Face shape, personality and skin tone all affect the way a hair cut looks on a person says Damien Carney, international artistic director for hair-care giant Joico International.

Here are Carney's tips for the perfect cut and colour for your face shape:

Square
Cut: Look for a cut with irregular pieces, like you have razored your own hair, says Carney. A cut with longer pieces will break up the frame of the face and distort the squareness.

With an asymmetrical cut Carney says your eye is drawn to the softening features of the style.

Colour: "Light colours tend to soften strong features -- like a prominent nose, a chiseled jawbone or a dimple in your chin," says Carney. Warmer colours like gold, copper and blond surrounding the face will draw attention away from these features. Avoid hard, dark colours which will only make a square face look masculine.

Round
Cut: Avoid layers that frame the face, curls or styles that give excessive height -- this will only emphasize the roundness of your face.

Instead focus on geometric cuts -- bangs can have a low, asymmetrical sweep or are longer than the rest of the hair to offset roundness. "You also have to be careful you don't go too short or else you show off a full, round face," Carney says.

Colour: Make your hair colour stronger -- Carney says darker colours harden facial features. "If you wanted to stay in a blond family, rather than your blond being very golden, you would darken it down to a more natural blonde in coffee and caramel colours," he says.

Go for bigger, bolder highlights that are irregularly placed around the head -- this will take the emphasis away from round cheeks and give more definition.

Heart-shape
Cut: Length is very important for a heart-shaped face. "If you go too long then you make chin come forward -- if you go too short your chin disappears," Carney says. "Don't go towards a bob since that will only draw attention to the chin."

His guideline is to keep your hair length in the range between your collar bone and lip line. A general rule of thumb is to reduce the hair where your face widens and build the hair where your face narrows.

Colour: Carney says colour has to take away from the focal points of a wider forehead and small chin. He says he would build the illusion of body near the chin by going from light to a darker colour in the same family.

Oval
Cut: This is the one face shape that can suit a variety of different hairstyles. Carney says one thing to think about is skin quality. If you have a great complexion, pick a cut that shows off your skin tone -- eyes will be drawn to that first before the cut.

Colour: Keep your hair colour to the same family of colours. Carney also says you need to take skin tone into account. If you lighten hair too much there may not be a distinction between the skin tone and the hair colour -- it can blend in and make you look washed out.

If you're looking for great hairstyles and are unsure of what would best match your face shape, then these hairstyles for every hair type, face shape and special occasion will definitely fit your needs!


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