An introduction to facial gymnastics

How does it work?

Facial gymnastics are exercises that focus on the muscles in your face in order to naturally stimulate microcirculation. These exercises are the closest you’ll find to a fountain of youth when it comes to warding off signs of ageing and fatigue.

As we get older, our muscle fibres become up to 50% looser than they were when we were born. As a consequence, wrinkles appear, dark circles are more visible, and your skin tone becomes duller... In short, the kind of things that tend to make you unhappy when you notice them in the mirror in the morning.

Wrinkles are due to a collagen deficiency. Exercising your facial muscles helps boost the blood flow just beneath your skin, in turn this circulation leads to cell renewal and, you guessed it, the production of collagen. Furthermore, men have a key advantage over women when it comes to wrinkles: androgen, a.k.a. the muscle hormone par excellence, which keeps skin more toned, for longer. However, men often have deeper wrinkles due to their skin being thicker.

Start exercising

Practicing facial gymnastics or facial yoga regularly will help tone your face, as well as lift and relax your features. If you wish to work on more localised areas, you will also be able to: make your neck firmer, rebuild your curves, correct the slackening of your cheeks or lift your eyes.

The muscles of your face are short and generally attached to a neighbouring muscle or bone. It is therefore important to know how to differentiate them when you’re exercising. We recommend doing your facial gymnastics in front of a mirror to make sure you are working efficiently and getting the best benefits from each exercise. Here are a few examples:

Reshape the oval of your face

Sit with your back straight and your chin tilted down. Bring your two closed fists under your chin. Apply pressure with your fists against your chin for 3 seconds. Then release and repeat 10 times!

Lift your eyes up

With the inner edge of your index fingers, make sliding pressure movements, from the inner corner of both your eyes to your hairline at the level of your eyebrows. Repeat this movement gently about ten times.

When will I see results?

You have to keep at it as changes start to appear after a week of intense exercising (i.e. 5 minutes daily). To make sure these benefits last, you can then move on to one session per week to maintain the most visible results. A little motivation should be enough to naturally and effectively fight against ageing and signs of fatigue.

That being said, we personally find wrinkles and expression lines beautiful too!