The world of skincare trends is constantly changing and almost always surprising. Rolling balls of ice under your eyes if you’re looking puffy. Taking up ‘face yoga’ for a snatched jawline. Even using slices of potato to help with acne – maybe that’s where you should draw the line. But among these many hacks, one of the most searched TikTok terms is ‘gua sha’.
Gen Z influencers didn’t invent it. Gua sha is actually a 700-year-old traditional Chinese healing method which has been lauded in recent years as a hack to deliver healthy, glowing skin with minimal effort required. While many of these fads are quickly relegated to woo woo wellness rubbish, we caught up with some experts in the field to find out the truth behind the gua sha trend.
What is gua sha?
“Gua means to scrape and sha means toxins. Scraping the toxins out of the body is the best translation” says Professor Song Ke, the founder and principal of Asanté Academy of Chinese Medicine , who understands gua sha as the age-old medicinal technique. “It’s basically using a tool to scrape the skin repeatedly in one place to release the toxins, and it can often result in redness or even bruises – you normally do it on the neck, back or the elbow.”
Traditionally, then, it’s nothing to do with skincare. “Let’s say for example, you have the flu. You’re aching, you’re in pain, your joints hurt, you’re hot and cold. Gua sha is a way of unblocking the toxins that have entered your body from outside. It’s quite painful but it can have immediate results,” Song Ke says.
More recently, though, the concept’s been taken on by the beauty industry as a rejuvenating facial massage treatment. Now, it’s the moulded S-shaped tool the western world refers to as a ‘gua sha’, and it’s usually made from jade or rose quartz. It’s designed to be used in upwards strokes over the contours of your face, and it’s lauded to promote lymphatic drainage and redirect energy flow.
“Gua sha offers various benefits for your skin, primarily aiding in lymphatic drainage, which helps reduce puffiness, enhance facial contours, and alleviate redness and irritation due to its naturally cooling properties,” says Naomi Ulbricht, Head of Education at Facegym. “Additionally, it can release muscle tension and improve skin clarity by eliminating toxin buildup.”
Artur Debat
Who else is doing gua sha?
Needless to say, it’s an influencer favourite. Jacob Seickell is often seen perfecting his glow on social media and has been practising gua sha ever since hearing its advantages when he lived in Japan. For him, it had instant effects: “I found that I could see short term results almost immediately. It would depuff and tone my face first thing in the morning.”
