The Best Face Massage Techniques

By The FabFitFun Team | March 10, 2022

Young woman with arrows for massaging on her face against light background

The skin care world is constantly churning out new serums, gadgets, and cure-alls to conquer everything from premature aging to stubborn acne, but sometimes the best trick in the book is the oldest one.

Case in point: face massage, which has been used by cultures around the world for hundreds of years, is finally making a well-deserved comeback. Backed by science and a whole chapter of beauty content that captures the benefits on camera, there are a host of rewards you, your skin, and your whole body can reap by bringing face massage into your personal care routine.

Here, we’ll explore exactly what face massage can do for you and how you can master the art of it at home.

Face Massage Techniques To Try At Home

While we all love a dreamy professional facial now and again, one of the best parts of learning to pamper yourself with a face massage is that it’s free!

Below, we’ve broken down our top tips for giving your face the royal treatment and reaping the benefits of a facial massage.

Prep Your Face First

You’ll need a soft, supple, and clean canvas to work with before you put those (also clean) hands to use.

After you’ve washed your face with your favorite cleanser, be sure you add a layer of slip between your skin and your fingers to prevent excessive pulling and tugging. For best results, go with one of two options:

A facial serum, which absorbs slower into the skin and allows hands to glide more easily over the face.
A plant-based oil, like hemp seed, sweet almond, or even olive oil, which have the added benefit of treating your skin to yummy fats and vitamins to help you get the glow-up you deserve.

Lastly, if you’re using any gizmos like a jade roller or gua sha tool, make sure they’ve been freshly washed to avoid introducing any unwanted bacteria to your skin.

Be Gentle

No matter what type of face massage you’re going for, the key to each one is having a light touch. Tugging, pulling, or dragging the skin can lead to irritation or chaffing in the short term, and break down the skin’s elasticity over time.

While a quick YouTube search for face massage — particularly Eastern modalities like Gua Sha or Japanese styles of massage — may yield some intensely vigorous hand techniques, remember that these are difficult to administer yourself and are best left to a professional esthetician.

Know What You’re Going For

There are a host of approaches to massage you can use to target specific complaints, from persistent crow’s feet to tension headaches. Here are three common grievances and the basics of how to tackle them at home:

Facial sculpting and lifting – The key to an antigravity face massage is to direct the skin outward and up towards the hairline. Using firm, slow, synchronous motions on both sides of the face, lightly pinch from the chin outwards along the jawline. Use a similar soft pinching maneuver at the cheek and brow bones, terminating about an inch past the hairline.
Anxiety and mood – Even if you’re not coping with acute stress, we tend to carry an enormous amount of facial tension in the micro-muscles of our faces. Begin by rubbing your hands together to create heat and placing them over closed eyelids until they cool. Using firm pressure, massage below the chin, the jaw, and the temples. To seal it off, press your thumb at the space between your eyebrows and hold for 20 seconds. Finish by showing your neck and shoulders some love with some light stretching.

Keep Your Tools in The Fridge

Overall, your hands are your most versatile tools for getting the most out of any spa treatment at home. That said, there’s no match for face massage tools like crystal rollers, gua sha tools, and electric massagers, which can all gently manipulate the skin in ways your hands can’t.

If you’re working with a massage tool, try storing it in the fridge to keep it cool, level up its soothing properties, and help to tone down redness and swelling.

Don’t Miss Face-Adjacent Spots

Lastly, don’t forget about some key regions near the face to see the full benefits of your at-home massage. These three regions get neglected all too often in self-care routines:

Ears – Showing your ears some TLC can round off a proper stress-reducing massage. In addition to reading up on the four acupressure points in the ears, gently tugging the earlobes is an excellent way of calming the mind and body and bringing your energy back to equilibrium.
Neck – As we’ve mentioned, the neck is a hotspot of lymphatic activity—but it’s also often the root cause of chronic headaches. Moreover, the neck tends to show some of the earliest signs of aging, so cleansing, moisturizing, and massaging with as much care as you show your face can help improve texture and longevity.
Scalp – Sculpting face massage techniques usually delve well past the hairline and into the scalp to keep facial skin lifted and firm. Scalp massage can also help you foster healthier, glossier hair in the long run by boosting circulation and distributing natural oils throughout your tresses.

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