Regretful Face Yoga Experience: A Wasted Time Review

Introduction to Face Yoga

Initiating a journey towards a 30-day face yoga regime might seem appealing at first, especially when you consider the numerous promises by targeted ads. However, dedicating 10-15 minutes daily to stretching and pinching the sensitive skin of your face and neck can be an unsettling experience. In fact, it might feel so uncomfortable that you might not be able to commit to the full 30 days. Nonetheless, some people, including celebrities like Meghan Markle and Gwyneth Paltrow, absolutely love it! So, what’s face yoga all about?

Understanding Face Yoga

Face yoga involves a series of exercises, massages, and stretches targeted at the face. The effectiveness of these exercises is still debatable. For instance, the Cleveland Clinic suggests that massaging your face can help relax facial muscles, release tension, and stimulate blood flow, which can give your face a ‘glow.’ According to Sofie Pavitt, a New York-based skincare expert, manipulating and sculpting facial muscles is an age-old practice that gets trendy intermittently. Platforms like Instagram, promoting apps like Luvly, often make lavish promises about face yoga, including getting rid of double chin, wrinkles, face fat, and skin problems.

The Face Yoga Experience

When you engage in a face yoga program, like the ‘Skin Tightening Program,’ you’re informed about the possibility of toning the approximately 50 muscles of your face. By doing so, it’s believed that you can prevent skin aging, as there’s a direct correlation between a loss of tone in these muscles and aging skin. These exercises are purported to keep your face buff and pert, helping to prevent the skin from sagging.

Actioning Face Yoga

The process of face yoga may involve massaging the face – around the forehead, over the jawline, down the sides of the neck. Sometimes, it might be about pinching the skin between two fingers or stretching the skin away from the centerline of your face. Other times, the activities might involve no touching at all, like jutting your tongue out of your mouth or thrusting your neck back and forth – activities supposedly aimed at improving muscle tone and mobility.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Face Yoga

Research, including a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), suggests moderate improvement in the facial appearance of some middle-aged women after a consistent 30-minute daily or alternate-day facial exercise program sustained over 20 weeks. However, committing to such a regime might not be practical for everyone. Also, frequent face touching can exacerbate skin conditions like cystic acne, hormonal breakouts, redness, rosacea, or sensitivity. Overly aggressive manipulation of the skin can even worsen wrinkles, particularly around sensitive areas like the eyelids.

Verdict on Face Yoga

Although face yoga might not need to be a part of your daily routine, it can be done once a week if it feels good, or used as an on-the-spot solution to handle puffiness. While face yoga might not make a massive difference in aging, coming to terms with changing faces seems like a healthier option. After all, changes are inevitable. However, it’s important to consider that there might be things far worse than crow’s feet, like uncomfortable face yoga.