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Fix Frown Lines and Worry Lines with This Facial Gua sha Sequence
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Facial Gua sha is not complicated to do, it is, however, more intricate than it seems. So while it is true that you can just scrape a tool over your face, you can do so much more if you know what the tool is doing and what is happening underneath the skin. You'll find more on this in my books but you will be able to find lots of information but the basics are in the information below.
How Does Facial Gua sha Work?
Your face is made up of a crisscross of muscles, ligaments, nerves and connective tissue which over time and with certain key behaviours will display themselves on the surface of your skin in the form of wrinkles, lines, baggy areas and discolourations.
With Facial Gua sha, these features can be improved because the action of friction over the connective tissue under your skin, can help the flow of blood by vasodilating your blood vessels. This improvement of blood flow brings with it better nutrition and more flexibility of the underlying tissue and muscles.
There is a lot more to Facial Gua sha than this, however. The face can be treated via the body and if you have the knowledge of how the muscular system is not made up of individual muscles but is grouped across the body as an interconnected signalling system, then you have the tools to make more profound changes to your face. This is my approach to Facial Gua sha and involves treating other parts of your body in order to treat the face.
The fascia and muscle system in your face is actually organised within an interconnected group of muscles that stretch all over your body. For example, if you wanted to treat crows feet at the side of your eyes, you need to know that the Small Intestine tendinomuscular channel passes up the side of your cheek and over your temple. And it starts at the muscles of your little finger.
So in order to treat this area of your face, this muscle grouping of the abductor digiti minimi, flexor carpi ulnaris, triceps, infraspinatus, teres minor, supraspinatus and levator scapula muscles should be treated with Gua sha in conjunction with local treatment on your face.
There are other groups of muscles which can also have an effect on this area and also specific parts of those muscles which are more likely to be sore and need Gua sha scraping.
To restrict Facial Gua sha treatment to only the areas of the face is to misunderstand this vital connection of how the body feeds nutrients and blood to the muscles and tissues of the facial area.
What Tools and Equipment Do You Need for Facial Gua sha?
In order to do Facial Gua sha, you will need a tool but it can really be anything. You can even use your fingers as a tool. As it's your face, the tool has to be smaller and of a material which will be kind to your skin as you scrape along it. The edge of the tool must be smooth and rounded and you can sometimes find tools with notches and curves which can guide you along your jaw area.
You certainly do not need anything expensive nor technical. Even with the face, a Chinese soup spoon works just fine if that's what you want to use. Many people feel the need to buy special tools with fancy names and fancy prices but that's okay. They work fine too.
If you are going to scrape the skin of your face, you must have lubrication between the tool and your skin. Now exactly which form of lubrication you use all depends on what kind of skin you have, whether you have any allergies, your preferences etc. There really is no one catch-all Gua sha lotion. If you do a search on the internet I am sure you will find plenty of oils and creams suggested for Gua sha but all you need is lubricant which is not immediately absorbed into the skin and which will be kind to your skin.
How to Reduce Worry Lines and Frown Lines
Your forehead is home to a large flat muscle called the frontalis muscle which crinkles up when you lift your eyebrows. There are often lines across your forehead known as worry lines as we often lift our eyebrows when stressed. There is another group of muscles between your eyebrows featuring the procerus and supercilii muscles which draw your eyebrows together and create small vertical lines, known as frown lines. As you age these lines start to be more noticeable and can be present on a permanent basis.
This is where the benefit of regular facial Gua sha comes in. LIght scraping in this area can have a positive effect on the skin and tissue below it, allowing the lines to feature less prominently. The following protocol is to help reduce these lines on the forehead area and of course, a great deal more information can be found in the book.
Step 1
Hold the tool with your dominant hand and use the long side to lightly sweep across from the midline of your forehead. Start at your hairline and sweep towards your temple area and then repeat slightly lower down your forehead and again until you reach your eyebrow level.
Step 2
Start at the hairline and scrape back towards the base of your skull. Start at the centerline and then move outwards once you have completed each line. Stop when you reach your ear. Remember you don't need to sweep in this area, you can use the scrape technique used in body Gua sha.
Step 3
Something different from my style of facial Gua sha is the connection with your face and your body and how we can treat the body in order to help make changes in the face. Where we treat on the body is based on how our muscles are grouped in Oriental medicine. In order to improve the flow of nutritious blood to the tissue and muscles in your forehead area, you can scrape down the inside of your arms. Use a body Gua sha wide stroke technique and stop before the wrists.
Step 4
Scrape down the big muscles at the back of your legs. Use a body Gua sha wide stroke technique and avoid the back of the knee and the area above the ankles as the tissue is much thinner in these places and can be uncomfortable.
Hi, It's Clive
Director of Komorebi Institute
Hi, It's Clive
From researching underfunded healthcare in Uganda, to running a thriving chronic illness clinic in North Africa, to collaborating with hospitals in Sri Lanka to train staff and empower communities - My journey has been dedicated to democratizing access to beauty and health.
