Keep Skin Young with Facial Massage

Massage relaxes the body and releases stress, but did you know it also has anti-aging skin benefits? Massage has been used for thousands of years, and continues to be used by skin care experts and estheticians to enhance wrinkle reduction and skin firming.

Stress and toxins adversely affect the muscles and connective tissue underneath our skin. But by regularly relaxing to counteract stress and by massaging the face, you can soften lines and wrinkles around your eyes, lips and brows. Massage also rids the skin of toxins that cause acne and rosacea, and it de-puffs and brightens the eye area. A good facial massage not only benefits the skin of the face by increasing its elasticity, but also by allowing it to “breath” properly by increasing circulation, oxygenating the blood and encouraging the presence of fresh, healing red blood cells. The result? A more radiant, smoother and firmer face that absorbs serums and creams more readily.

And to state the obvious: Massage just feels really great! It allows the massage recipient to relax and release any stressful (and aging) tension. We all know stress is bad for skin, causing acne, wrinkles and loss of firmness.

The great thing about facial massage is that you can do it at home. Try these tips from Abigail James, a noted London based esthetician:

1. Start on the cheeks. Draw big circles using your fingers or knuckles, moving upward.
2. On one side of the face, rub from the middle of the jaw to the cheekbone with long upward strokes, pressing firmly for a moment at the top, then repeat on the other side.
3. Work smile lines with upward strokes, from the corners of the mouth to the corners of the nose.
4. With your fingers, lift and hold both brows to open up the eye area. Rub in a circle around the eye socket out to the temples, eventually expanding to include the forehead.
5. To plump lips, use thumbs and index fingers to quickly pluck all across the top and bottom lip, which stimulates blood flow.