France is one of those countries that lands on anyone’s bucket list. It oozes fun and all things luxurious with a dash of laid-back adventure.
But have you ever wondered about French people, particularly about their physical features?
Let’s read on to find out more about what the typical French facial features are and what makes these features interesting.
French people look much like everyone else; however, historically there is some variation in features depending on which part of the country they are from.
The hair color and texture will vary from person to person. But the most common colors are black, gray, or white hair. You also see variations of blonde, brown, and red hair.
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What are the common physical characteristics of French people?
French people share a wide variety of physical characteristics; however, it’s common to come across a more Nordic look from the majority of them.
Yet their features are quite prominent and different from the typical European physical characteristics that we’re likely to see on TV.
For example, have you noticed how large and aquiline their noses tend to be? This is a feature that you’ll find mainly in the northern parts of France.
If we go down south, we get to see what most people like to call the “exotic” French features. Here, we see tanned skin with olive undertones.
People in the south often feature luscious dark and glossy hair with curls made for TV. The people in the South of France also have darker eyes – you rarely come across the blue or green eyes that are predominant in the northern parts.
What do typical French people look like?
The answer to this question depends largely on where the people that we’re looking at come from. First things first, let’s define what we mean by “ethnic” French.
Long, long ago, there were people from different parts of Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East who traveled across the Mediterranean Sea and Europe until they finally settled in France.
If you’ve ever heard of the Francophone people, then you know to whom we are referring.
They’re not only considered ethnic to France, but they have a long and rich history in the country. This helps us to understand and identify different characteristics that we have in typical French people today.
Due to the mixture of ethnicities that settled in France many moons ago, we have French people that fall into two general categories.
Let’s start with the ones who live up north. These guys have typical Northern European features. Think of fair skin, thin lips, blue eyes, and blond hair.
On the other hand, we have the southern folk who are a mix of those ethnicities that traveled across continents all those years ago.
With these, we should expect to see skin that’s somewhat tanned, dark brown eyes, and darker, curlier hair. At the end of the day, the French are a very diverse group of people.
It’s difficult to pinpoint one typical physical attribute for the entire country. We always have to consider how much the geographical history of this country has impacted the type of people that we find.
For this reason, it’s difficult to find a generalized physical characteristic to determine whether someone is from France or isn’t. We could easily blend into this country, and nobody would have a clue that we’re not originally from there.
What color of eyes do French people have?
We will come across specific eye color shades when we are in Europe. France isn’t an exception even though it is a very diverse country.
Again, if we happen to come across someone who has more Nordic features, then we should expect to see lighter shades of blue, green, and hazel-colored eyes.
According to one study, the following are the ratios for eye color that we should expect to find in modern-day France.
- 22% of the nation has blue eyes
- 34% have brown eyes
- 44% have intermediate eyes – hazel, green, gray, etc.
What do French men look like?
Why is it that when a French man throws on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, he suddenly looks like he’s going to appear in an international ad?
The French men that everyone dreams about have one thing in common – they look like they’ve been drenched in some tropical sun.
But, if you’ve been following the article up to this point, you should have an idea of where everyone goes to find their dreamy Frenchman.
It’s the South of France of course! This is where we find the guys with gorgeous olive skin and hazel eyes that look like they can stare into your soul.
By now, we should all understand that in France you get what you’re looking for when physical characteristics are concerned.
If you are looking for fair skin and blue eyes, head up north. The one thing that the men from the north and the south have in common though is the least expected.
They’re rather shorter than we would like to imagine.
What do French women look like?
While the rest of the world has women who heavily contour their faces, French women go very easy on makeup.
Consider them simple when it comes to putting on makeup. In fact, most ladies in France would rather spend more time accentuating their eyes and lips than countless hours putting on layer after layer of foundation.
If you’ve never thought that less is more when it comes to doing makeup, then you should take a closer look at French women.
These women are often considered chic, sexy, and casually elegant combined. But of course, it always depends on what you are looking for.
You can find petite or tall French women. But French women either love dark or blonde hair, it’s rarely in-between.
What should you expect from French people?
Have you ever heard the saying that French is the language of love? According to research, the French are considered a Romance ethnic group.
While this may sound like the French are all about love, it doesn’t necessarily mean that. What it means is that the French owe their origins to the Romans.
But what should you expect from this group of diverse people? The first word that comes to mind is fun!
A country that is full of such rich history and different people should offer you a world of fun experiences when you visit.
Prepare for a trip to France
If you’re planning to see more of the Francophone people in real life, it’s always important to be prepared for an adventure. The thing about any country is that there are set values and ways of doing things.
This is why it’s important to be knowledgeable about what you are likely to expect. It’s essential to go beyond finding out about the typical physical characteristics of the people who live there.
Although it’s always important for us to learn more about the people we are likely to meet, going in-depth is always a good idea.
So, prepare more by learning about the history of these people and what makes them so diverse and different from the rest of the European world.
We hope this article showed you that if you are trying to figure out the typical physical features of French people, then it’s not as straightforward as we would like it to be.
In fact, we’re likely to find a wide range of physical traits featured by French people, depending on their ethnic background and the part of the country that they are from.
