THE GUA SHA REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN. Well, technically it began thousands of years ago, but who’s counting? 😹
I’ve been obsessed with this little tool lately, so I wanted to share a little bit more about it with you and share some of my best Gua Sha tips to make the process a little less intimidating. Check out my Gua Sha Tutorial Video here or keep reading for all my quick tips.
All Natural Botox Alternative
I swear, this little Gua Sha stone has completely changed my skin in a matter of weeks. It does what Botox is supposed to do, by changes the way that you use the muscles in your face, except this does it by ACTUALLY CHANGING YOUR MUSCLES via massage and lymph drainage and not just paralyzing them with toxins.
I’m a HUGE, huge fan. So I gotta ask, have you tried gua sha yet? If not, what are you waiting for!? This Gua Sha starter set is def the best deal, you get the facial oil practically for free!
How To Use Your Gua Sha Stone
If you’ve ever used a rose quartz facial roller on your face, then you already have a vague idea of how to do a gua sha facial massage. Basically, you just want to follow along the natural pathways of your face to loosen up tight muscles, gently move the lymph to encourage detoxification, and encourage blood flow to underutilized areas of the face.
Gua Sha On The Neck
You can begin by doing some very gentle stroke from the top of your neck downward. The important thing to remember is to keep it very gentle (lymph does not like a lot of pressure.)
Jawline And Cheeks
You can then begin moving in upward and outwards strokes around the fleshier areas of the face, like the cheeks and the jawline. It’s also important to use your opposite hand to hold the skin gently in place and provide sort of an “anchor” point for stone, which your other hand will be lightly moving across the skin.
Anchor Points and Angles
It’s also important to keep the stone almost flat against the face, at a very slight angle (about 30º from the face, if possible.) You do not want to put the stone at a 90-degree angle, as this will actually be more damaging to the skin, rather than being helpful.
Once you’ve massaged the jawline and cheeks, you can do extremely gentle strokes under the eyes outwards towards temples, and you can do upward OR outward strokes on the forehead. No anchor point is needed on the forehead.
Gua Sha Tips
I know it can be intimidating to start a new practice that might be totally foreign, so I’m going to go over a few really important Gua Sha tips to keep in mind as you’re first getting the hang of how to do your ritual:
- be sure to keep the stone at a 30-45 degree angle and use extremely gentle pressure
- always use the stone with a facial oil to provide slip and prevent pulling or tugging the skin
- the side with the “waves” is perfect to use along jawlines and cheekbones to perfectly hug those contours while getting the lymph moving
- you can do a little “wiggle” at the end of the stroke as you approach the jawline to really break up the tension in that area and encourage detoxification
- use one finger as an”anchor point” when you begin, holding your skin lightly in place with the opposite hand
- use upwards and outward strokes along jawline and cheeks, but downward along the neck (always avoiding the throat) and outward on the décolleté
- the mini comb side is excellent for eyebrow lines or “11’s” as well as breaking up hyperpigmentation
- for hyperpigmentation spots, you can wiggle the comb from side to side over the spot to assist in breaking it up
- for acne, you can use a smooth side all around the spot (avoiding the actual blemish) to increase circulation and healing
- the large comb can be used on the body in both long strokes as well as back and forth rapid strokes for helping to break up cellulite
Well, I hope these Gua Sha tips were helpful! If you want to read more about gua sha tones vs. facial rollers, you can check out this Apothecary Co. blog post here. Still have questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out! I love hearing from you.
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