Before you hit that checkout button. Anywhere you look on social media, you may see a bunch of hype surrounding a 21-day Gua Sha challenge or its influencer or influencer showing you their gua sha routine with a cover of affirmations over the video. Essance wants to help break through the Gua Sha hype.
Many are marketing their Gua Sha tool as a flat piece of crystal or jade in the beauty industry. It’s presented as a beautiful energy-enriched tool that can promote facial beauty by rejuvenation through daily use in traditional Chinese medicine, a Gua Sha tool is intended to cause bruising or break the capillaries so the body can promote the Chi (blood) flow to release negative energies from the body. Traditionally this has been performed from the back of the neck down to the waist when someone is ill with a cold, flu, pneumonia, or even migraines and body aches. In traditional Chinese medicine, we have not used a Gua Sha as a tool for beauty in a skincare routine.
At Essance, our concern is that a Gua Sha most often will fall into inexperienced skincare hands. The average everyday person and skincare user does not understand the skin structure scientifically.
Without understanding the skin structure, more damage than good can come from adding a Gua Sha tool to your skincare routine. Which can lead to more injuries due to a heavy force applied or even scraping in the wrong direction (meridians).
Imagine this, when an esthetician gives her client a deep facial, she understands how much pressure and what products they need to use to deliver the proper glide of the massage on the face. When you are at home and not a trained esthetician and because of how sensitive our skin is, we always recommend using both ring and pinky fingers when applying any facial serum or cream because those fingers produce light pressure and will not damage the skin due to the skin's weakness.
When we use a facial gua sha for a long time it can lead to:
- skin breakage
- deeper tissue damaged
- skin dryness
- skin sagging
- clogging of the pores
We understand that using a Gua Sha may seem like a miracle accessory to add to your skincare routine but the only “miracle” cures to add to your skincare routines are adequate rest, proper nutrition, hydration, and quality organic and plant-based skincare products.
Instead of falling into the Gua Sha hype and challenges on social media, instead, focus on your entire Essance skincare routine each morning and night before bed. And if you feel the need to add in a skincare device, try a Jade Roller after you have applied your moisturizer for bedtime.