Important facial gua sha tips for beginners. (video included)
Incorporating facial gua sha massage into your skincare routine at home can be so beneficial for anti-aging, treating puffiness, and overall skin radiance. Using your gua sha stone/tool correctly is key to getting the best results from your at-home facial massage treatments. Let’s go over the most important gua sha basics so you can get started! At the end of this blog post, there is a video that will go over all of these tips.
scrub me secret: In 2020 I was lucky enough to have the time to take an intensive course on facial gua sha from the Green Beauty Academy. In this 6 week course, I was able to learn in-depth about gua sha and perfect my practice. I am now able to use my knowledge from my practice to treat my clients and myself.
Skin prep before gua sha:
It’s important to have clean skin for your gua sha massage. Your skin will also need a very light layer of non-pore clogging facial oil so your gua sha tool can have the right amount of slip. Cleanse your skin with a gentle cleanser and then apply a light layer of nourishing serum or your favorite facial oil. I like to place the oil in my hands and then pat it onto my face. The Bybi vegan milk cleanser and scrub me balancing cleansing bar are both great gentle cleansers.
scrub me secret: it’s also important to make sure your gua sha stone or other facial tools are clean before each use. I use one of my handmade soap bars to cleanse my gua sha stones.
My favorite gua sha stones:
Wildling beauty empress stone.
Cecily Braden Pro Neprite stone
The proper way to hold your gua sha stone:
These important notes are best understood when seen on the video at the end of this blog.
Proper placement of the gua sha on your skin is an important detail to ensure you get the best results from your gua sha treatments. When holding the gua sha stone it should be placed with the edge at a very acute angle on the skin. This means the stone should be laying almost flat while you massage. Holding the stone this way creates a better lymph drainage effect as well as helps to lift.
Another key detail when holding your gua sha is to use your other hand (the one not holding the tool) to create a small bit of tension between your skin and the tool. Place one hand on your face and apply light pressure to your skin; when you place the gua sha stone onto your skin and perform your massage movement it creates a small amount of “pull”. This practice has a firming effect on the skin when performed correctly.
Key gua sha tips:
Once you perfect the way you hold and use your gua sha stone you will be a gua sha pro! Then you can move on to more advanced lifting, drainage, and sculpting moves.
Pressure:
On most of your face, you should use medium-firm pressure with your gua sha. You’ll want a gentle enough pressure for lymph drainage with a little firmness for collagen and elastin health. When using your stone on your neck you can apply firmer pressure than your face. The Lightest pressure should be applied underneath the eye area. The thin skin around the eyes is delicate and needs to be treated with lightweight pressure.
Amount of strokes and speed for each move:
Gua sha is a slow and relaxing practice. Don’t rush this facial massage routine; in order to drain puffiness and provide skin firming benefits, you’ll need to move slow. A facial gua sha massage can take anywhere from 5-45minutes depending on how many movements you’re performing. This basic routine I detail in the video below will take you 8-10minutes. Each gua sha move should be performed 3-6x in a row.
Beginner gua sha moves:
These moves are great to perfect and get the hang of when you’re a gua sha beginner. Try to incorporate these movements in this exact order into your wellness routine 1-3x a week. Learning and practicing these gua sha massage movements can help you perfect the foundational parts of this skincare ritual. These will be detailed in the video below.
scrub me secrets: My favorite gua sha stone comes from Wildling Beauty. The empress stone is the gua sha tool I use most often. I have many other gua sha tools in my skincare arsenal including the Multisculpt tool from face gym, a stainless steel gua sha tool. I recommend either of these tools for your at-home routine.
Drainage under ears:
Use the “U” part of your gua sha stone or tool to glide in the downward motion underneath your ear. Perform this movement on each side 3x. This stimulates lymph movement and drainage.
Along the side of the face:
Using a long flat edge or the comb edge of your gua sha stone glide from the corner of your mouth, across your cheek, up towards your ear. Use your other hand to create tension for firming. Perform this movement 3-6x on each side.
Under the eye:
With gentle pressure glide your gua sha tool underneath your eye, from the inner part out. Using your fingertips to create that small amount of pull will help to move around the drain fluid that creates puffiness under your eyes.
On the forehead:
Using the long flat edge or comb edge, glide the gua sha in upward movements, in sections over your forehead. I like to split up each side into 3 sections. By the temple, above the brow, and the middle of the forehead.
Final drainage movement:
This big sweep gua sha move helps promote more drainage and is a great way to end your gua sha practice for the day. Use the comb edge or a smooth edge for this. Starting in the middle of your forehead, glide out towards your temple, down the side of your face, and down below your ear following the same path as your first drainage movement.