Facial Roller and Gua Sha

After a year of jade rollers taking over the beauty world, there’s a new self-care tool on the block: gua sha. A chinese skin-care ritual, facial gua sha relaxes muscle tension and encourages lymphatic drainage to reduce puffiness and bloating.

Simply place the flatter curve of your gua sha against your face and gently sweep from the center of your forehead out to the temples. Repeat with the smaller curved side of your tool.

1. Increases Blood Circulation

Gua sha involves using a smooth-edged tool like a jade or rose quartz to scrape the skin on your neck, jawline, and cheeks. The technique has been linked to benefits including increased circulation and less gua sha roller muscle pain. But it’s important to note that gua sha can cause redness and bruising, so people with sensitive skin should proceed with caution. It’s also not a good idea to have gua sha done over open lesions, or on any areas with active infections.

While there’s still a need for more research on the health benefits of gua sha, it’s believed that it works by stimulating the lymphatic system to move fluid around the body and release toxins. And it may help ease headaches, according to one study. Researchers found that a woman with chronic migraines who received gua sha treatments over a 14-day period experienced fewer migraines. Interestingly, gua sha has also been used to treat breast engorgement in breastfeeding women—a condition that causes the breasts to overfill with milk and can make it difficult for babies to latch on.

2. Relieves Muscle Tension

Gua sha is thought to address stagnant energy, or chi, in the body that may be responsible for inflammation. Rubbing the skin’s surface breaks up these blockages, which can help to relieve pain and facilitate healing. This is why it’s often used on the back, buttocks, neck, and arms—and, when done correctly, even the face.

This scraping technique is also thought to relieve pain caused by conditions like fibromyalgia and arthritis, as well as help with breathing difficulties from illnesses like the flu, pneumonia, or bronchitis. It’s also been shown to help reduce chronic liver inflammation in patients with hepatitis B.

Facial gua sha, when performed by a licensed acupuncturist, can relieve neck tension and tense muscles in the face and jaw, as well as softening a “poor face posture” (brought on by active facial muscles that can make you look worried or tired). It’s a great way to promote better product penetration too!

3. Reduces Puffiness

Jade rollers and gua sha work to reduce puffiness by stimulating lymph drainage (moving stagnant waste fluids away from a tense or puffy area so they can leave the body along with other body waste). When used around the eyes, the gua sha tool helps reduce under-eye puffiness by massaging the skin tissue, breaking up any pockets of extra water or blood.

The gentle pressure of a face gua sha roller can also depuff the neck and shoulders. Just make sure to glide the tool gently over lubricated skin to avoid causing inflammation and irritation. In some cases, rubbing with the gua sha tool can cause minor bruising, as tiny blood vessels near the surface of your skin are being scraped and burst by the ridges of the tool. This is not painful and usually goes away within a day or two.

Try to use a gua sha or jade roller daily for better skin health. You can even apply the tool while applying serums or oils to help products penetrate more deeply into the skin.

4. Firms Skin

The light pressure and upward motion of a facial roller helps relax muscles, reduce puffiness and firm skin. It also stimulates lymphatic drainage, moving stagnant fluid that has accumulated under the skin away from tense areas to be expelled from the body along with other waste.

Jade beauty rollers are a bit easier to use than gua sha tools because they don’t require angle manipulation, so they’re generally more convenient for people who don’t have much experience with face massage tools. They’re often made of a high quality natural stone like jade, green aventurine or amethyst that feels cooling and smooth on the skin.

Gua sha and facial rolling are great for general wellness benefits, relaxation and enhancing your skincare ritual, skincare wand but they’re unlikely to produce the dramatic results that some claim for contouring, anti-aging and more. If you’re looking to get the best results out of your new tool, be sure to use it consistently and correctly! Shop more face massaging tools at the Poosh Shop.

5. Reduces Acne

When used correctly, gua sha can help reduce the appearance of hormonal acne and prevent blemishes from becoming large or swollen. To amplify the results, it’s best to apply a serum or face oil before using a gua sha. Yin Your Skin’s Deconstruct Retinol & Peptide Serum is perfect for this purpose as it contains Elderflower and Sea Buckthorn, ingredients that fight the bacteria that cause breakouts.

The wider concave side of the tool can be used to sculpt the neck and shoulders, while the smaller cleft or divot can be used around the center of the chin and along the jawline towards your earlobe. It’s also important to keep in mind that while a gua sha tool is great for increasing blood circulation and promoting lymphatic drainage, it is not a substitute for a healthy skincare routine. It is still important to cleanse, hydrate, and get adequate sleep for healthy and glowing skin.

The key to getting the most out of your gua sha roller is to use it daily and with consistency. The more consistent you are, the faster you’ll see results.