Have you, like rest of the world, watched Bridgerton season 2? Because after hate-watching season 1 (skipping around episodes), I also hate-watched season 2—but in the middle, sort of ended up liking it. (It’s so silly but the emotional stakes are so clear, and who doesn’t want to look at Regency costumes for hours while cooling down brain cells at the end of a long day?) For the uninitiated, Charithra Chandran plays the most desirable debutant of the year named Miss Edwina, and I loved how her performance went from blandly sugary to “oh, the young woman now has a mind of her own.” Yay for empowerment!
Charithra Chandran recently revealed in Vogue, “One thing that I love and I swear by is Face Gym. It’s like a workout for your face. And honestly, I was such a skeptic before I actually went, and it makes such a difference.”
Face Gym, you say? A quick search revealed that this is an upscale facial place in London, Manchester, LA, and NYC where you get your exercise your face. But instead of you lifting heavy things using your face, for example, an esthetician does the muscle movement for you, using things like a tiny little yoga ball and microcurrent device. And, the fitness ethos is fully embraced by calling the esthetician a “trainer” and the session a “workout”—not a facial. There is a warm-up, cardio (even designed to work up a sweat), and cool-down—but instead of jumping around, you lie back comfortably!
The founder Inge Theron—a former beauty columnist for Financial Times—was inspired to create a non-invasive rejuvenating method after doing a face-lift procedure that left her housebound. She says in a video that she went to Mexico to “work with a shaman to find ancient massage techniques,” to Paris “to learn about advanced muscle manipulation,” to Japan “to learn facial sculpting and reflexology.” All that gets boiled down to a routine that “kickstarts the skin’s metabolism” for the forty muscles in your face.
The idea of working out your face makes sense. I work my body out nearly every day, and when I don’t, I start to see a certain lack of definition and tone. So of course, it follows somewhat naturally that moving your facial muscles (even if by manual manipulation) has some sort of effect on its outward appearance. While relatively scant, scientific evidence supports such a claim. A study in Aesthetic Surgery notes that facial muscle exercises “can increase facial muscle thickness and cross-sectional area, thus contributing to facial rejuvenation.” Also, for beauties used to gua sha self-massages, the Face Gym method is just a step up—but with a more athletic and less holistic bent.
Curious but don’t live in one of the above cities? You can try Face Gym’s tools at home, and they even sell a complementary skincare line that is cruelty-free, vegan, free of toxins and petro-derivatives. It’s packaged in recyclable aluminum or recycled ocean plastic and 100% FSC certified cartons. I’m most curious about these tools. They even offer online classes so you can follow along to a trainer!
Core Tool Kit, Ł60
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty intrigued by the idea of working out my face as I know how much it matters for the rest of my body. I also love the idea of using a tiny little yoga ball on my face—if nothing else, for the fun factor. Would you try Face Gym?
Get more like this—Sign up for our daily inspirational newsletter for exclusive content!
__
Photo: Face Gym
