The aventurine crystal contour tool came with an instruction leaflet but it was all a bit vague so I watched a
few videos online, searching until I found the shortest gua sha routine possible. I duly poured three drops of
oil into my hands and patted it into my face like a beauty pro. Then I started smoothing the stone along my
jawline and across my cheeks. I ran the narrow end along my eyebrows and wiggled it across my dating
wrinkles as though I was trying to erase them. Which, let’s face it, I was. I finished with a few sweeping
movements down the neck to shift some lymph. The result? All that scraping and smoothing left me a bit
pink but no more than the average face mask does. My wrinkles were definitely not erased but... was I
imagining it or did I look just a tiny bit lifted?
I resolved to keep going. Three days later, running the double-pronged end of the tool down the tendons on
the back of my neck, I went into a sort of trance. Turns out that stroking the back of your own neck is
almost as good as having someone else do it with the added advantage that you won’t have to do any quid
pro quo foot rubs.
My three-minute routine had stretched to 20. I also had some enormous new spots on my chin, the like of
which I haven’t seen since I was doing my GCSEs
After a week I was gua sha-ing every bit of my body that I could reach. My three-minute routine had
stretched to 20. I also had some enormous new spots on my chin, the like of which I haven’t seen since I
was doing my GCSEs. The beauty bloggers assured me that this is to be expected since gua sha brings
toxins to the surface as part of its cleansing effect. Nothing to do with the oil that turned my pillows yellow
when I did my gua sha before bed. While I could see the logic behind the bloggers’ reasoning, I laid off gua
sha-ing my face until the spots cleared up and used the oil on my shins instead. They looked great. It also
did wonders for my elbows.
So facial gua sha, Instagram-style. I don’t know if it works on wrinkles – hell, it almost certainly doesn’t –
but I like it. There is something deeply relaxing about smoothing the crystal contour across your face. The
oils smell great. It feels as though it’s doing you good. It’s less risky than Botox. There’s no danger you’ll
have to cancel a date because one of your eyebrows is stuck on quizzical. It’s cheaper too. But you don’t
even have to spend as much as I did to get the same effect. I found one video which reminded viewers that
gua sha is also sometimes known as spooning and can be performed using a Chinese soup spoon. Just go
gently with it, eh?