Are you tired of waking up looking tired? That’s understandable. Sometimes, no matter how much sleep you get, you wake up with puffy-looking skin, bags under your eyes, and an overall tired, swollen look.
Enter gua sha, the ancient Chinese art of helping sculpt and “de-puff” the skin. Used for centuries, the gua sha tool resembles a small, flat stone, usually made out of jade, obsidian, glass, or wood. Using this tool, gua sha users gently massage their skin, helping rid the face of excess fluid (lymph) and producing a more sculpted, youthful look.
If you’ve been thinking of trying gua sha, keep reading to learn about how this method works, what you’ll need to get started, and other alternative treatments to depuff and sculpt the face.
Does Gua Sha Work?
Gua sha originated in China and is one of the oldest forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recorded. It’s still used in many cultures and has recently gained popularity in the West.
Gua sha can be used anywhere on the body. By using a particular stone, practitioners attempt to scrape or massage different body areas to “scrape away” illness.
Research has shown that gua sha helps to:
- Maintain healthy blood circulation
- Support lymphatic drainage
- Aid in tissue health
- Support the body’s hormonal balance
In addition to these proven benefits, anecdotal evidence shows that it will help sculpt and depuff and provide a relaxing massage.
How Do I Use Gua Sha on My Face?
Although gua sha can be used on virtually any body part, we’ll focus on the face for this tutorial. First, you’ll need to select your gua sha stone. The type of stone you use may offer additional benefits if you want to balance your chakras or clear out negative Qi.
Rose quartz, for example, has been used in ancient cultures to spark passion and love. You can also practice gua sha with a jade roller, which consists of a polished jade stone that rolls over the face with an attached handle.
1. Prep Your Skin
You should always practice gua sha on clean skin to reduce the spread of bacteria. Use your favorite cleanser like NuFACE® Prep-N-Glow® Facial Wipes to eliminate oil, dirt, and makeup.
Prep-N-Glow facial wipes combine cleansing and exfoliating in one simple step to remove dead skin cells and help ensure your skin is ready for facial massage.
2. Apply Serums or Oils
Apply your favorite skincare oil or serum to reduce pulling or dragging on the skin, which could cause wrinkles or bruises.
Instead, try one of the NuFACE Super Booster Serums to suit your unique skin needs and provide a smooth surface to slide your gua sha over.
Super Vita-C Booster Serum: Formulated with potent plant botanicals to support firm and tight skin, IonPlex® to help nourish and hydrate the skin, and vitamin C to help brighten and restore an even skin tone, using this with your gua sha beauty tool will help bring back your skin’s natural radiance.
Super Antioxidant Booster Serum: This booster serum protects skin from external aggressors (including intrusive blue light) that cause oxidative damage.
Super Peptide Booster Serum: Check all the skincare boxes with this serum that helps reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, plump the skin with nourishing peptides, and smooth rough patches of dry skin.
Once you’ve applied your favorite serum, you can start your gua sha massage.
3. Perfect Your Gua Show Flow
Think of your gua sha routine like your yoga practice. With gentle pressure, you’ll cover some of the same movements in a smooth flow. You can use medium pressure for stubborn areas, but most areas on the face need only light pressure and gentle glides.
Start by angling your gua sha tool toward your hairline. For each area, gently glide the tool upward and outward at a 45-degree angle. Repeat the glides three to five times before moving to another location.
Here are some easy tips for getting the benefits of gua sha on your face.
Forehead: Working in three small sections, glide your tool upward and outward toward the hairline, smoothing the forehead facial muscles as you work.
Jawline and chin: A heart-shaped gua sha tool is perfect for contouring your jawline because you can easily angle the device with the heart's cleft on your jawbone as you perform glides. Glide the tool upward toad your earlobe.
Cheeks: Glide the gua sha tool from the inner corner of your nose to your temples using the same upward and outward technique.
Eye area: Using extremely gentle pressure, gently scrape from the inner corner of the eye toward the temple to depuff and encourage lymphatic flow.
Brow bone: Glide your gua sha tool from the inner corner of your brow bone toward your temples.
If your skin becomes dry during your gua sha massage, try spritzing your skin with NuFACE Supercharged IonPlex® Facial Mist. This mist contains ultra-hydrating hyaluronic acid, IonPlex®, and ceramides to maintain your skin barrier. It’s an easy way to keep your skin safe and nourish it simultaneously.
More Results With Microcurrent
Gua Sha built the foundation for a technology we use today called microcurrent. Microcurrent uses low-level electric currents that mimic the body’s natural currents to stimulate the skin down to the muscle, supporting circulation and retraining facial muscles to help blur the look of lines and wrinkles.
Microcurrent is safe, completely painless, and helps visibly lift, tighten, and sculpt the look of the skin. You’ll notice immediate results that compound over time. Combining gua sha with microcurrent is safe, although you may prefer the results you see from microcurrent, just like yoga and strength training can be combined for optimal workout results!
NuFACE Microcurrent Devices are designed to work synergistically with NuFACE Microcurrent Activators for optimal microcurrent conduction After only a few treatments, the result is smoother, brighter, and more youthful-looking skin.
Gua Sha for All
Adding a gua sha massage to your skincare routine can help you support lymphatic drainage and healthy blood flow to reveal a radiant complexion. For even more benefits, try microcurrent, which can go deeper into your skin, down to the facial muscles, to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Take care of your skin without invasive procedures using time-tested techniques now backed by science.
Sources:
Effect of Gua sha therapy on perimenopausal syndrome: a randomized controlled trial | PubMed
Rose Quartz History and Lore | GIA.edu
