Is daily face massage good for your skin?

Facial massage is a trend that became popular in the Western World a few seasons ago, yet it’s nowhere near vanishing from our radars. Beauty magazines, massage therapists and cosmeticians have been praising it as a great step to add to your skincare routine.

They say that such treatment has anti aging benefits, relieves tension from tight face muscles, increases blood flow, helps with improving lymphatic drainage and reduce puffiness. Yet, as we all know, not all the beauty trends are truly healthy and beneficial for your skin and body. Let’s find out the secret arcanas of this ancient massaging practice.

Training facial muscles and improving blood circulation

The human face is made out of 42 individual facial muscles and all of those are responsible for things such as facial expression and skin condition. Daily massages are simply training for those facial muscles and pressure points, with additional benefits for skin and body.

Most people hold a lot of tension and stress in their faces, which may result in decreased overall appearance of skin – think wrinkles, sagging skin, or unpleasant texture.

Peer-reviewed studies show face massage is a technique which not only a is great way to relax facial muscles. It also helps with improving blood circulation, lymphatic drainage, and collagen production, which leads to healthier, glowing skin while having anti aging benefits.

These factors combined lead to a cumulative effect

Studies also show that the benefits of facial massage are not only superficial. Adding such step to your skincare routine works well for the soul, too – while it relieves tension from tight muscles, it also reduces stress from busy minds.

How to do a basic facial massage?

To establish a good facial massage routine, you have to learn the basics first. Before starting your journey with face massage, you should make a few additional steps to achieve the best experience.

• firstly – wash your hands and face to prevent the spreading of bacteria,
• secondly – apply your favorite moisturizer and pat it on your skin using your fingers,
• finally – apply a serum or oil for it to create a perfect canvas to explore the art of facial massage techniques.

It’s important to start the journey with a clear mind and to set realistic expectations

The effects of face massage may be spectacular and even bring out your bone structure, but don’t expect to see the benefits immediately after day one.

Note – this is just a common, quite generic way to do a face and neck massage. Feel free and explore different techniques on your own.

1. as mentioned before, facial massage is training for your face, thus it should have a training-like structure. You should start by gently warming up your skin with wide, circular motions of your fingers,
2. start focusing on your forehead and temples. You can place your knuckles on your brow bone and make an upward motion,
3. moving a little bit lower, start massaging the skin around your eye area using your ring finger. Apply gentle pressure since the skin around eyes is very delicate,
4. your cheeks need some love, too. Rest your middle fingers next to your nose bridge and smoothly swipe them outwards,
5. put your thumbs above your jawline, resting your index finger slightly below. Sweep from the center of your chin towards the ear. There, you can use a circular motion to massage the base of your ear,
6. don’t forget about your neck and décolletage! For these areas it’s best to use swift, upward motions, then start making small, circular movements to relieve tension, help lift the skin, and smooth the neck wrinkles. It’s important to pay attention to these areas, as they are crucial in the process of draining lymphatic fluid out of your face.

Repeat each of these movements 5 to 10 times. After few face massages, you’ll notice which massaging techniques work best on your skin.

Play with pressure – aside from the eye area where the skin is paper-thin, you should try applying both gentle and firm pressure and find what works best for reliving muscle tension and to increase blood flow in your skin.

Techniques of facial massages

If you’re the kind of person who likes experimenting with their lives, we have great news. Besides the well-known and beloved classic technique, there are many other interesting ways to massage your face and neck muscles. Here are some of them:

Cupping

This alternative facial massage technique uses suction cups on certain points of the skin to stimulate muscles and blood flow, smooth out wrinkles and reduce muscle tension.

Shiatsu

Japanese type of face massage aims to bring balance to your inner Qi energy. Its basics are to apply acupressure to some pressure points or the energy meridians. They say that a session of such face massages increases circulation of the Qi energy, this balancing it and leading to balanced mind and healthy skin.

The lymphatic drainage massage technique

Lymph is a fluid that your body uses to get rid of waste and toxins. This massage technique mainly focuses on unclogging the lymphatic system, which may occur after some medical treatments or illness. Benefits of facial massage done with this technique are widely approved by various medical associations.

Which moisturiser to use?

The presence of oil on your face is mandatory for your beauty tool to massage your face muscles smoothly, but it’s up to you which one will you choose.

Not using any form of lubricant (so face oil, serum, or a balm) may lead to skin irritation and redness.

It’s recommended to match your mousturiser with the type of your skin and its needs. For example, dry skin benefits from using almond or argan oil, oily skin like jojoba or grapeseed oils, for anti aging effect try a dedicated serum, et cetera. The best way to find which of these works for your skin and muscles is to simply try them out.

To improve your spa-like experience, you can also add a few drops of essential oil to the liquid. Be careful though, as not all of those are safe to use on the skin.

Hands or tools?

While using fingers movements in facial massage sounds amazing for some, it is worth noting that the market is full of beauty tools designed for this specific usage. Such tools can make the experience feel more fun or luxurious for the mind and body.

You can choose from a wide variety of products, each having its own benefits. From Gua Sha (a smooth-edged face massage stone used in traditional Chinese medicine), through jade rollers (though those made out of other crystals work well, too), to complicated beauty devices which use microcurrent technologies to reach the deepest parts of the skin, which fingers can’t reach.

How often should you do facial massage?

The answer is – it depends. Board certified dermatologist recommends doing 5 to 10 minutes of face massage sessions every day to start feeling the benefits and relieve tension.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can visit a professional massage therapist or a cosmetologist once every 3 to 4 weeks and relax.

Not only is it a great experience, but also a wonderful way to discover new massage techniques and find those most beneficial for your body.

The bottom line

To sum it all up – facial massages are a perfect way to relax at home or at a beauty parlour. Face massage has many benefits – it reduces stress and accumulated tension, improves blood flow and unclog the lymphatic system, smoothes wrinkles. No matter if you have a jade roller o just your index finger, start today – your skin will thank you later.