There are several other approaches. First is to retouch the subject. I have a long time friend whose full time business is doing makeup for photographers, movie and TV shoots. She fully understands lighting, lenses and filters, and makes up the subject accordingly. This can be learned by a photographer, but the learning curve is steep.

I mentioned lenses and filters. A soft-focus lens can be quite attractive. The classic is the Rodenstock Imagon, now out of production to the best of my knowledge. The centre of the lens takes a sharp pictures and apertures around the edge of the lens overlay a softer image with pearly highlights. This was very popular a century back, but has gone out of style. I recall that Mamiya had or has a soft focus lens for their medium format cameras, and I believe Pentax also had one. There may be others. Finally there are a lot of filters with various levels of softening and diffusion. Filters and makeup are used together in movie making, since the projected image is so large.

The downside of doing this optically, is that the soft image is forever embedded in the film or file. If the subject does not like the effect, it can not be removed and a reshoot is the only solution.

Much of the story of a person is written in the lines of the face. In a textbook long ago, I saw a comparison of a portrait of an elderly woman with a deeply wrinkled face, and the same face where every wrinkle was removed by an expert retoucher. She barely looked human in the second image, and almost repulsive.

Use a broad, flatter and softer light rather than a directional side light source.

Some people weren't meant to have close-ups