures and encompasses styles as diverse as classic Scandinavian braided ponytails and the wild and free dreadlocks of the Caribbean.

Born of big-hair-80's the Mullet is loved and scorned by both sexes. The classic is defined by short layers on the top and sides while the back is grown much longer. The transition can be abrupt or seamless and overall lengths vary considerably.

Typically shoulder-length or shorter at the back and sides, lightly layered for body and frequently featured with full bangs, the Page Boy is elegant, clean and simple from root to tip.

Braided tails below the shoulder are the most common variety of Pig Tails for all ages while bunched braids pulled to the crown share youthful popularity with non-braided Pig Tails that rise from the crown more like fountain.

Like the Bob of 1920's, the Pixie of 1950's and 60's Hollywood as a distinctly feminist statement, defined by a distinctly boyish 'short back 'n sides with more on top'. Today you'd be hard-pressed to find a Hollywood Starlette that hasn't flaunted one of a thousands Pixie variations at least once.

The most practical hairstyle of the last 300 years, the Ponytail requires only one or two clips, bands or scrunchies and all the hair swept back to the crown. The tail can be worn high or low and even to one side.

A 60's favourite, this smooth, blunt hairdo is bowl shaped, with a cut line that angles the sides to the nape of the neck. Ends are tapered to curve inward toward the head. Longer and looser Purdey variations endure 50 years late.

In every length imaginable, the unisex Shag remains sexy and sassy with crown-heavy layering, frequently feathered and teased top and sides to lighter fringes. 70's to the 90's rock stars and film stars forever put the Shag on the hairstyle map.

Less of a 'style and more of an awe-inspiring finish, Silky Smooth is defined by the combination of luxuriously smooth and shiny, straight hair of notable length. Accent with a slight wave or delicate flicks of the fringes.

Typically straight hair between ear lobe and chin length, the Wedge features a short cut back and sides with longer outer layers at the crown and top-sides often layered a second time with a razor, to add even more wedge dimension.