Gua Sha: The Facial Treatment You Can DIY At Home

If you haven't had a gua sha treatment before, you're not alone. This ancient Chinese practice has become extremely popular over the last year, and everyone on Instagram has been raving about its natural healing benefits.

According to Women's Health Acupuncturist and Chinese Medicine Practitioner Lauren Curtain, the practice is all about improving circulation, releasing muscle tension and boosting your immune system (yes, please!). To find out a little bit more about this trendy treatment and how it works, we asked Lauren all of our burning gua sha questions.

Gua sha involves scraping the skin with a smooth, flat tool. Lauren adds that the most common tools for this treatment are made of ceramic, rose quartz, and jade. While you can easily give yourself a gua sha massage at home, many acupuncturists incorporate gua sha into their treatments.

Gua sha can be used anywhere on the body and should feel similar to receiving a deep tissue massage. For example, "if gua sha is being used around the neck, shoulders and back to help release muscle tension, the tool allows specific and targeted pressure to the muscle and fascial layers". When you have a gua sha treatment focused on your face, it will feel much more gentle as the skin as the muscles are thinner. When it comes to facial gua sha, you should feel relaxed throughout, and many of Lauren's patients actually report an energy boost and greater mental clarity.

We asked Lauren whether this ancient treatment could actually help with certain skin conditions, and she mentioned that it can be "helpful for plumping the skin, improving skin tone and elasticity", adding that gua sha "improves blood circulation, release muscle tension, encourages lymphatic flow, boosts the immune system and breaks up scar tissue."

To give yourself a facial gua sha treatment, start with clean skin. You might want to apply a serum or oil to the skin, to make sure the tool can glide easily across the surface. Applying medium pressure, drag the tool upwards and outwards along the forehead, cheeks, jawline, and then down the neck.

After learning all about this holistic treatment from an expert, we're pretty keen to give it a go ourselves to reap the plethora of physical and psychological benefits associated with gua sha. Lauren told us that you can easily give yourself a treatment at home with the right tools as part of your overall wellness routine, so excuse us while we do a deep dive on rose quartz facial tools.

If you are concerned about your health, wellbeing or sleep, your first port of call should be your GP, who will advise a correct treatment plan. 

Find out more about Lauren by following her on Instagram or her website.

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