Why You Should Use Facial Massage

If you think you do not need to start a course of facial massage, think about this. When you go into the bathroom first thing in the morning, are you scared? Who is that pale creature with lines and a certain puffiness that is staring back? Don't panic, all is not lost, help is at hand, your hands actually as you can kick start your system with a facial massage. Firstly, apart from your normal lines, the big crease have probably come from you pillow and will soon disappear. As for the rest, well it is quite natural and it is just the way the body works. At night, while you sleep, the body goes into tick over mode, the heart rate drops leading to a slowing down of the blood circulation. This has a twofold effect, first there is less oxygen getting to the skin and secondly, the lymph glands are not removing as many toxins from the skin, hence the pale. puffy look. There are other factors at work as well. Pollution, lack of exercise, shallow breathing and poor nutrition can all slow down the circulation, leading to a build up of toxins.

Doing facial exercises will be able to kick start your circulation, and bring a glow to your face which indicates that the blood is now flowing at a good rate, which in turn allows your lymphatic system to start getting rid of those nasty toxins. This will improve your immune system giving you a much healthier complexion. As approximately half of all lymph glands are sited in your neck area, it is really important to get the facial tissues' blood flow working properly.

Skin is made up of three layers, the epidermis at the top, the dermis and hypodermis and its main functions, apart from keeping all your blood and organs in are protection against infection by micro-organisms and injury, regulating the body's temperature and the nicest, receiving sensations. The epidermis is our protector, its only other function is to allow water evaporation. They cells are constantly being renewed as the old ones fall off. The dermis is the really active part, it contains collagen, elastin, capillaries (small blood vessels), nerve endings and the tops of the sweat and sebaceous glands. This layer secretes, circulates, feels and helps to regulate the bodys' temperature. The final layer is made up of fatty tissue where the bases of the hair follicles, sweat and sebaceous glands live. The water content is also quite high in this layer. Although the structure is the same all over the body, it has variations depending on the location and its function there. Think of the soles of your feet, no hair or sweat glands and much thicker. The face has a number of important functions; it monitors temperature and atmospheric conditions, is connected to a lot of different muscles for non-verbal communications and is quite sensitive to the touch for pleasure.

As the skin ages, it is affected in many different ways. Firstly, at the cell level, the life span shortens, from around 100 days when you are a child to only 48 days as an adult. The different layers start to change with the elastin in the dermis gradually disappearing, disrupting the collagen and flattening the skin Slowly the hypodermis loses a lot of its water content and the fatty tissue reduces. This gives a lack of tone and elasticity to the skin. The action of the facial muscles begin to crease the skin, how we smile, scowl, frown and all our other facial expressions that we use every day will create the face map. On top of that smoking. diet, stress, pollution and sunbathing will add to the aging process.

The bodys' reaction to squeezing and pressing is to get red which means that the blood is flowing into the area. When this happens, it starts to bring more oxygenated blood which is really beneficial to your skin. This, in a more gentler way, is what happens when you have a facial massage. The act of massage will promote the blood flow with the added bonus of stimulating the lymphatic system to drain away the toxins which leads to a healthier looking skin.

Although massaging your face will have some effect, if you do it too hard it will be a detrimental one, a more systematic approach will give the skin a real boost. We have all heard about acupuncture, that Eastern traditional medical practice of inserting needles to restore ones health. Well a facial massage that incorporates these points will give a real boost to the effects on your skin. It is called Acupoint facial massage and you only need to gently rub on these points to get the effect needed. These points are connected to the meridians of the body where the energy or Qi flows. Massaging will stimulate these points and, as well as improving the blood flow, will unblock and stimulate the Qi as well.

To compliment your acupoint facial massage, essential oils can be used to help repair and nourish the skin. These should not be used neat but mixed with vegetable based carrier oils that will also be beneficial to the skin. There are a wide range of these, such as grape seed, olive, wheat germ and almond, and you can find the right one to compliment your personal skin type. You do not need to add a lot of essential oils to them, ten drops at the most, and you can combine different essential oils for a variety of different skin conditions. Although these are perfectly safe, they are not advised to be used by pregnant women, particularly in the early stages of development.

Providing you are hitting the right places, a gentle pressure will be all that is needed. There are many fine books around that will give diagrams, one of the best is Pierre, Jean Cousins' Facelift At Your Fingertips. Not only will you will you find great diagrams but he has a lot of information on using essential oils as well. The combination of a regular acupoint facial massage and your usual beauty routine will certainly start to give you younger looking skin. Maybe your mirror will become your best friend again.

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You can learn more about facial massage and discover a treasure trove of material concerning women's issues by reading other great articles by Ian Richards.

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