Gua Sha has been coming into popularity in the recent months and here’s an article I saw on Allure magazine.Just wanted to share with you guys who are new to this TCM massage therapy 🙂
I Tried Gua Sha to Contour My Jawline — Here Are the Results
by Jessica Chia
 Gua sha is a traditional East and Southeast Asian healing technique in which a smooth, credit-card-size “board” is pressed along the skin of the body, and it’s been adapted for the face and neck at studios like Treatment by Lanshin in Brooklyn and WellStream Acupuncture in Los Angeles. The idea is that light pressure releases fascial and muscular tension and moves sluggish lymph fluid.
 My jawline has never been chiseled, despite my small frame. I’d tried everything — zappy microcurrent facials, intense facial massages, sweaty mustard baths — to give it some definition. In the end, all it took was a piece of porcelain.
After my first 60-minute treatment, my neck looked longer and thinner, and my jawline cut a sharper silhouette — for two months.
While gua sha’s benefits haven’t been clinically studied, practitioners say patients often notice skin looks smoother and more lifted after one session. And it’s safe as long you don’t have blood coagulation, platelet issues, or current skin rashes, says New York City dermatologist Melissa Kanchanapoomi Levin.Plus, it feels even more relaxing than it sounds.
This is my at-home (nightly!) gua sha neckline routine, courtesy of Sandra Lanshin Chiu, a licensed acupuncturist at Treatment by Lanshin. For each step, repeat all strokes five times, slowly, with gentle pressure.
- Place the flat side of the board flush against the base of the back of your neck, and stroke it upward along your spine to your hairline. Then stroke upward on either side of your spine, from the top of each shoulder to the hairline.
- Position the flat side of the board on the top of the shoulder, and stroke it upward to where your jaw meets your ear. Repeat on the other side.
- Place the curved notch of the board where your collarbones meet, and drag it up the midline of the throat up to (but not over) your chin. Repeat on each side of the throat.
- Position the notch of the board so it hugs the center point of your chin, and glide it along the edge of your jaw toward each ear.
- Run the flat side of the board under one cheekbone, from the corner of your mouth toward your ear. Repeat on the other side.A version of this article originally appeared in the November 2017 issue of Allure.