A new trend storming bathrooms this season is a carved crystal tool called Gua Sha. Gua Sha tools aren’t anything new, however. They’ve been around in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a long time to help circulation and detoxification. Commonly made of green jade, rose quartz, or black obsidian, these beautiful, handheld tools have a lot to offer your beauty routine.

If you’ve ever been curious about trying it, I highly recommend snagging a Gua Sha tool to add to your home collection of beauty products. It feels amazing to work out knots and increase blood flow after a workout, encourages collagen production in your skin, and — maybe most importantly — can save your partner’s hands if you can talk them into giving you a massage. Plus, it’s small but mighty, so you can always carry it on the go when traveling!

Benefits Of Gua Sha

Gua Sha is an ancient bodywork technique used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It’s used for massage and acupressure to move lymph fluid through the body, improve circulation, and release muscle tension. Traditionally, it was done as a fully body treatment, but gentler tools were developed to use for facial treatments as well. As a facial treatment, it can help reduce puffiness, encourage collagen production, and bring nutrients to the skin.

How To Use A Gua Sha Tool

Gua Sha tools can come in slightly different shapes. Some are more heart-shaped with 2 curves on the wide end while others have 3 curves on the wide end. It’s highly recommended to keep your tool in the freezer so that it’s cold when you use it to increase the benefits while using it.

The idea is to use the tool to gently scrape the skin at a near-parallel angle to break up the tissue beneath the surface and move fluid through. You want to work from the bottom to the top. So if you’re doing a facial, start with the base of your neck and use long, smooth strokes up your neck. Then move to your jaw, cheeks next, and last forehead. If you’re doing your whole body, start with your feet and work your way up.

I’ve found an intuitive approach to work best for me when using my Gua Sha tool. The tool can be rotated so that any side can be used to scrape the skin depending on the area. You might find that the long edge feels good on your neck and the heart top is better for your chin and jawline. Sometimes I like the more pointy end to dig in a little if I have a knot or particularly tight area.

Add Gua Sha To Your Routine

Pick up a beautiful rose quartz Gua Sha tool (and facial roller) in our LunaTerra Trading shop today! Click here to check out the shop.