Obsidian Gua Sha
Annie's Advice: Whether your face or your spirit needs a pick me up, this will do the trick.
Gua Sha has been around for a very long time. The practice of Gua Sha has been a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. While historically it has had many medical purposes, the Western world's recent awareness of this tool and practice is most often used for its firming and lifting effect on the skin.
This tool will relieve tension, reduce puffiness, and promote circulation. Ideally, you can use it twice a day and do each stroke up to ten times, but fewer strokes and less frequent use will still produce results. Learning the ancient wellness practice will improve overall skin health and appearance by stimulating collagen, massaging tense muscles, and promoting lymphatic drainage.
BENEFITS
INGREDIENTS
Made from black obsidian, a natural crystal formed from rapidly cooling lava
HOW TO USE
* Cleanse face and hands. * After drying your face, generously mist with a hydrofoil (water-based hydrating mist) * Apply face oil to your face, neck and chest (3-10 drops) Be sure to apply enough oil to give 'slip' to your Gua Sha tool. You want to prevent pulling at your skin, but not apply so much that your tool slides along too easily without enough contact with your skin. * Prep your Gua Sha tool by slightly by rubbing it between your hands to warm it up and add some oil to the stone * Sweep up the back of your neck and as you reach the base of your skull, wiggle the Gua Sha tool slightly. * Sweep up both sides of your neck, beginning just inside your shoulder and again ending at your skull, where you then gentle wiggle the stone * Sweep under your chin from the middle of your face out to your earlobe, keeping your tool flat. If you’d like, hold the skin under your chin with your other thumb as you glide the tool back to your earlobe in the opposite direction. * Sweep from the middle of your chin up your jawline to the earlobe. You can gently jiggle at your ear to encourage the fluid to drain down the neck to the lymph nodes at the base, just above your collarbone. * Sweep underneath your cheekbone, really picking up a lot of fluid that tends to be stored here, and direct it toward your hairline. You can lightly and gently jiggle your tool at your hairline. * Sweep over your cheekbone, finishing at the hairline. * Very gently, sweep under your eyes and again up toward your hairline and again jiggle the tool * Sweep over the eyebrow out toward the hairline and up from the brow bone (up the forehead) finishing at the hairline. * When you sweep up from your brow bone to your hairline, do it in tiny sections, moving along the eyebrow in three to five sections. * Sweep from between the eyebrows over the third eye and up to the hairline * Sweep from the middle of the forehead out to the hairline * Now work on the other side of your face, starting again with your neck and working through the steps. * When you’ve finished the other side of your face, finish the treatment by sweeping down the neck to assist with lasting drainage. Keep your tool very flat and hug underneath your jawbone. Lovingly sweep down the neck to the collarbone. KEY TIPS: - Sweep each area at least three times. For a longer practice, sweep up to 10 times per area. - Keep your tool almost flat to your skin (about 15 degrees) rather than having the edge of the tool at 90 degrees to your skin. - When your tool starts to drag or pull on your skin, add a little more oil for better slip. - Always pull your tool, rather than pushing it Unlike the other stones, Black Obsidian naturally retains warmth and is great to use on congested, blemish prone skin. (although please don't use on any open acne sores) The warmth of the obsidian encourages stimulation of the lymphatic system and circulation. You can add extra warmth by placing it in warm water for a few minutes. Sometimes watching someone Gua Sha is the most helpful when you are first learning. Pom Vida has several videos demonstrating how to Gua Sha on IG TV. You can also find other videos from professionals who have been using Gua Sha more many years or, if they are of Chinese heritage, whose family has passed down knowledge about how to properly Gua Sha. We encourage you to keep learning and practicing just as we are from those who have had a longer history with this practice.