Plastic surgery has been making local headlines again recently, namely plastic surgeries gone wrong. Some of the worst highlights included terrible infections that led to chronic pain and disfigurement, and even a celebrity dying after a five-hour surgery went awry. Far be it from me to knock anyone’s personal choices, though I will say that if you’re going to get something done, get it done right. Any time surgery is involved, it’s definitely not the time to pinch pennies or compromise on safety standards.
Having said that, I must declare that I am far too much of a coward to go under the knife, no matter how much my asymmetrical single/double eyelids bother me, or how much I covertly wince when my husband playfully teases me about my beginnings of a double chin. In lieu of any injections or nip/tucks, I have opted for a (more) balanced, nutritious diet, and a consistent beauty regimen involving natural skincare and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) habits such as the increasingly popular 刮痧 guasha, a small massage tool that promotes healthy circulation.
Don’t get scared off yet! Just imagine the coveted v-shaped jawline and high cheekbones of your favorite model, or the dewy, plump skin of every K-pop star, and bear with me here. Guasha is a perfectly natural method of increasing blood flow to stimulate your body’s innate lymphatic drainage system responsible for getting rid of toxins. In laymen’s terms: It helps your body do what it already does, but better and more frequently, which is important as we get older, not to mention in keeping up with modern lifestyle habits (i.e we are sedentary and eat way more refined carbohydrates than we should). The benefits of gua sha are multitudinous, ranging from easing chronic body pains to migraine relief and even lowering liver inflammation to stave off Hepatitis B!
For now, let’s just focus on our face and how incorporating guasha into your daily beauty regimen could be a knife-saver, in that it may reduce the need or desire for a quick plastic surgery fix later on. Start gently with broad, slow strokes from the bottom of your chin towards your ears, and move inwards. To target frown lines: Use the more pointy edge of your gua sha tool to apply a little pressure on the space between your brows, and move in small upward strokes.
Pro tip: Do this right after you apply serum/cream to increase its absorption into your skin. Check out this article on exactly how to use your guasha tool.
Don’t have a gua sha tool yet? You’re in luck! We teamed up with local eco-friendly store The Bulk House to give one lucky reader a jade guasha worth RMB 108 this weekend!
Simply scan the QR code below or search The Bulk House in WeChat to follow their official account, and send them a message saying “Zero Waste Beauty” along with your WeChat ID by Sunday (Aug 8) at 8pm.
KEEP READING: How A 3,000-Year-Old Game Changed My China Experience
Images: Unsplash, The Bulk House
