Hairstyle Tips for Eyeglass Wearers

Man and woman wearing fashionable glasses
Photo: Rock and Wasp/Shutterstock
The Right Hairstyles to Combine with Your Eyeglasses
 
One part medical device, one part fashion accessory, modern eyeglasses serve a function with fashion. For many people, they are necessary for daily function, while for others - who prefer contact lenses for daily wear - they are a part-time nuisance. For everyone who wears eyeglasses, they are a source of concern about how they make them look.
 
Today's lightweight lenses and designer frames are a far cry from the thick, heavy lenses and blocky utilitarian frame styles of thirty years ago. These new styles are designed to be unobtrusive and attractive, even flattering. But just like every fashion trend, eyeglass styles evolve. In the 1970s, women's eyewear styles were large and rounded. By the 1980s, the fashion was for shorter, but wider, eyeglasses. And the 1990s brought a trend toward smaller eyeglasses.
 
Now in the second decade of the new millennium, we have a resurgence of larger and wider frame styles in addition to the smaller sizes. The style that's right for someone depends largely on personal taste and what will look best on her face's shape. Because of this, we see a lot of different women with a lot of different eyeglass styles. And believe it or not, glasses can completely change the look and balance of your facial features, which makes choosing a hairstyle that works with the glasses style you wear an important decision.
 
The first thing we must remember is that our goal in choosing a hairstyle is always to establish balance and harmony in the facial features. Eyeglasses add another element to the equation, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there's a need for a drastic change in your hairstyle. The eyeglasses you wear are probably chosen to complement your features and therefore just emphasize a feature set you would already have to consider when selecting your hairstyle.
 
With this in mind, let's take a look at three basic categories of eyeglass styles, the likely reasons they were chosen, and what you should watch out for in choosing a hairstyle to wear with your glasses.
 
Wide-Framed Eyeglasses:
 
Hairstyles suitable for wide framed glasses
 
The lenses of this style of eyeglasses are significantly wider than they are tall, with the result being eyeglasses that extend past the outer corners of the eyes and create a distinct horizontal line at the temples. The style is generally chosen by people with wide faces, or at least faces that are wide at the temple area (inverted triangle, heart-shaped, and diamond-shaped).
 
The concern with choosing hairstyles for this style of glasses lies in avoiding the emphasis of the face's width. A hairstyle that has a lot of volume on the sides can make the face appear much wider, especially when combined with the effect of the glasses.
 
By selecting a hairstyle that combines a little height on top and chunky, textured bangs with closely-styled sides and longer length with a little volume at the ends, you create the illusion of a longer face to balance the over-emphasized width. Even shorter hairstyles that have strong vertical lines and close-in styling on the sides will serve to balance the effect.
 
Because the eyeglasses are typically chosen to accommodate an already-existing facial feature - width at the temple area - the style will still look good on you even if you switch to contact lenses from time to time or permanently.
 
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