Gua sha is an ancient Chinese practice that works to restore energy flow in the body. Today, we use it as a beauty tool to sculpt jaws and cheekbones. By adding gua sha to your skincare routine, you’ll support blood flow, boost lymphatic health, and keep fine lines at bay.
There’s a huge movement of women who are ditching chemical ingredients and invasive beauty procedures in favor of a natural lifestyle. If you’re one of these women, you may be wondering what tools you can use to get the same beauty results without the toxin exposure.
Gua sha is an ancestral practice popularized by traditional Chinese medicine. It has many skin benefits and can sculpt, detox, and drain the face. But what’s unique about gua sha is that it’s designed first to be a wellness tool. The known beauty benefits are simply the result of feeling our best.
The History of Gua Sha
An ancient tool dating back to the Ming dynasty, gua sha is a traditional Chinese medicine practice. By scraping the muscles and skin with a jade stone, a gua sha routine was believed to unblock energy stagnation in the body.
Although it has many benefits in a skincare routine, gua sha was originally designed for the whole body. It can be used on the neck, back, legs, and arms to relieve muscle tension, ease chronic pain, and boost circulation.
Gua Sha and Vital Energy
Traditional Chinese medicine hinges on a concept called “qi” (or “vital energy”). We all have a vital energy force that moves throughout our bodies. However, this energy can become stagnant and get “stuck.” When this happens, we experience chronic pain or discomfort. Gua sha is designed to get our vital energy flowing again.
5 Reasons Why Gua Sha Should Be Part of Your Skincare Routine
As a modern skincare tool, gua sha can help reduce signs of aging and puffiness (usually due to stagnant lymph). It’s a tool for both detox and tension relief.
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Face sculpting
Thanks to the combination of lymphatic drainage, increased blood flow, and muscle manipulation, gua sha can sculpt the face and accentuate bone structure.
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Wrinkle prevention
Like any facial massage tool, gua sha exercises the muscles in your face. This keeps them plump and strong, able to hold up your skin and connective tissue. The result is fewer wrinkles and fine lines.
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Less puffiness
The lymphatic system is a group of vessels and tissues that live right under your skin. Its job is to move waste out of your body using lymphatic fluid. However, if this waste becomes stagnant, it can show up in your face and jaw as puffiness or fullness in the chin. You can manually move this fluid out of your face with a gua sha tool.
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Toxin flush
Your lymphatic system is a crucial part of your immune system. It removes toxins from your body and flushes them out as waste. But the lymphatic system doesn’t have its own pump. This means, it relies on physical movement (like walks, massage, or gua sha) to function optimally. A morning gua sha session is an easy way to detox naturally and support your lymphatic system.
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Tension release
Ancestrally, gua sha tools were used to scrape against the skin and get rid of knots and tension. You can use it on your neck, back, shoulders, and anywhere that feels tight. Gua sha should release tension by increasing blood flow and releasing the fascia.
How to Use Your Gua Sha Tool
Your gua sha tool isn’t just for your face. You can use it to sculpt your jaw and decrease tension throughout the entire body.
Gua sha for jaw
If you carry stress in your jaw, a gua sha tool is the perfect natural tool to help you release it. Start by opening up lymphatic vessels for optimal drainage (focus on your neck and armpits). Then, use the curved section of your gua sha tool to shape your jaw, pulling up toward your ears. After this step, you’ll gently pull fluid down your neck and ears using the rounded side of your stone. It may also help to release the cheekbones, upper jaw, and back of the neck.
Gua sha for face
To get the best results, you should perform a gua sha routine a few times per week. Start with your neck and pull the tool in an upward motion. Once you get to the top, wiggle your tool a bit to release the lymph. Repeat each stroke about ten times.
Use the rounded side of your stone to glide across your cheekbones and jaw, pulling toward your ears. You’ll want to use firm pressure — enough to scrape the skin without bruising. Then, focus on your forehead, using the ridged edges to pull from forehead to scalp.
Gua sha for body
Similar to soft tissue mobilization, gua sha can release muscle tension and tissue restriction throughout the body. You may want to visit a professional for your first gua sha body session, so you can better understand how it works.
To gua sha the body, you’ll want to use much firmer pressure than you would for the face (it’s okay to see redness when working on the skin). You’ll use the long edge of the tool and start with your neck and shoulders, making your way down your body. The goal is to move very slowly, pressing the tool only in one direction.
Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that the color of your skin after gua sha indicates what type of sickness you might have. Bright red is for an acute illness or cold, purple indicates a chronic condition, and a healthy person may experience no reaction at all.
Gua Sha Tips and Tricks
Once you get comfortable with your gua sha routine, there are a few tips and tricks you can use to make it even better. Nourish yourself with hot tea, keep your gua sha in the freezer, or try gua sha for hair growth.
Sip warm water or tea after gua sha
Traditional Chinese medicine recommends a comforting drink, like warm lemon water or tea, after a gua sha session. This helps hydrate your cells and keep lymphatic fluid moving throughout the body.
Keep your gua sha stone in the fridge or freezer
If you’re hoping to depuff your face and jaw in the morning, it may help to keep your gua sha stone cold. Store it in the fridge or freezer for extra anti-inflammatory benefits.
Avoid cold air after a full body gua sha session
A full-body gua sha session moves a lot of fluid and can really fatigue the body. Avoid cold air, cold baths, and wind — and give yourself permission to take a nap. To soothe your muscles, you can wrap yourself in a warm towel or heated blanket.
Try gua sha for hair growth
Explore some of the other benefits of gua sha, like hair growth. Massage your scalp with the gua sha tool, specifically using the jagged edges to stimulate blood flow and hair growth.
Always use a serum
You want your gua sha stone to glide lightly across your face, and this requires a serum or moisturizer. For your skincare routine, habit stack your serum application and gua sha practice. Then, continue with your makeup as normal.
Health and Beauty Should Go Hand in Hand
We are just beginning to understand how modern beauty tools like Botox, fillers, and synthetic skincare ingredients impact our long-term health. These tools that we’ve relied on for the last twenty years are not just toxic but also set unrealistic standards.
And this isn’t how beauty should be. For our ancestors, health and beauty were the same thing. Gua sha is one of the many ancient tools that promote this idea. A gua sha practice is about bringing our inner beauty to the forefront by nourishing our bodies with lymphatic support, blood flow, and vital energy.
Begin Your Gua Sha Era