The Difference Between Men's and Women’s Eyeglass Frames

If you travel to your local glasses shop, you will notice that there is an entire wall for men’s eyeglasses and an entire wall for women’s eyeglasses, and likely a wall for kids, too. Many people wonder what the real difference is between men’s and women’s frames. The surprising answer is not very much. Both are made to the highest quality, both provide years of quality service, and except for a few exceptions that we are going to look at below, they can be worn by both men and women with little to no trouble at all. It makes sense, after all, for most frames to be unisex. When you can double your audience, you double the chances of your frames being sold.

Frame Size

The biggest difference between most men’s and women’s frames is size. Generally speaking, a man’s face is larger than a woman’s, the eyes are farther apart, the ears are farther apart, the nose is larger which means a longer bridge and there is simply more material that goes into men’s frames than women’s. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find unisex frames that fit both a 300 pound football player and his 85 pound wife, they just won’t look the same on both people. What many eyeglass stores manage to do is sell the same unisex frame in two different sizes. If your local store has a unisex section and you find a frame that appears to be too big for your face, ask if they have something similar, only smaller. Chances are, they will be able to find you something that works for about the same price. Other eyeglass stores will adjust unisex frames so they can fit your face better. This can either be a free service or there can be a fee for it, so make sure you ask before you order.

Frame Shape

Shape can sometimes be a barrier when it comes to finding frames that fit both men and women. If a man has an especially large face, he is going to need a pair of frames that cover most of the eye. If a smaller framed woman were to try that same set of frames on, the lenses would cover half her face. Of course, that doesn’t mean she couldn’t order that very same set of eyeglasses if that is the look she is going for, but it would be far from traditional. The fashion as of late has been for smaller and smaller frames, regardless of the size of the eyes and the face, so shape is becoming less and less of a barrier than it has been in the past. The only real question here would be of fashion: which shape do you think makes you look better or which shape is “hot.” It could be that a decidedly masculine shape is “in” right now, which means that it may not be what most women are looking for.

Frame Color

Just like with shape, color is only a barrier if you live by old fashion gender roles. Even in this day and age of metro-sexuality, many men still won’t be caught dead in powder blue, pink or any other color that is considered feminine. The restrictions, culturally-speaking, seem to be less of an issue when you go the other way. Women regularly buy black, dark blue or deep red frames without anyone thinking anything is amiss, which makes one think that this issue is strictly one for the men to watch out for. Again, the biggest problem for men that wanted a pastel colored frame would be finding a shape and size that would fit a man’s face, so the problem isn’t really color here, but shape. You would have to find a frame that fit the entire face, from pupil distance to bridge distance and everything else. If you notice, many of the unisex frames that most eyeglass stores have are silver, black or some other neutral color that most people can agree on. If you wanted a coloured frame that was a bit out of the ordinary, you may have to track down a fashionable sunglasses store or a similar retailer.

As you can see, the differences between men’s and women’s frames are most semantic. Once your prescription is inserted into the frames, the only issue you need to worry about is proper fit. While some frames are definitely made with either men or women in mind, the overwhelming majority of frames are unisex and manage to look fantastic on both sexes equally. The same goes for sunglasses and for reading glasses. If a proper fit around the ears, nose, and eyes can be made, and you like the way the glasses frame your face, than that is truly the only thing that matters.

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