BLOG 208: THE SIMPLE WAY TO REDUCE WRINKLES WITH A JADE GUA SHA PRECISION TOOL

Although there’s a lot you can do to lift and smooth your face using just your hands, I also love to use facial tools that help us work a bit deeper into the skin. As you’ll know if you’ve been following me for a while, one of my favourite facial tools is the classic gua sha tool.

However, sometimes you want to be a bit more precise and address specific areas where you’re seeing lines and wrinkles appear. And for that, I really recommend working with a gua sha precision tool.

You can find these in my shop. Like the normal gua sha tools, they are made from beautiful crystals, but they are shaped differently – thinner and more pointed – which lets us work in a much more targeted way.

I’m going to run through how to use the precision tool to reduce wrinkles and smooth the skin. It’s a great way to work on specific areas and also gives your skin a general boost by increasing blood circulation and encouraging lymphatic drainage.

This full routine should only take around five minutes, so it is an easy one to fit into your existing skincare regime.

If you prefer a video guide, you can also find this tutorial over on my YouTube channel. Don’t forget to hit subscribe while you’re there!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

For this routine, you’ll obviously need a gua sha precision tool. I like jade because it is a great all-rounder.

You’ll also want to apply a few drops of serum to your face before you start to help the tool move easily over your skin. I use the Fusion by Danielle Collins Pro Lift Moisturising Serum, which is packed full of high-performing botanical seed oils to nourish your skin and leave it feeling beautifully soft and silky.

Finally, I recommend having a mirror to hand so that you can see what you’re doing.

With all that in mind, you’re ready to begin.

1. LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE

We’re going to start by waking up the lymphatic drainage system, just to encourage all that waste and toxins away from the face. 

Bring the tip of the precision tool just behind the lobe of your ear and gently stroke down the side of your neck and onto your collarbone. Repeat this movement a few times, then switch to the other side.

You don’t need to use much pressure at all for this move. The lymphatic drainage system is just beneath the skin, so we only need to press very gently when we’re working with it.

2. MARIONETTE LINES AND NASOLABIAL FOLDS

Once we’ve opened up the lymph nodes and given the lymphatic drainage system a bit of a boost, we can start to work on some of the areas which are especially prone to wrinkles.

The beauty of the precision tool is that it really lets us target those areas and get a bit deeper into the skin than when we’re using the classic gua sha tool. 

We’re going to begin with the mouth area, working on the marionette lines that can appear from the corners of the mouth to the jaw. At the same time, we’ll also address the nasolabial folds, which are the lines that often appear between the nose and the mouth.

Bring the tool to your jaw, roughly in line with the corner of your mouth. Using the side of the pointy end, make a quick brushing movement horizontally across your skin. Keep each stroke short and work your way up from your jaw to the side of your nostril.

When you reach your nose, lift off and replace the tool at your jaw to repeat the action. Continue for around a minute, then switch to the other side.

You’ll probably start to see redness appearing quite quickly, which is a good thing. Called ‘sha’ in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this redness is a sign that fresh blood is coming up to the skin’s surface, bringing with it lots of oxygen and nutrients to keep your skin healthy and plump.

Sha is also a sign that your Qi (also known as energy, lifeforce, or prana) is moving freely. When the Qi becomes blocked or sluggish, it can show up as lines and wrinkles, dullness, and puffiness. Using a gua sha tool can help to unblock any areas of stagnant energy and helps your skin look and feel healthier.

So, although the redness might be accentuating any lines at first, it will soon fade and then you should notice that the skin in this area feels plumper and firmer.

As you use the tool, focus on breathing slowly and deeply through your nose. The breath is such an important tool for calming our nervous systems, helping us release tension, and (of course) bringing all the oxygen we need to keep our skin healthy.

3. EYE AREA

Next, we’re moving up to the eye area, which is another place where many of us see lines and wrinkles appearing.

Start with the tool at the inner corner of your eye, just beside the bridge of your nose. Gently stroke down and around underneath your eye, finishing by your temple. Replace the tool at the corner of your eye to repeat the action.

You want to work much more gently here than we did when we were targeting the mouth area. The skin around your eyes is much more delicate, so use a really light pressure.

Repeat this a few more times and then do a similar action to come across the skin above your eye, gliding over your eyebrow. 

This is a lovely technique for lifting the brows, which you can do with a normal gua sha too. I like to do it with the precision tool because it means I can be more focused with it and work a little deeper into the muscle.

Then switch to the other side. Start underneath the eye first and then across the brow.

This move is wonderful for reducing puffiness and dark circles around the eyes. 

4. FROWN LINES

Moving further up the face, we’re going to target frown lines next, so bring your tool to the skin between your eyebrows.

Hold it at a slight angle and brush up between your eyebrows, using a quick flicking motion. Work all the way up to the top of your forehead and then return to the area between your brows and repeat.

Again, you should see redness start to appear quite quickly here as the technique brings fresh blood and energy to this area of your face.

Then, stroke outwards over the skin just above your eyebrows. I find I’m quite prone to small fine lines along here, so bringing the tool horizontally across like this can work really well for addressing those.

5. LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE

For our final move, we’re going to finish where we started with a little bit of lymphatic drainage. Repeat the same action that we did at the beginning, gliding down from behind the lobe of your ear, down the side of your neck and onto your collarbone.

Do this a couple of times on each side.

FINISHED

And we’re all done! This short and easy routine is wonderful to do daily to reduce wrinkles and sculpt the face.

I’ve tried to concentrate on some of the most common areas where we typically see wrinkles appearing. But this is such a great little tool, you can really use it on any line or wrinkle that you want.

The only thing to remember is not to go directly over any spots, acne scars, or moles. But you can work on the skin just around those areas to boost the circulation. This is another reason I love the precision tool – you can easily work around spots or moles or any other areas that feel especially sensitive or inflamed.

Even if you already have a gua sha tool, I recommend getting the precision tool too. They can be used differently but are very complementary, so having both opens up more ways to lift and tone your skin.

If you’d like to learn more about the art of facial gua sha and how you can use these tools in different ways to address specific issues or concerns, the best way to learn is to take the facial gua sha teacher training.

This comprehensive course includes everything you need to use gua sha on your own face and to teach these skills to others too. You can take it just for your own personal use, or you can take what you learn and make it part of a wellness business, teaching others online or in-person.

This training works as a standalone or can be done in conjunction with my face yoga teacher training. Many people opt to do both courses, as face yoga and facial gua sha work so beautifully together but it’s also fine to start one and then proceed to the other if that feels good for you.