If you’re looking to take your skin routine to the next level, Gua Sha may be the missing piece you’ve been looking for. You might be wondering, what is a Gua Sha and how do I use one?
What is a Gua Sha?
Gua sha, also called coining, is a facial massage practice derived from ancient Chinese medicine. Gua directly translates to “scraping,” and sha means “sand.” A Gua Sha facial treatment involves gently scraping a small flat stone over the skin to increase blood flow and promote tissue drainage.
Just as our bodies can hold tension from poor posture, our facial muscles can hang to stress from jaw clenching or squinting. Gua sha relaxes muscles, which causes a reduction in wrinkles and temporarily firms the skin. It may also reduce migraines and ease neck stiffness.
Gua Sha also increases circulation and encourages lymphatic drainage. With this increased circulation, our bodies can better move toxins out of the skin, which helps clear blackheads and breakouts, helps get rid of dark circles around your eyes, brightens your complexion, and may even lessen hyperpigmentation.
A full gua sha facial massage can be completed in 5 minutes without leaving your home, and, unlike many other facial treatments, it won’t leave your skin red, sensitive, or peeling afterward. If you don’t have one yet, try our newest Snow Quartz Gua Sha to start with.
How Do I Use A Gua Sha?
Start with clean skin and hands and slightly warm the gua sha in your hands. Hold the tool so that the broadest edge comes in contact with your skin, and you are getting as much contact as possible.
For the stone to glide gently over your skin (and not drag), it’s important to use a little facial oil beforehand. (Our Balancing CBD Facial Oil is perfect for this.) The massage will also help your skin better absorb any skincare you apply before starting.
Using a light touch, start at your neck and glide the tool upwards over your skin.
From there, move upwards to your chin and sweep from under your chin outward toward your earlobes.
Glide from your chin up over your jawline towards your ears. To encourage fluid to drain into your lymph nodes, gently wiggle the tool when it reaches your ear.
Next, slide the tool under and over each cheekbone, moving toward your hairline.
Then run it under your eyes, starting in the corners and moving outward.
Lastly, run it across and between your eyebrows and up over your forehead to your hairline.
Start with 3-5 stokes for each area. If you would like a deeper massage, you can increase strokes per area to 10. Any more than 10 and you may overstimulate, so 10 is the maximum number of strokes per area you should use.
The entire process should take between 5 and 10 minutes and should be repeated at least three times per week. Consistency is key to getting the most out of your gua sha practice. Just like exercising once won’t get you in shape, one gua sha massage will feel good, but it won’t benefit your skin the way a regular practice will.
Have you tried facial massage yet? Grab the supplies you need in our shop!