Gua Sha
What does the massage stone do for the face?
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Gua Sha is the name of a skincare trend from Chinese medicine. We’ll tell you here what this brings and whether you need it too.
Gua Sha has established itself as a long-running favorite in skin care. Gua…what? Gua Sha! We reveal what’s behind it and whether the trend from Asia is really something you need in your routine.
Gua Sha – anti-aging through massage
Gua Sha is a Massage stone and it originally comes from Chinese medicine. Here it is used for a type of stimulation therapy in which the skin is treated with the massage stone. Literally, “Gua” means something like pressing or stroking and “Sha” means rash or redness. However, the massage technique has not yet been scientifically proven.
Gua Sha stones are usually flat, have different shapes and can be made of different materials (jade, amethyst or rose quartz). They are rubbed over the skin to naturally lift, soothe and stimulate the skin’s collagen production. The skin’s appearance should appear fresh and radiant through regular use of a Gua Sha stone, dark circles and bags under the eyes are reduced by the improved blood circulation. The procedure is almost like lymphatic drainage on the face.
Advantages of the Gua Sha stone at a glance
Even if the effect cannot be clearly proven, the beauty treatment already has many fans in this country. Regular use of a Gua Sha stone is said to have these benefits:
- Improve blood circulation
- Reduce swelling
- Relax facial muscles
- Fresher complexion
Does Gua Sha help against wrinkles?
Gua Sha stones are often touted as a little miracle cure for wrinkles, especially on Instagram and the like. However, this effect must be viewed with limitations: Although massage can make wrinkles look visually smoother in the short term, long-term reduction in wrinkles is not to be expected. The cause of wrinkles is the loss of moisture and elasticity, which cannot simply be massaged away.
Which Gua Sha stone is right for me?
Depending on, which target What you want to achieve with the treatment, another material is suitable:
- Quartz: Light quartz is said to have a mood-enhancing and calming effect. Use it if you want fresh and radiant skin and want to use Gua Sha as part of your relaxation routine.
- Rose quartz: The pink stone is said to be able to help us reduce stress and tension. A facial massage with rose quartz helps against irritated skin and irritations.
- Green jade: Green jade symbolizes calm and harmony. The stone is said to be able to relieve impurities and swelling on the skin.
- Black Jade: According to traditional Chinese medicine, black jade has a cleansing effect. A Gua Sha made from this stone is said to be able to help you gently remove impurities from sensitive skin.
Gua Sha: Instructions for the perfect massage
Of course, there are a few rules for the Gua Sha Facial that you should follow if you want to treat yourself to a perfect facial massage. Simply stroking your face wildly is not the ideal option. It’s best to use the method two to three times a week – and here’s how to do it correctly:
- Preparation is key. Never use the stone on dry skin, but rather prepare cleansed skin with a skin oil or serum.
- In general, each stroking movement along the facial contours is repeated about three to five times.
- If you like, start with the neck. Move the Gua Sha from the chin down to the neck. This stimulates lymphatic flow.
- Now work gradually on the contours of your face: Place the Gua Sha in the middle of your face at the root of your nose and, applying slight pressure, pull it outwards along your jaw towards your ears.
- Then move over the cheeks up to the eye area.
- For the eye area, most healing stones have a smaller side or a notch. Attention: Massage here particularly gently because the skin around the eyes is very thin and therefore sensitive!
- Place the Gua Sha in the middle of your forehead and pull it outwards towards your temples and hairline.
Further tips for use:
- Important: Always pull the stone in one direction and do not move it back and forth. This irritates the skin unnecessarily.
- The Gua Sha massage is comparative soft carried out, so please do not press too hard.
- Clean the Gua Sha stone after the facial massage with water and mild soap. Do you suffer from impure skin? Then it makes sense to clean the stone after use disinfect.
At swelling By the way, it can make sense to put the Gua Sha stone in the refrigerator before the massage. It has an additional cooling effect and can better reduce swelling.
When should I use the massage method?
For the best possible effect, one is required daily massage Ideal with Gua Sha. It’s up to you whether you establish the applications as part of your skin care routine in the morning or prefer to do them in the evening to relax before going to bed. However, the advantage of using it in the morning is that your complexion will immediately appear fresher and more radiant thanks to the improved blood circulation.
What are the differences to a massage roller?
As an alternative to Gua Sha, you can of course also use a classic one Jade roller because in principle both tools pursue the same goal: a pleasant facial massage, which, among other things, is intended to increase blood circulation and relieve tension in the face.
There are also no particular differences in handling between a Gua Sha stone and a jade roller – However, the jade roller could be a little easier to handle, especially for beginners. When using it, all you have to do is rub it over your face with consistent, gentle pressure; the tool does the rest. With Gua Sha, however, you will probably have to practice a bit to find the right pressure level. There is also a special notch for the eye area, so it is important to place the stone correctly. As long as you are careful not to build up too much pressure and really only massage your skin gently, There are no side effects to be expected with either method.
When should I not use Gua Sha?
It doesn’t matter what skin type you have – as long as you think about the right preparation, you can use the Gua Sha stone on both dry and combination skin, for example. But there is a small limitation: Since the massage stone can spread bacteria even further on the skin, it is not suitable if your skin is already severely irritated or inflamed. This is the case, for example, with acne or couperose.
In general, with existing ones Skin diseases Always be careful – always talk to your doctor first about whether using the gemstone is okay for you. The same applies if you are pregnant.