Does face yoga actually work in sculpting the face?

Face yoga has become very popular recently due to influencers and celebrities promoting it. But does it really work?

Skincare trends are pretty common on social media these days. One can also find many influencers and celebrities promoting face yoga on social media. New York-based beauty influencer Ava Lee often talks about how massaging your face can help in tightening up skin, something she learned from her Korean mom, while she performed a series of facial exercises.

She is far from the only prominent person with a social media following to discuss the benefits of facial yoga. Multiple celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Meghan Markle, and even Malaika Arora swear by its benefits and they even share some of their favourite exercises on Instagram.

Although the practice of face yoga has taken the world of beauty and skincare by storm, there are many people who remain skeptical about its actual benefits. So what is face yoga, what does it do and does it really work?

What is Facial Yoga?‍

Similar to how yoga stretches the body’s muscles and tones and strengthens the body, face yoga allegedly works on the facial muscles. Due to the rise of the digital age, long and extended periods of staring at our screens can make us hold a lot of tension in specific areas of our face. As such, exercising and massaging your facial muscles can help relieve any stress and tension that may be present, and also reduce puffiness by aiding in proper lymphatic drainage.

Now, the all important question is does facial yoga have any real benefits?

Even though facial yoga is becoming extremely popular these days and has almost become a staple in the skincare routine of many people, scientific research suggests that there aren’t actually many benefits or evidence that it has real effects on the skin.

That is why most people who sing its praises often think of its beneficial properties as a de-stressing wellness practice than an actual way to get a contoured visage. 
In order to understand the impact of facial yoga, it can be useful to learn how exercising the body’s muscles work. When we train them, they adapt to the stress overtime and increase in volume. But when it comes to the face, though, they don’t quite work the same way.

There is no evidence that suggests that our facial muscles respond to stress by becoming toned. Even if they do respond, it is only for a short period of time and the effects are reversed soon. Essentially, this means that you won’t be able to train your face in the way you would train your body to be beefier.