For some time now, there’s been a separate fitness trend that focuses on our faces only. This reverse aging weapon is mainly directed to women, based on what we’ve seen so far. Still, some men promote face yoga exercises as well for the male audience.

Various bloggers and influencers have been trying to present face yoga as a new anti-aging holy grail; popular online magazines promote these exercises to slim and tone facial structures and help fight signs of aging.

The concept behind this growing trend is delivering skin-lifting effects without surgery, needles, or fancy skin-care products.

For many, this is a tempting alternative to fillers and botox.

Does your face crave a face yoga routine?

While we are not in that age group that should be burdened with wrinkles and fighting against aged looks, many young adults (women mainly) have self-confidence issues due to the first signs of not having sweet 16 anymore.

If you’re worried about it, know that you are not alone. A young makeup artist with attractive facial features admitted on IG that she doesn’t post pictures of her smiling because she’s aware of her smiling lines. 

Maybe face yoga is the answer? Wouldn’t it be great if those exercises really did something for your barely visible wrinkles, not-so-high cheeks, or double chin?

Before you decide to commit yourself to a daily 10-30minute face yoga exercise, you should ask yourself this question: Can we back it up with science?

Can we back it up with science?

Think about it in this way. A workout can’t hurt and usually helps; one can see benefits after being consistent with workouts for some time. But scientific research to date shows little evidence of benefits. And there’s little research concentrating on facial exercise as an alternative nonmedical approach to facial rejuvenation.

The most often-cited research is a research letter published in March 2018 in JAMA Dermatology. However, the study “The Effect of Facial Exercise on the Appearance of Aging” took place much earlier, in September 2012, with a completion date of June 2013. 

About the study:

In the study, 27 participants aged 40 to 65 started performing facial exercises for 30 minutes daily for eight weeks. During the following 12 weeks (20 weeks in total), they reduced the number of practices to 3-4 times per week. 

At the end of the 20 weeks, the study participants reported improved upper and lower cheek fullness. They also seemed to look younger at the end of the study. Rated by 2 blinded physicians, the estimates of the participants’ average age were 50.8 years old at the start of the study and 48.1 years 20 weeks later.

The authors noted that their participant sample was small (16 of 27 made it through all 20 weeks), and the results were modest but were present. 

The other study concluded that presented evidence to date is insufficient to determine whether facial exercises are effective for facial renewal or not.

Promised benefits of face yoga

• Skin glow due to the increase of circulation and skin blood flow;
• Fewer stress lines that are caused by tension, stress, or anxiety;
• Wider eyes, high cheeks, firm jawline by strengthening and toning facial muscles; 
• Smooth fine lines and less noticeable wrinkles;
• Reduced appearance of thick scars by stretching the affected skin that can then become thinner and more pliable;
• Fighting gravity – countering gravity-related fat loss or redistribution on the face by building muscle that could help keep the fat.

If you’re curious about giving it a shot, you should. There isn’t any drawback to it, based on our research. Although it’s worth mentioning that some people have been complaining about looking even older after sticking to the routine for a period of several weeks to several months. You can see these comments in the YT comment section on face yoga-related videos or on the official social pages of face yoga gurus.

Did these face gym exercises produce the opposite effect for people who reported negative results? We don’t know. Maybe they haven’t correctly performed exercises (as face yoga instructors preach and teach).

While you should be mindful while tightening your face and putting pressure on your skin to perform one of these exercises, face yoga instructors and dermatologists who praise face yoga say that it’s not dangerous and won’t produce any adverse results

An additional thought for the little grey cells

Do what you preach. Let’s just put it out there: some face yoga instructors definitely had additional “help” besides facial exercises. Type “face yoga instructor” or “dermatologist face yoga,” and check out some videos if you don’t believe us.

The problem with so many “solutions” to what we are told is the “next big secret revealed” is that those who teach and enlighten us how we should eat, exercise, think, etc., fail to follow their own advice. So how are we to believe that these facial yoga exercises are to do any good?

Have you heard about face yoga? Do you think that you need this face workout? Share your insight in the comment section below!

Photo credits

Featured image: Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova from Pexels

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels, Xenia Bogarova from Unsplash