Green Jade (or feng jade) is the traditional choice for gua sha. Jade gua sha has a long history of use in Chinese medicine and is considered the ultimate gemstone of ancient Chinese beauty treatments.
Jade or Rose Quartz, Which Is Better? Using Jade may be the more traditional approach for Gua Sha but administering with Rose Quartz does bring notable benefits too. Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the right choice depends on personal preference and usage.
A Gua Sha stone should always be made from a high-quality, pure, natural stone. Most Gua Sha tools on the market today are made from jade or rose quartz, but there are many Gua Sha stones available. Generally speaking, each stone suits a particular skin type.
Today, Gua Sha practitioners trust materials such as bian stone, jade, green aventurine, amethyst, and rose quartz for their tools. You might also find some tools made of steel, resin, porcelain, and plastic. Stone is one of the best materials you can choose from a hygiene and effectiveness point of view.
The argument against jade or quartz gua sha tools is that they are porous and can trap bacteria in them. Gua sha helps repair skin, but some people feel like that's counterproductive if you are using a possibly contaminated tool. Stainless steel is just a cleaner material overall.
Rose quartz stays cool whereas jade is adaptive in nature and tends to warm with skin contact. Rose quartz is better known for its wrinkle-reducing benefits. Because jade is a soft stone and can encounter wear and tear with repeated use, a rose quartz roller may last you longer (trust us, we did a drop test).
But if we want to get technical, when choosing a gua sha tool, the shape is often more important than the type of stone being used. “Ideally, the tool should be flat, thin, blunt with curved edges,” says Wu and Grey. If you're looking for a beginner's option, we recommend something that's heart-shaped.
Typically, gua sha is considered safe. However, you may have some bruising or discoloration of your skin. You could also be sore and tender for a short while after you have your treatment. You shouldn't have it if you're taking medicine for blood clots.
Done correctly, this results in a more noticeable myofascial release. Put simply: Gua Sha relaxes tissue tension and thus, invigorates circulation better than jade rolling.
Infections may occur when the Gua Sha stone is used to massage too vigorously. You shouldn't be scraping so hard with the Gua Sha that it causes skin lesions, but if this should happen, there is of course a risk of bacterial infection – hence why it is so important to clean and disinfect your Gua Sha between uses.
One of the most common mistakes we see on Instagram is people holding the gua sha stone at the wrong angle. For the basic gua sha stroke, hold the stone so it creates an acute angle with the surface of the skin, somewhere between 15 to 45 degrees.
#6 Massaging your skin in the wrong direction
Always pull the tool upwards and outwards (never downwards) on both sides of the face. Also, when massaging on the neck, start with downward strokes on each side of your neck and finish after 3-4 strokes. Here's our blog which covers the right way to use a Gua Sha.
How Often Should You Be Using A Gua Sha Tool? While incorporating gua sha into your routine has immediate and longer term benefits, you'll get what you put in with this practice. 'To achieve the best results, using a gua sha tool once or twice a day is recommended,' says Ooi.
Incorporating gua sha into your morning and/or evening skin care routines is an easy way to make it a consistent practice. According to Chen, doing facial gua sha in the morning can help with “reducing puffiness in the cheeks and under-eyes”, while gua sha at night “promotes relaxation and better sleep.”
If you use your Gua Sha tool in the day, applying a serum is better as it is lightweight. Unlike oil, it will not make your skin feel greasy or sticky. Even though this is our recommendation, apply whatever your skin is more comfortable with - may it be a serum, face oil, or a moisturiser.
"The issue with claiming gua sha can reduce a double chin is the misunderstanding of anatomy and physiology." Ultimately, Dr. Gohara calls any claims that gua sha can reduce or eliminate a double chin "scientifically unsound.
For example, some people think that using Gua Sha can help get a perfect jawline and make face slimmer. Celebrity dermatologist Dr Rashmi Shettyra says all these cannot happen and ask people to not to fall for such rumours.
Gua sha can help relax these muscle contractions transiently and can play a role in preventing the formation of deeper skin creases over time," Dr. Park says. "But gua sha will not effectively smooth a visible wrinkle or sustain a smoothing effect over three months."
Recovery after Gua Sha Treatment
If you can't take it easy for most of the day following the treatment, you may want to avoid strenuous activities that would promote even more blood flow as well as hot baths or showers that could increase bruising.
Tools allow you to work more evenly on the entire face than you would be able to with just your hands alone. As a result, the tool is able to work on the very surface level of the skin to target the lymph system and fascia that would not be as easy to evenly work through with your hands.
One of the great strengths of Gua sha scraping therapy is that it can be used on children of all ages. It can be used with some confidence with the common ailments that most children suffer from like occasional stomach aches, colds, coughs, headaches, fevers and tight muscles.
For best results, perform your gua sha facial massage daily or at least three to four times a week. But no matter how often you do it, you're likely to see and feel results more quickly than you might expect. Done properly, you will notice results immediately!
A full gua sha routine begins with the neck, then moves on to the jaw, the under-eye area, the brow bone and ending with the forehead. Both Chiu and Plug recommend performing gua sha three times a week for around 15 minutes.
Apply a Lightweight Facial Oil
Oil lubricates the skin, which helps the tool glide more easily. We have several face oils you can use in your gua sha facial routine—we recommend choosing whichever one suits your needs best. For dull-looking skin, reach for Daily Reviving Concentrate.