As the years go by, we inevitably get older. After some time, you will probably start seeing wrinkles around your eyes or cheeks. You may wonder if getting botox or fillers at a beauty clinic would be the right solution for those pesky wrinkles? Between the possibility of bad side effects and the short-term nature of such products, perhaps there is a better way. Let’s take a closer look at the greatest facial exercises and lift massages to keep the wrinkles away.

Face massage by Abigail James

Abigail James, a professional facialist on Youtube, provided a step-by-step guide to performing a 4-minute anti-aging face massage. Here’s a little summary of what she demonstrated in her video:

1. To begin with, you will need to use a plant-based oil for the massage.
2. Get a couple of warm pumps, then gently apply them to your face and your neck.
3. Try to stimulate the lymphatic areas by stretching the muscles down your neck, followed by your collarbone.
4. Put your thumbs underneath your chin, and slowly, slide your thumbs from your chin to your ears 10 times (while applying slight pressure on your skin).
5. Perform a small pinching movement from your chin to your ears 5 times.
6. Do big circles on your cheeks with your thumbs and the tip of your fingers 10 times in a row.
7. Quite firmly, massage your lips with your fingers by tracing small circles 5 times.
8. With your fingers, push upwards your nasolabial lines 5 times.
9. With your knuckles, push your cheeks upwards and hold them like that for a few seconds. Thereafter, drain out to your ears and repeat this 5 times.
10. By using your palms, lift the sides of your cheeks from your neck to your ears 5 times in a row.
11. Push up the middle line located between your lips and your nose.
12. Perform draining movements under your eyes outwards 5 times in a row.
13. Lift your eyebrows and hold them like that for a few seconds, then follow by draining them outwards 5 times.
14. With both hands, criss-cross your fingers up and down where your crow’s lines are on both sides 10 times. Plus, you can do a similar motion around 10 times in the middle of your forehead.
15. Perform pressure points into your hairlines for 5 seconds.
16. And finally, upward and then sideward lifts to your face for 5 seconds. Then, drain downwards your neck and your collarbones for a few seconds.

Face massage with Gua Sha Tool

Gua Sha massages originated from China and are pretty common over there. This type of massage uses a jade beauty tool designed for anti-aging. On the YouTube channel of the reflexologist Michele Stevens, you can learn how to do a ‘Zone facelift’ massage with the Gua Sha tool. Here’s a rundown of the provided instructions on her video:

1. Before you begin this process, you can wash your face with the products you normally use before applying facial oil, moisturizer, or serum afterward.
2. Move your fingers backward and forwards on your forehead around 5 times in a row. This will help reduce tension in your forehead and stimulate blood flow. These movements should look like a scissor, and performing them regularly can help decrease wrinkles and frown lines.
3. Move the jade tool along your neck, jaw, and cheeks by going from the middle of your face to your ears with sweeping movements 10 times.
4. Use the index finger from both hands and apply pressure underneath your cheekbones, then follow the line of your cheekbones to your ears 3 times in a row. This movement helps release tension and stress.
5. Use the tip of your fingers to trace circles in front and around the top part of your ears, gently, for 3 seconds. This movement will prevent or give you some relief from headaches and tension.

Tokatsu’s facial yoga for puffy eyes and wrinkles

For our third and final aging massage, the Tokatsu facial yoga exercise is well-known for being one of the fastest ways to naturally get rid of eye bags and dark circles under your eyes. It works so well that this exercise also has another name: “the eye bag toner.” The latter focuses on your under-eye bags and wrinkles. Plus, the method is also easy and quick to perform. Here are the directions of how to do Tokatsu’s facial stretch:

1. Look straightforward.
2. Open your mouth wide and make a long “O” shape. You should feel stretched under your eyes.
3. Roll your eyes upward without moving your forehead.
4. Hold the stretching and squint your eyes 5 times for 5 seconds.
5. Repeat all the above steps 3 times.

Moreover, there are other ways that you can try to get rid of puffy eyes and reduce the appearance of wrinkles:

• Quit smoking.
• Protect your eyes from UV rays by putting on sunscreen or wearing sunglasses.
• Reduce alcohol drinking.
• Reduce salty food.
• Sleep 8 hours per day, and on your back.

You may look funny while doing facial massages. However, these solutions are worth your time and safe to do (and free!). Hopefully, you enjoy these facial exercises and get good results out of them.