"Fascial," not facial.

But you can improve your appearance with a fascial facial.

Fascial release may be the key technique you want to strengthen your skin so it is stronger, more flexible and more youthful.

It targets the signs of early aging: wrinkles, fine lines and sagging skin.

It also:

* Improves your blood circulation and mobility.

* Increases collagen production.

* Relaxes your muscles.

* Encourages lymphatic drainage, removing excess fluid and waste.

What is Fascia

Your fascia is a thin, stringy connective tissue made of collagen that holds you, your organs, and your cells in place and connected to the rest of your body. It's sort of a massively intertwined spider's web. 

It's one continuous organ spread throughout your body, and everything else touches it - all trillions of your cells. It also penetrates your muscles and surrounds your organs. 

Your fascia encloses your cells, making them the conduit to supply your cells with the oxygen, blood sugar, and other nutrients they need.

Therefore, if there's pain in one part of your body, you can feel pain in another part.

Because your fascia is a connective tissue, it's normally stretchy but strong.

Normally, it moves without restriction. However, when you experience pain or trauma, your fascia tightens, becoming rigid. This leads to pain and loss of range of motion.

When your fascia are injured or compromised, you become restricted.  

This can lead to impaired circulation, wrinkle formation, puffiness and decreased mobility.

The degradation of fascia can and does happen anywhere in your body, of course - but the effects of aged and constricted fascia on your face are the most apparent.

Of course, none of this is new. The beauty industry invented ordinary facial treatments to improve your appearance.

A fascial facial is just taking the solution deeper, to the cause of the problem.

Fascia and How Wrinkles Form

Over time, your fascia thicken and become dehydrated. As the fascia in your face become restricted, this leads to fine lines and wrinkles. That's your skin becoming more tethered and less stretchy.

Your fascia also contain your skin's reservoirs of stem cells. Under good conditions, these stem cells are released, leading to new skin cell formation.

Trauma, Wear and Injury 

Over time, your face's fascia is constricted by emotional and physical trauma and injury, especially aggravated by stress and tension.

What is Myofascial Release

It may also be called myofascial trigger point therapy.

It's basically a constant yet gentle massage on your fascia. Healthcare professionals apply gentle, constant pressure to locate knots of pain, and release it. They feel like small bumps, knots or nodules in your muscles.

Because myofascial release relieves pain, and trauma and injury cause tension in the fascia, myofascial release is often carried out on patients who need that relief.

The goal is to reduce fascial tension and pain by lengthening the protein molecules of the fascia. When they have greater capacity to stretch, this releases pressure from the parts of the fascia attached to muscles.

Try a Dermatologist for Professional Help

You can use foam rollers and gua sha tools, but dermatologists and others - such as massage therapists, athletic trainers and physical therapists - have professional expertise you can't duplicate. Checking in with an expert before you start may save you a lot of time, energy and money.

Most of the professionals will be concerned with myofascial therapy as a physical health challenge, not for beauty. That's why I say check with your dermatologist or other skincare professional.

What is Self Myofascial Release

You can find videos online explaining the basic myofascial release techniques, which you can perform on yourself at home.

You can find foam rollers or roller massagers or gua sha tools to massage your face, or even use a tennis ball.

Your Facial Muscles Hold a Lot of Tension

Some experts, including social media influencers, believe myofascial release works because it removes tiny knots of tension in your muscles and fascia.

However, this has yet to be confirmed by medical science. 

What's more likely, is that self-massage stimulates sensors in your facial skin and muscles. We have many such sensors for touch, pressure and stretching. When massaged, these sensors generate nerve signals that lower pain.

They also tell your body to relax, to stop being hypersensitive and to stop holding tension in your muscles.

When your face is totally relaxed, of course it looks more attractive.

Do NOT Try to "Break Up" Your Fascia

Yes, it can constrict and tighten, forming small knots that can be painful.

But . . . you are looking just to relax and loosen the fascia, NOT to damage it in any way.

What are Gua Sha Tools?

Gua Sha is a massage-based branch of Chinese Traditional Medicine. The tools for gua sha don't look like anything you'd normally buy in an American drugstore or beauty supply house.

They're often made of smooth, heavy stone, including jade. They're not shaped anything like your usual combs or brushes, either. 

But they're smooth and come with rounded edges, enabling you to rub your skin in a way that loosens and unconstricts the underlying fascia.

Before you begin, apply a lightweight, organic oil to your skin to prevent any injury.

Two Suggestions:

1. Keep self-massage gentle.

2. Be especially careful with the skin around your eyes. It's easily injured and overstretched.

FIRST: consult your healthcare provider. 

ESPECIALLY if you have the following conditions:

* Burns

* Metabolic conditions

* Deep vein thrombosis

* Any condition putting you on blood-thinning medications

* Open wounds

Don't Overdo It

You wish to unconstrict constricted fascia, NOT stretch is so much that it's looser than when you began. 

https://theartofantiaging.com/could-fascial-release-be-the-key-to-looking-and-feeling-younger/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/24011-myofascial-release-therapy

https://theconversation.com/the-latest-anti-aging-trend-is-massaging-the-skins-fascia-heres-what-you-need-to-know-236572

https://www.everetttherapeuticmassage.com/post/beginners-guide-to-self-myofascial-release-self-massage

https://www.reddit.com/r/massage/comments/x8wjt6/whats_the_technique_for_breaking_up_fascia_on_the/

https://www.mamamia.com.au/face-massager-gua-sha/

https://www.thestyleshaker.com/product-reviews/facial-gua-sha