There are many people, particularly men and the younger women who think that facial massage is not for them. Yet that face that stares back at you, first thing in the morning, may be trying to tell you that you're wrong. The pale and puffy visage that greets you, is the process of sleeping when the body slows down during the night. Whilst you sleep, the heart rate slows which means that the blood flow around the body also slows down. The circulation is responsible for bringing oxygenated blood to your face and, using the lymph glands, drains the toxins away. There are other factors that can slow down the circulation, shallow breathing, lack of exercise, a bad diet, smoking and other pollutants.
By doing facial exercises you are stimulating the blood flow to your skin, bringing the oxygenated blood to give your skin a healthy glow, whilst at the same time, removing the damaging toxins.
\"Facial Massage\"
To understand what happens as we get older, we need to understand the structure of the skin. It is made up of three layers, the epidermis at the top, the dermis and hypodermis and its main functions, apart from keeping all your blood and organs in are protection against infection by micro-organisms and injury, regulating the body's temperature and the nicest, receiving sensations. The epidermis is our protector, its only other function is to allow water evaporation. They cells are constantly being renewed as the old ones fall off. The dermis is the really active part, it contains collagen, elastin, capillaries (small blood vessels), nerve endings and the tops of the sweat and sebaceous glands. This layer secretes, circulates, feels and helps to regulate the body's temperature. The final layer is made up of fatty tissue where the bases of the hair follicles, sweat and sebaceous glands live. The water content is also quite high in this layer. Although the structure is the same all over the body, it has variations depending on the location and its function there. Think of the soles of your feet, no hair or sweat glands and much thicker. The face has a number of important functions; it monitors temperature and atmospheric conditions, is connected to a lot of different muscles for non-verbal communications and is quite sensitive to the touch for pleasure.
As the skin ages, it is affected in many different ways. Firstly, at the cell level, the life span shortens, from around 100 days when you are a child to only 48 days as an adult. The different layers start to change with the elastin in the dermis gradually disappearing, disrupting the collagen and flattening the skin Slowly the hypodermis loses a lot of its water content and the fatty tissue reduces. This gives a lack of tone and elasticity to the skin. The action of the facial muscles begin to crease the skin, how we smile, scowl, frown and all our other facial expressions that we use every day will create the face map. On top of that smoking. diet, stress, pollution and sunbathing will add to the aging process.
The body's reaction to squeezing and pressing is to get red which means that the blood is flowing into the area. When this happens, it starts to bring more oxygenated blood which is really beneficial to your skin. This, in a more gentler way, is what happens when you have a facial massage. The act of massage will promote the blood flow with the added bonus of stimulating the lymphatic system to drain away the toxins which leads to a healthier looking skin.
Although massaging your face will have some effect, if you do it too hard it will be a detrimental one, a more systematic approach will give the skin a real boost. We have all heard about acupuncture, that Eastern traditional medical practice of inserting needles to restore ones health. Well a facial massage that incorporates these points will give a real boost to the effects on your skin. It is called Acupoint facial massage and you only need to gently rub on these points to get the effect needed. These points are connected to the meridians of the body where the energy or Qi flows. Massaging will stimulate these points and, as well as improving the blood flow, will unblock and stimulate the Qi as well.
To compliment your acupoint facial massage, essential oils can be used to help repair and nourish the skin. These should not be used neat but mixed with vegetable based carrier oils that will also be beneficial to the skin. There are a wide range of these, such as grape seed, olive, wheat germ and almond, and you can find the right one to compliment your personal skin type. You do not need to add a lot of essential oils to them, ten drops at the most, and you can combine different essential oils for a variety of different skin conditions. Although these are perfectly safe, they are not advised to be used by pregnant women, particularly in the early stages of development.
Acupoint massage only requires a gentle touch, providing you stimulate the correct areas. To be sure that you hit them, you need a good set of diagrams. There are many available, both on the web and in books, one of the best is a book called Facelift At Your Fingertips by Pierre Jean Cousin. It has clear illustrations and has a comprehensive section on essential oils as well. Adding regular acupoint facial massage to your normal beauty regime will give you the edge when it comes to aging skin. Mornings will never be as scary again.
Facial Massage, Your Anti Aging Secret Weapon
Ian Richards invites you to discover more about facial massage and other facial beauty information. He also has other a lot more articles that are tailored specifically to women's issues.