Of the many self-care trends we come across online, one of the most prominent is the concept of sculpting your face. On paper, this sounds simple and attractive. After all, who doesn’t want to mould their face into the shape they desire most? The Gua Sha tool is the most famous of these alleged face-sculpting gadgets and has swept over TikTok the last few years. But does it really work?
Gua Sha is a traditional Chinese technique that involves pressing and rolling a smoothened tool over one’s skin in order to stretch and strengthen it. The tradition’s origin dates back to the era of the Ming Dynasty, when it was entered into medicinal records for promoting circulation and pain relief. According to these records, these health benefits were caused by facilitating the flow of energy in the body. Similar techniques arose in Indonesia, where the practice was called Kerikan, and in Vietnam, where it was called Cao Gio.Â
Today, Gua Sha is primarily studied for its physical benefits rather than spiritual ones. It’s often practiced by licensed acupuncturists, physical therapists, and chiropractors as instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM). At home, the practice can be used in combination with various serums or oils to help facilitate better product absorption or simply to allow the tool to glide more easily.Â
One modern claim is that Gua Sha can sculpt your face to shape it the way you want, such as achieving a sharper jawline. You may have seen dozens of influencers on TikTok or Instagram rubbing the tool over their face just to magically have a perfect jawline afterwards. While this seems very alluring, these videos are very misleading. While daily use of Gua Sha may seem to change the shape of your face, dermatologists confirm that these results are temporary. Any semblance of results will disappear once you stop using it. So no, it’s not actually changing the shape of your face. All the Gua Sha does for face-sculpting is stretch your skin, which is a temporary effect that will disappear with time. Plastic surgery and other invasive cosmetic procedures remain the only way to actually sculpt one’s face.Â
In conclusion, while Gua Sha and other face-sculpting techniques may have some benefits to your skin and body, the general consensus is that they don’t work to shape your face. This myth serves as only one of many to arise from uneducated social media influencing.