How To Sculpt Your Face: A Beginner’s Guide To Face-Sculpting Techniques To Try At Home
Activate your lymphatic system and sculpt facial contours with these two easy at-home massage techniques.
We’re all familiar with how important working out is for a healthy body, but it turns out the same can be said for exercising your face.
Facial sculpting’s boom in popularity has caused countless brands to launch products touted to help with the technique, while clinics said to specialise in facial workouts continue to crop up across the motu.
No matter your skin concerns, facial sculpting boasts universal appeal when it comes to alleviating tension, boosting circulation and creating a more radiant, sculpted complexion.
According to Rachel Jackson, founder of Rae Face Sculpting, the benefits of facial massage reach far beyond a snatched jawline.
“Facial massage has a bunch of beautiful benefits, including improving your facial posture and alignment, encouraging oxygenated blood flow, giving your skin a glow from within, nourishing your tissues and eliminating toxins,” she says. “It can help the skin to smooth and fade age-related changes by reducing tension in the muscles, help to relieve tension you might be holding in your face, especially around your jaw.”
But in the same way that going to the gym once won’t give you a six-pack, Rachel says building regular facial sculpting techniques into your self-care routine will yield the best results.
Below are the expert-approved sculpting massage techniques to help activate the body’s detoxification systems to leave skin hydrated and healthy-looking.
Rae Face Lymphatic Drainage Technique
As with her in-clinic treatments at Rae Face in Hobsonville and Ponsonby, Rachel recommends some lymphatic drainage moves before you start your face-sculpting ritual.
“This helps encourage flow and movement of lymph to help detoxify and eliminate any stagnation or puffiness around the face and neck.”
The gentle movements don’t require oil, and Rachel says you can keep your touch light: focus on stretching skin up and down rather than massaging it.
Lymphatic technique: Start around your collarbones, then follow the side of your neck, under the jawline, the back of your neck at the hairline, make a V with your fingers either side of your ears, then finish back at your collarbone. If you like, try some gentle sweeping movements under your eyes and down your neck.
Rachel advises taking some deep breaths while you do your massage, elevating the ritual to one that helps you find your centre and reconnect with your breath.
Neurotouch Sculpting Technique
This sculpting technique was developed by professional skin therapists to be used in synergy with Dermalogica’s new Neurotouch Symmetry Serum, $250 (available from August 15). The oil-based serum is said to sculpt and lift the face, restoring facial symmetry and firming its appearance with ongoing use.
Together, the sculpting technique and science-backed serum highlight the transformative power of human touch, activating the skin-mind connection, says Dermalogica New Zealand educator Leanne Winsor.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the industry, Leanne says stimulating massage aims to tap into the skin’s sensory receptors, or the ones responsible for releasing happy hormones like dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin.
Start with one side of your face and repeat each movement three times before moving to the next step. Once you’ve completed all steps, you can repeat the entire ritual on the other side.
Prefer not to DIY? Consider the Professional NeuroSculpt Massage, a 10-minute protocol which includes buccal (intra-oral) massage to contour the face, release tension and foster a heightened skin-mind connection.
The Professional NeuroSculpt Massage can be stacked with any other in-clinic treatment at Skintopia clinics around Aotearoa from August 15.
Add To Cart
Enhance your next facial sculpting massage with one of these hydrating oil blends.
Kaea The Vitaliser Multi-Omega Face Oil, $245
Murad Cellular Hydration Barrier Repair Oil Drops, $164
Milou Give Me The Gloss Beauty Oil, $69
Dermalogica NeuroTouch Symmetry Serum, $250. Available from August 15.
Margaret Hema Millennium Face and Body Oil, $160
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