Where it matters
The settings a feature or style belongs to.
Everyday style
Everyday style is what people do with their faces most mornings: shave or trim, shape brows, put on glasses, line the eyes with kajal, dab on thanaka, stick on a bindi. It is where face-shape advice is most used, at the barber, the optician and the beauty parlour, and where fashions change fastest.
Faith and identity
Many face marks and styles belong to faith, caste, clan and community: the Hindu tilak and tripundra, the bindi and sindoor, the unshorn Sikh beard, the beards of Muslim, Jewish, Amish and Orthodox Christian men, the payot sidelocks of Orthodox Jews, and the tā moko of the Māori, which records genealogy. EveryFaceShape describes each as tradition, with respect, as the communities explain them.
Weddings and ceremonies
Weddings bring out the most elaborate face traditions: the nath, bindi and sindoor of Hindu brides, the chandan dots painted on a Bengali bride's brow, the marriage marks of old Japan, and bridal makeup everywhere. Many of these marks begin at the wedding itself and are worn afterwards as signs of marriage, by tradition.
Stage, dance and screen
Stage, dance and screen have their own faces: the painted veshams of Kathakali, the kumadori of Kabuki, the lianpu of Peking opera, the masks that change in a flash in Sichuan opera, the faces of Theyyam and Yakshagana, and the looks of film stars that became everyday fashions. Many of these traditions are taught for years and recognised by UNESCO.
History
Face fashions of the past show how much ideals change: the kohl-lined eyes of ancient Egypt, the shaved and repainted brows of Heian Japan, the white lead ceruse and silk beauty patches of Renaissance and eighteenth-century Europe, the whiskers of the Victorians, and the monocle and pince-nez. Each was once ordinary, and each says something about its time.
Science and genetics
Science studies how faces form, how features are inherited and how people perceive faces. Embryology explains the philtrum and Cupid's bow; genetics explains eye colour and freckles; psychology studies symmetry and averageness
Uniform and service
Armies have long regulated faces. Moustaches were once required, beards are banned in many forces today, and exceptions are made for faith