How Gua Sha Can Help You Ditch Botox and Look Amazing

Gua Sha, or "scraping," is a Traditional Chinese Medicine technique that involves rhythmically moving a flat, hard object across your skin. There is technique to it, though. Anyone can learn how to do Gua Sha, but I recommend learning it from someone already skilled and licensed in TCM (not from Tiktok influencers 😉). 

Since we no longer do Facials or Gua Sha at our clinic, I want to provide information and context for how you can pursue this very useful TCM technique on your own. 

Contrary to what you may hear on Instagram, Gua Sha is not a "lymph-moving" tool. It's for improving Qi and Blood circulation. Better circulation means (1) more collagen reaches the surface of your skin, (2) healing speeds up, and (3) your skin glows in the way that only healthy tissues can. 

It improves the health of your epidermis, as opposed to being frozen from a bacteria (botulism) or cut and sewn back into place (facelifts) or artificially plumped up (fillers).  Healthy skin always looks radiant. 

Medical Gua Sha vs Cosmetic Gua Sha

While having brunch with a group of women around my age, they asked me how I keep my skin looking good. I said, mostly just Gua Sha. They looked horrified, I'm sure with images of "Sha," the reddish-purple marks you typically see from Medical Gua Sha, all over my face.

I had to explain that "Medical Gua Sha" is different from "Cosmetic Gua Sha." 

"Sha" is the "bad blood" leaving your tissues. It's from small capillaries bursting, which will quickly heal if you don't have any blood clotting health problems.

Cosmetic Gua Sha, on the other hand, is designed to not leave those marks. It's more gentle. Often, I'll do a CGS routine right before an event or photo shoot to look my best. I'm 49, but I've even been carded (asked to show ID) right after doing CGS. 😆

Is Gua Sha for you?

Maybe. If you want more of a "quick-fix," and don't want to commit to regular maintenance, it's probably not the best choice for you.

Cosmetic Gua Sha technique works best when it's done consistently - several times per week, in some cases. Personally, I shoot for at least once per week. 

Gua Sha works for most people, but only if you don't already suffer from:

• Bleeding disorders (on blood thinning medication; hemophilia; easily broken skin; etc.)
• History of stroke or cardiovascular illness
• Open skin sores like eczema, psoriasis, or open acne sores (closed acne responds quite well from Cosmetic Gua Sha) 

How do you do Gua Sha?

First, you'll want to get the right supplies.  What I use is:

• Hydrating spray (I use Rose Water which costs ~$5 a bottle) -

Hydration helps your skin absorb the serum you'll layer on top. Hydration is the key to youthful skin. Dry, crepey, wrinkled skin is from what we call "Yin Deficiency," which is a kind of lack of internal moisture. The deeper the moisture goes, the better your skin appears. (There is a dietary aspect to this as well.) You can also layer other skin products at this step that you want to penetrate deeper into your skin, like a retinol or vitamin-based serum. 

• Oil-based serum (I use Lauren's All-Purpose) -

Obviously, there are hundreds of fantastic serums out there. What you're looking for is something that will allow the Gua Sha tool to slide easily across the surface of your skin. 

If your skin is more acne-prone, you can use an oil-based cleanser at this step instead of a serum. After, you'll rinse it off. 

• Quality tools (I get mine from Lanshin. Expensive but worth it.) -

Yes, there are definitely cheaper versions out there. At one point, I saw some Gua Sha tools online that cost $3 each. I bought 5 of them. Then, I had to throw them all out. They were too thin to the point of being breakable, didn't slide easily, and actually hurt.

Good Gua Sha tools will not hurt you, especially for your face. 

• Technique (Also, Lanshin.) -

Now for the magic part. Although, just with a good moisturizing skin routine, you'll probably notice positive changes already.

There's too much detail to go into for this quick blog post, so I highly recommend checking out Lanshin's online courses. Sandra, a licensed Acupuncturist, goes into detail how to safely and effectively create a Gua Sha routine that works for your skin and what results you want to see.  

If you purchase one of their tools, you'll get a little pamphlet with it that explains a quick-and-relatively-easy, basic Cosmetic Gua Sha routine to start with. Highly recommend! 

What Cosmetic Gua Sha Treats

CGS is ideal for

• balancing out skin tone;
• releasing the neck and jaw tension that leads to jowls and TMJ;
• "erasing" fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes, cheeks, forehead (including those "11" lines), and mouth.