A facial massage does wonders to your face. It can lessen puffiness and reduces droopiness of the facial features. A good facial massage can be done at the salon or you can do it right in your home. You just have to remember some important methods to perform the facial massage the correct way and to get the best results from it.

Always remember that the massage should be applied with some gentle touch but with enough pressure to the face. Don’t compare it to the regular massage that is applied to the body. Remember that the skin around the eyes is sensitive so extra care must be observed when massaging around this area.

Clean your face and use a gentle scrub cleanser to gently exfoliate dead skin cells. Tie up your hair so it won’t go to your face while doing the massage. Make sure your hands are clean. This massage is similar to that of shiatsu massage where you focus some acupressure on certain specific points of the face area.

• Do the forehead first by applying acupressure in small circles in clockwise direction.

• Then work your way to the sides of the eyebrows, massaging the inside of each eyebrow to improve circulation, reduce tiredness and improve vision.

• Use your middle fingers to massage the both sides of the nose. This is good to reduce sinuses and congestions.

• Place both hands near your lower jaw bone and massage with your middle and ringer fingers to relieve tension.

• Massage your temples in small circular motions using your index and middle fingers.

• Tap your cheeks with the tips of your pointing fingers and middle fingers to tone down muscles.

• Using your fingertips, start massaging your lower cheekbones continuing till you reach your upper cheekbones. This is good for circulation and reduces puffiness of cheeks.

• Using your fingertips, apply some pressure on the neck at the back of your head to relieve some tension and stiff neck.

• Use your thumbs to apply some pressure on top of your head, the center and all over.

• For your earlobes, use both thumbs to massage to stimulate nerve endings.

• Finish the massage with moisturizer.

You can use some essential oils on the face like nut oil or vegetable oil. These oils don’t clog up the skin pores. Keep in mind that the massage should always be done starting from the lower area point going to an upward movement to pull up the facial muscles. Try to do the facial massage in 20 minutes. Too much time would likely result to more stretching of the facial muscles which is not good for the face.

As some added precautions, remember to take out your contact lens before doing your facial massage. Facial massage must not be performed when the face has cuts, sores, boils, bruises or inflammations. Likewise, facial massage must be avoided when the person has eczema, acne or psoriasis as this can worsen these skin problems.

Jason Ladock

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