Green Jade is the traditional choice for facial rolling and gua sha. It has a long history of use in Chinese medicine and is considered the ultimate gemstone of ancient Chinese beauty treatments.
“The Chinese character for ‘Gua’ (刮) is composed of the character for ‘tongue’ on the left and ’knife’ on the right. The Chinese character for ‘Sha’ (痧) is composed of ’illness’ or ’disease’ on top and ’sand’ on the bottom,”
- Promote blood circulation. “From a Chinese medicine perspective, the Tai Yin meridians (composed of the lung and spleen) and Yang Ming meridians (composed of the large intestines and the stomach) are responsible for your skin's overall health,” said Lee. “When you gently scrape the skin on your face with your gua sha tool, what you are doing is stimulating your Yang Ming meridians. You are also sending your body a signal that this area needs more blood circulation.”
- Improve fine lines and wrinkles. Gua sha “can temporarily improve the appearance for the newly and very gentle ones,” Wang said. However, she noted that “for long-standing wrinkles, gua sha should not be the first choice.”
- Promotes lymphatic drainage. Gua sha can eliminate fluid build-up, which can in turn reduce puffiness, experts said.
- Relieves tension from muscles. Experts noted that by applying pressure with a gua sha tool regularly, users can untangle knotted areas and release built-up muscular tension.