What Your Jawline Is Made Of
The jawline is the lower edge of the mandible, the jaw bone, running from the chin back to the angle below each ear. How 'strong' it looks depends on the bone's width, the sharpness of the angle, the size of the chin, the chewing muscles over it, and how much soft tissue sits on top. Jaws differ a lot between people and between the sexes; on average, men's are larger and more angular.
Jaw width is also one of the measurements that decide your face shape. Square and triangle faces have wide jaws; heart and diamond faces have narrow ones. See the 7 face shapes.
What Softens a Jawline
Body fat: fat under the chin and along the jaw blurs its edge. Age: skin loses elasticity and the soft tissue of the lower face sags, so the jaw edge softens over the decades. Posture: a forward head position pushes soft tissue under the chin into view. Water retention and poor sleep can add puffiness.
Read more: Beard Styles for Your Face Shape: A Guide for All 7
How to Make a Jawline Look Sharper
Lower overall body fat if you have some to lose; you can't target fat loss to the face, but the jaw is often where people see it first. Fix posture: keep your head stacked over your shoulders. In photos, push your face slightly forward and tilt your chin a little down to stretch the skin under the jaw.
Grow a beard or stubble with a defined neckline about a finger's width above the Adam's apple; it draws a new, sharper jaw edge. Choose a haircut with height, which lengthens the face and makes the jaw read more angular. See beard styles by face shape.
Do Jawline Exercises or Mewing Work?
There's little good evidence that jaw exercises, chewing gum or 'mewing' (pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth) change the shape of an adult jaw. Heavy chewing can enlarge the jaw muscles a little, but it can also strain the jaw joint. Treat bold online claims with caution, and talk to a dentist or doctor before trying anything intense. Cosmetic and surgical options exist and should be discussed with a qualified professional.
The free face scan in Ollie Stylist measures your jaw width as part of your face shape and suggests haircuts and beards to match.