Such an interesting question.
I try to describe “only what matters to the story”
Almost like, you know in hand drawn imagery, or in court drawings the cartoonist might leave out noses, or have only eyes, or only use slight shading on the faces of people.
I like to describe hair colour, build, beard/no beard, eye type, “general feel” then I leave the rest to the reader to put their mind’s imagery onto it Unless there is a specific feature needed to that character, perhaps a thick forehead, body skin tone, or a button nose.
Like if I say someone “looked angry and slim, with a black goatee” that’s a completely open description, but it’s still definitely a description that will inspire an image of that character to the reader, and I won’t write anything to disturb or change a “possible alteration” to the reader’s now established identity of that character.
I write a lot of stuff with at least one character in first person, and for that I try to be even less precise (a trick from storyRPGs; give the protagonist a general enough description, to allow a reader near their age to imply their own identity into them).
It’s like a way of being vague and precise at the same time.
The most important thing I will say is, describe a character concisely, and from “most outstanding features first” and don’t keep dipping back adding detail.
dont be like Chapter 1 “there was a tall man with blue eyes, he looked handsome and strong”
Chapter II "he waved his hand through his Gray hair (wait, what!? I’ve been imagining him with brown hair), and adjusted his massive gold nose ring (WHAT?!)
Chapter III "A bead of sweat glistened and rolled down the scar on his right cheek (OK, Fuck this story this guy keeps changing his appearance)