Activate your lymphatic system and sculpt facial contours with these two easy at-home massage techniques.
We’re all familiar with how important working out is for a healthy body, but it turns out the same can be said for exercising your face.
Facial sculpting’s boom in popularity has caused countless
No matter your skin concerns, facial sculpting boasts universal appeal when it comes to alleviating tension, boosting circulation and creating a more radiant, sculpted complexion.
According to Rachel Jackson, founder of Rae Face Sculpting, the benefits of facial massage reach far beyond a snatched jawline.
“Facial massage has a bunch of beautiful benefits, including improving your facial posture and alignment, encouraging oxygenated blood flow, giving your skin a glow from within, nourishing your tissues and eliminating toxins,” she says. “It can help the skin to smooth and fade age-related changes by reducing tension in the muscles, help to relieve tension you might be holding in your face, especially around your jaw.”
But in the same way that going to the gym once won’t give you a six-pack, Rachel says building regular facial sculpting techniques into your self-care routine will yield the best results.
Below are the expert-approved sculpting massage techniques to help activate the body’s detoxification systems to leave skin hydrated and healthy-looking.
Rae Face Lymphatic Drainage Technique
As with her in-clinic treatments at Rae Face in Hobsonville and Ponsonby, Rachel recommends some lymphatic drainage moves before you start your face-sculpting ritual.
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Advertise with NZME.“This helps encourage flow and movement of lymph to help detoxify and eliminate any stagnation or puffiness around the face and neck.”
The gentle movements don’t require oil, and Rachel says you can keep your touch light: focus on stretching skin up and down rather than massaging it.
Lymphatic technique: Start around your collarbones, then follow the side of your neck, under the jawline, the back of your neck at the hairline, make a V with your fingers either side of your ears, then finish back at your collarbone. If you like, try some gentle sweeping movements under your eyes and down your neck.
- For your face-sculpting massage, smooth your favourite facial oil over your face and neck.
- Work your way up from your neck to your jawline and the sides of your face with lifting, gliding movements. Think up and open.
- Massage around your mouth by gently grabbing the tissues either side of your lips.
- Next, sweep under the cheekbones to help with lymphatic flow and ease the tension in these muscles.
- If you find you have jaw tension, try using your knuckles to gently ease down on the TMJ (temporomandibular joint, which connects your jawbone to your skull).
- Massage around your eyebrows by gently grabbing the skin above and below them and working your way from the inner to your outer brows.
- Massage up towards your scalp on your forehead and finish off with a scalp massage.
- You can do all this with your hands, as you can control the pressure. If you have an area where you’re holding more tension, e.g. the 11 lines between your brows, then using a gua sha is another option to focus on that spot.
- Try to include some postural stretches afterwards, like rolling your shoulders, opening your chest and stretching your neck.
Rachel advises taking some deep breaths while you do your massage, elevating the ritual to one that helps you find your centre and reconnect with your breath.
Neurotouch Sculpting Technique
This sculpting technique was developed by professional skin therapists to be used in synergy with Dermalogica’s new Neurotouch Symmetry Serum, $250 (available from August 15). The oil-based serum is said to sculpt and lift the face, restoring facial symmetry and firming its appearance with ongoing use.
Together, the sculpting technique and science-backed serum highlight the transformative power of human touch, activating the skin-mind connection, says Dermalogica New Zealand educator Leanne Winsor.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the industry, Leanne says stimulating massage aims to tap into the skin’s sensory receptors, or the ones responsible for releasing happy hormones like dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin.
Start with one side of your face and repeat each movement three times before moving to the next step. Once you’ve completed all steps, you can repeat the entire ritual on the other side.
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Advertise with NZME.- Applying four to six drops of the serum to palms, before rubbing together and placing over your nose for three grounding breaths.
- Starting with the neck, use a light pinching motion from just below the chin down to the clavicle to activate the body’s lymphatic drainage system.
- Next, use the forefinger and thumb to lightly pinch from the centre of the face towards the ear.
- To sculpt and lift cheeks, lightly walk the fingers up the face from chin to cheekbone, lifting under the cheek and holding for a few seconds before you release and repeat.
- Use your forefinger and thumb to pinch, lift and circle each eyebrow, starting at the centre of the face and moving down the temples.
- To smooth forehead lines, slide your fingers upwards from eyebrow to hairline, and use the fingers on the opposite hand to “erase” lines by using horizontal movements, as if you’re rubbing expression lines off your face.
- The final step is to lightly massage all over the face, starting in the middle of the face and moving outwards, beginning with your chin, then your cheeks and ending with your forehead.
Prefer not to DIY? Consider the Professional NeuroSculpt Massage, a 10-minute protocol which includes buccal (intra-oral) massage to contour the face, release tension and foster a heightened skin-mind connection.
The Professional NeuroSculpt Massage can be stacked with any other in-clinic treatment at Skintopia clinics around Aotearoa from August 15.
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Enhance your next facial sculpting massage with one of these hydrating oil blends.
Dermalogica NeuroTouch Symmetry Serum, $250. Available from August 15.
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