Image via iStock.
Forget about botox and all the weird and wonderful beauty treatments out there – the latest anti-ageing secret could be as simple as exercising your face. Apparently.
Much cheaper (and far less painful, we’re guessing), celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston are fans of the technique, which promises to lift, firm, tone and reduce wrinkles.
There is even a gym in the US solely dedicated to face workouts. Yes, really. Co-founder of Face Love Fitness Rachel Lang told Instyle it’s “a cross between a gym and a yoga studio” and incorporates elements of facial massage combined with face-specific strength training.
RELATED: There’s hot yoga. Hip hop yoga. Prenatal yoga. And now there’s hangover yoga
While there is no dedicated face gym in Australia there are plenty of books, Youtube videos and even an app teaching yoga for your face, created by the “mother of face yoga” Annelise Hagen.
“Using yoga techniques and facial gymnastics leads to a natural lifting, brightening and toning of the facial muscles and facial appearance,” she said. Moves include the “Marilyn”, “Bumblebee” and “lion.”
“Face yoga is excellent to strengthen the muscles in the face, so just like we exercise the body to tone up, we should do the same with our faces,” says UK face yoga expert Danielle Collins.
But can it really make a difference?
According to dermatologist Dr Michael Freeman, it can… if you’re doing it properly. He says relaxing the face rather than exercising it is the key to combating wrinkles
“If you think about it, when people choose to have botox, they have their muscles paralysed. Exercising the facial muscles will have the opposite effect. All the exercises will do is increase muscle and make it stronger, like the Arnie Schwarzanegger effect,” he says. (Post continues after gallery.)
Celebrites with 'bunny lines'
“You want to do the yoga type, which relaxes the muscle.”
This is because wrinkles and creases can come from overuse of the muscle.
“Take for example the forehead crease. If you are an expressive person, you probably frown a lot – and not just when you’re angry, but even when you’re thinking,” he explains.
RELATED: Stop everything. Chocolate that reduces wrinkles has been invented
“Yoga exercises for the face will help. If you do them regularly and incorporate them into your daily living, they will make a difference and help you look younger,” he says.
"It's about relearning how to use facial expressions and stopping the muscles from being overreative. So it's really about relaxing the face, rather than exercising it," he says.
Related: The 6 ways your house could affect your health and waistline.
We imagine there'd be some brilliant facial expressions pulled in the process too. While face yoga classes seem like overkill to us, a relaxing face massage is right up our alley. Any takers?
Have you done face yoga before? Would you try it?