Hello Lovelies,
Today we are talking about Facial Gua Sha. Before we get started, I want to preface this information by saying I am not a dermatologist, facialist or specialist in this field. I have come across Gua Sha on YouTube and wanted to learn more about it. While researching I couldn’t find one place that had all the answers i was looking for… so here we are… on my blog creating a post with the knowledge I have accumulated for you all!
What is Gua Sha?
- Gua Sha is a Chinese medicine technique that uses stones to “scrape” & “manipulate” skin to help relieve pressure, smooth skin and help with drainage. Gua Sha is often paired with a medium to help the stones glide smoother across the face without tugging & having the opposite affect (creating wrinkles we don’t want!). Gua Sha has several other benefits listed below.
Benefits of Gua Sha
- Reduces the look of fine lines & wrinkles
- Tightens & firms skin
- Gives a brighter more youthful appearance
- Increases circulation
- Stimulates lymphatic drainage
I use Jojoba oil & Rosehip oil as my mediums for my tools to glide smoothly along my skin.
Jojoba Oil :
- Is a healing & antimicrobial oil
- Helps with damage control & repair of your skin
- Hydrates & calms skin
- Reduces the appearance of redness/blemishes , wrinkles & lines
More info about jojoba oil here
Rose Hip Oil:
- Anti aging oil
- Moisturizes skin
- Reduce pigmentation
- Has healing properties
More info about rose hip oil here
Shop the Gua Sha tools I use.
My Gua Sha Routine:
Repeat motion 5-10 times per area
Be sure to do the same on both sides
*try to angle the stone on a small angle allowing it to sweep over the skin and lift*
Step 1 : Apply oils gently to face & neck
Step 2 : take Gua Sha stone and use the curved side to swipe upwards along your neck
Starting with the neck allows everything else being drained from the top of your head to flow down nicely.
Step 3 : Cheeks . This is a bigger plane of your face. Take the tool and drag it from chin/mouth out and up towards your ear.
Step 4 : Jaw line, use the part of the tool that comes to a meeting point. Glide along the jaw line to define it.
Step 5 : Cheekbone. For cheek bone I use the same technique as the jaw line. Since this area is bonier, I use the meeting point and place my cheekbone between the groove and glide towards my temples.
Step 6 : Centre face. Start at your nose and bring the tool to the middle of your eyebrows. Using an upward motion smooth this area up towards your forehead. Be sure to smooth between the eyebrows as that’s where the “11” lines develop.
Step 7 : Forehead. Take the too and start in the centre and work your way outwards towards the top & side of the face.
Step 8: Eyebrows. Take the tool, lift and pull the brow (not too much to cause creasing of the skin) out and up towards the top of your temples. Here I either use the edge or the meeting point of the tool.
Step 9 : The eyes. Be very careful in this area. I like to do this last as I am the most gentle at the end and I won’t cause any unnecessary pulling or wrinkling. I like to go over my eye lids gently to apply some cold & pull outwards slightly. I repeat under the eyes as well going along the bottom of my eye, outwards and upwards.
Step 10 : Massage oils into skin and finished for the day.
Benefits I’ve seen of gua sha with jojoba & rosehip oil.
- Reduce appearance of redness
- Minimize sinus pressure/headaches
- Skin is brighter and more supple
- Appearance of acne has been reduced and no new breakout have developed.
Next post will be my 7 day Gua Sha Results.
