Facial Massage: Facial Massage Technique

The Face Massage and Head Massage is a particularly pleasurable experience- most people will be surprised at the amount of tension they hold here, particularly around the jaw.There is not usually time for a full face and head massage as part of a full-body massage.You might like to try it on its own or in combination with a back and shoulder massage.

Massage helps the skin to absorb oils and creams easily. It relaxes you. It relieves tension. It restores energy to your body by stimulating the blood flow.

Many therapists believe that this is the most important element of a facial. A beauty therapist may massage for upto 20 minutes, focusing on key acupressure points. Massaging the skin increases the skin microcirculation and improves lymphatic drainage. Lymph is a natural fluid produced by the lymph glands and acts as the body's waste disposal system. But unlike blood, lymph does not have a 'pump' to circulate it but relies on muscle activity to move it around the body.

Because of the complicated bone structure in the face, the lymph can become congested here, causing a tired looking complexion that may be prone to spots.

Oil for Facial Massage

Oil is required to provide a fine, slippery surface for massage so that the skin is not pulled and stretched as you handle it. In principle, any pure vegetable or nut oil will do the job well. Such oils can nourish and lubricate the skin in a way that others cannot, as they are more efficiently absorbed and warm the skin to maximize absorption. Although any oil can block the pores of skin that is very fine or over-handled, pure vegetables oils do not spread a suffocating film over the skin or adversely affect its own oil production.

How to do Facial Massage or Head Massage?

    * Pour a small amount of the blended oil into the palm of your hand and gently apply all over the face. Avoid your eyes.
    * With the backs of your hands, gently tap the skin around the jaw-line and underneath the chin to stimulate the skin cells.
    * Apply small circular movements to the chin area, using your thumbs. This will tone, help circulation and eliminate toxins.
    * Make an "oooh"-shaped mouth. Massage either side easing out fine lines.
    * With your fingertips, press along the top of the cheekbones and massage outward up to the temples to release toxins.
    * With the middle fingers, apply pressure to points above the bridge of the nose and underneath the eyebrows. Hold for 5 seconds and smooth across from the inner to the outer corners of the eyebrows and continue up to the temples.
    * To relieve tension, apply firm pressure at either side of the temples, and rotate backward.
    * Stroke up the forehead to the hairline with the palms of the hands, smoothing out fine lines.

Facial Massage for different skins

    * Dry or aging skin - Use apricot, avocado, macadamia or wheat germ oil.
    * Normal skin - Use almond, sunflower or sesame oil. Olive oil is another option but is one to the thicker vegetable oils, so can be mixed with thinner oil for massage.
    * Oily Skin - Use hazelnut, peach kernel, thistle or hypericum oil - the latter needs to be blended with one of the other carrier oils.

Some more tips on face

Well-formed cheeks enhance the beauty of the face. Slightly convexing, smooth, soft and with a reddened hue, cheeks have been the subject of scores of poets, painters and sculptors' admiration. The veins should not be visible. In fact they mirror the health of your body. To keep them healthy and well-formed, follow the instructions below as also perform the exercises given simultaneously.

(i) Perform regular exercises

(ii) Fill up your mouth with air drawn by lips rounded as you do while whistling. But, in this case, the air should be filled by whistling the reverse way, that is, round your lips so as to allow a tiny hole for the air to be sucked. Fill up as much air as possible. Then allow the air to bloat up your face. This would puff up your cheeks. Hold the air as much as you can while letting your chin rest it on your chest (i.e. as much as it is kept close to the chest.) Then blowout the air slowly, after a minute or so. This would help your cheeks remained well formed and also, to a great extent, wrinkle less.

(iii) Never let you cheeks rest on your palms.

(iv) Never fill your mouth with the eatables. Take always a small bite of your food.