My Black is NOT Cracking.

Okay, so I can’t seem to get a consistent yoga practice going for my body, now I need to do face yoga?  I’ve been pretty open with my struggle to accept my aging face, and I’m convinced these phones are listening to me bitch about it!  Why?  Because suddenly, I’m getting ads and suggestions on who to follow and they just happen to be facial yoga instructors. 

So, I had no idea that facial yoga was even a thing.  Apparently, it is?  So, now in addition to drawing on my eyebrows and lips that have all but disappeared, I’m supposed to spend twenty minutes a day making faces?  Does this s*#t even work?

So, you know me, in my desperate and pathetic attempts to restore some semblance of youth to my face, I had to do some research.  That facial compression sleeve I wore to bed for a month, didn’t do jack squat, so what the hell? 

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Does facial yoga work?  I mean yoga does seem to help to maintain and improve the body, but does it have any effect on your face?   Okay. Faces do have muscles.  Does it offer us the facelift without the surgeon? Or is this some crazy trend aimed at women’s insecurities? I’m pretty skeptical about any products or activities that claim to reverse signs of aging of the face, and I love how folks post those before and after photos where the lighting is different.  The angle is different.  The after photo is shot from like 8 feet away!  I guess they think we won’t notice.  But I’m observant.  Probably a little too observant.  Especially when it comes to my own mug!

Like, these damn jowls that have started to form.  It seems that in my case, weight loss was a factor.  I wish I could literally feed my face and leave my gut out of it, but that’s where it goes!  Can’t win for losing.  (Actually, losing!) I know.  Still here.  Stop complaining. 

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Most women at some point develop the “jowls.”  Some sooner than others.  Gravity, hormones and the depletion of elastin and collagen as we age are a few of the reasons.  For me, throw in the loss of some facial fat and if you read my post “Square Biz,” you know that even if you don’t lose the facial fat, those fat pads go south on us.

Now let’s throw in aging skin that is typically dryer and thinner which makes it vulnerable to sagging on top of that loss of elastin. Welcome to wrinkle city.  Is there anything we can do?  Anything?

Well, based on my research, facial exercising might not be the BS I expected it to be. I mean, think about it.  We spend time resistance and strength training our bodies (or at least I hope you do now after reading my post about muscles) in an effort to keep them strong and our bodies firm, so why wouldn’t it be possible to firm up your face a bit?

So, I learned that we have close to 60 small muscles in our face and neck and exercising those muscles to some degree, might actually shape and tone your face, just as exercising the muscles in your body tones and shape them.  Yup.  Facial muscles like every other muscle can increase in size with exercise.  These muscles apparently play an important role in shaping the contours of the face.

Increase in size? Okay, so my face is already turning into a square, now it’s going to turn into a bigger square???

While there definitely needs to be further research, thus far, there seems to be some studies that suggest there might be something to this whole facial yoga thing. 

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So, what exactly is this facial yoga?

Well, it’s the practice of these repetitive and exaggerated expressions that are supposed to activate and build the muscles involved in the movement.  The muscle growth is said to improve the definition in your face.  The increase in size, albeit slight increase, is supposed to counteract the sag.

NY Dermatologist, Dr. Doris Day, MD, (Yeah, I know.  Anyone of a certain age remembers the actress of the same name.) recommends these facial exercises be done daily.  As in every day! Uh, every day.  (Insert sad face emoji here.) She devotes a chapter of her book Beyond Beautiful to facial exercises.

“We exercise our face every time we make expressions, and most people overuse certain muscles which ends up weakening the opposing muscles. When you frown often enough to create a crease, you’re overusing those muscles and weakening the muscles that lift and smile, because you’re using those muscles less. Another rule is that muscles can only pull in one direction. So, for every muscle pulling down, there’s an opposite/paired muscle that pulls up. I try to teach my patients how to do facial exercises to lift and rejuvenate.”

A 2018 Northwestern University study involving women and a 20-week, 30 minutes a day, facial exercise routine (for the 8 weeks which was then cut to every other day) demonstrated some pretty positive results.  Based on a group of dermatologists, overall, the participants, that ranged in age from 40-65, were determined to look several years younger. Actually, it said 3 years younger, and I have to admit I laughed.  I mean, I don’t know how you come up with that number.  Three years younger?  But it was said that the exercises offered a natural face lift. I just think the three-year part is funny.  I mean, who would go to a plastic surgeon for a face lift and says, “Can you make me look 3 years younger?”  I don’t know about you, but if I decide to go that route, I’m rounding up baby!  I’m going with 10!

If you are like me, you probably thought to yourself, wouldn’t all those exercises and stretching and straining create more wrinkles?  Well, apparently not in this study.  The study’s lead author Murad Alam, MD, Vice Chair and Chief of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery in the Department of Dermatology at Northwestern Medicine’s Feinberg School of Medicine stated in an interview that this didn’t happen in any of the participants of the study.

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So, face yoga is supposed to help restore firmness to muscles in your face and neck that keep your face from sliding down your neck. But there’s a bonus.  These same facial exercises are said to stimulate lymphatic drainage.  This process removes toxins and helps to nutrients to your skin resulting in healthier skin and improved complexion.

Facialist to the stars, Thuyen Nguyen, whose clients have included Michelle Williams, Cindy Crawford, and Amal Clooney, believes that stimulating the facial muscles with massage in addition to facial exercise can deliver even better results.  His program is called  FaceXercise.

FaceGym, founded by Inge Theron, stated that with his program, “I really wanted the workout to mimic what you do in the gym.” Facials involve a warmup, draining and detox, then sculpting and toning.  Like a personal trainer, but for your mug!

Gary Sikorski, founded Happy Face Yoga, which is a program designed to stimulate those muscles that hold your face in place.  He has stated, “You’re strengthing your muscles and moving them back into place, so the skin naturally follows and starts to smooth.” Win. Win. But I have to admit, I’m skeptical about that smoothing part. 

Suzanne Olbricht, an associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School stated that facial exercises could indeed improve the muscle tone of the face. “They could theoretically help with gravity-related fat loss or redistribution on the face.” The improved muscle tone could actually help keep our face fat where it should be.  (As in not sliding down our necks!)

Look, I’m not 100% sold, but it might we worth a try.  Unlike surgery, injected fillers and other invasive alternatives, facial yoga is a safe, non-toxic, non-invasive, and an inexpensive option.  There really is no downside.  But real talk, it’s not exactly free.  It will cost you your time and we all know how valuable our time is as we get older and have less of it. That said,  the good news is that data suggest the exercises do help the face look younger!  Just don’t expect miracles.  Based on my research, the improvements might only be subtle.  But I’m good with subtle.  I’m good with any. You might feel that improvement is worth the time and effort, just keep in mind that in order to see results with your face, as with training your body, you have to be both consistent and patient!   

If you are interested, Mary Lou of https://www.faceyogaunveiled.com/ offers a complimentary consultation as well as online training!