Gua Sha!!

The Uses and Benefits

Gua Sha! What is it? How does it work? Maybe you’ve heard of it before and maybe you haven’t. “Gua Sha??? Huh?” Gua Sha is nothing new. It’s been around for centuries and derives from ancient Chinese medicine and practices. The term “Gua Sha” means “scraping” and is a traditional Chinese healing method using a smooth-edged tool to stroke your skin while applying pressure. Gua Sha was originally used to treat chronic pains and inflammation all over the body. It went hand in hand with other treatments such as herbal medicine, massage therapy, acupuncture, and heat therapy. It was used to treat areas like the back, neck, arms, buttocks, and legs. The Gua Sha tool is used to increase blood flow and create a “lifting” effect on your skin, which helps lessen the toxins in the body and promotes healing. Gua Sha has been known to aid with migraines, neck pains, perimenopausal syndrome, and more by releasing inflammation and promoting better circulation to the painful and inflamed areas. 

While Gua Sha is a very safe method, due to pressure being applied on the skin some may experience light bruising on parts of the body. This occurs when the tiny blood vessels right under the skin burst. But no worries, like any bruises it will go away in a matter of days and you probably wouldn’t even notice it since they’re so small. 

Now let’s focus on the facial aspect of Gua Sha, shall we? Our Gua Sha kit comes with not only the Gua Sha tool, but also the face roller! The Gua Sha tool is said to chisel out cheekbones, de-puff eye bags, and brighten the skin! Similar to the body benefits of Gua Sha, when it comes to the face Gua Sha promotes lymphatic drainage which reduces bloating caused by fluid trapped under the skin. Gua Sha is known to provide the following:

• Stimulation and circulation
• Produces more collagen
• Softens fine lines and wrinkles
• Decreases puffiness
• Decreases inflammation
• Diminishes dark circles 
• Temporarily tightens the skin
• Brightens the complexion 
• Sculpts facial muscles 
• Releases tightness

While I’ll be posting some Gua Sha techniques for you to visually see and aid in proper form and technique, here’s how you would normally use it; gently press the Gua Sha to your face and slowly apply pressure firmly and slide it in the direction of lymphatic flow. Lymphatic drainage is like the garbage disposal for the skin. The fluids that build up under the skin and cause inflammation need to be detoxified. Our natural detoxification system is lymphatic drainage. Gua Sha pushes the fluids into the lymphatic drainage system where they get cleaned and pushed back into the bloodstream.

Gua Sha is recommended at least once a week, but it is completely dependent on your skin type and tolerance to it. Once you build up your tolerance you can increase the usage to 2-3 times a week.  The kind of stone used varies on what you’re looking for. It has been recommended to use the Rose Quartz if you have reactive skin normally due to its cooling and calming effects. For those of you that are into stones and crystals, you should know that these tools also possess properties that help clear the chakra and unlock you Qi. Just simply apply facial oil (I recommend our Miracle Beauty Oil because moisturizer dries quicker and this is a facial massage basically) to the face, neck, and décolletage and begin the lymphatic draining process. Watch your skin change right before your eyes. With a little consistency and amazing results, you’ll become OBSESSED!!!!