Goo What?
Want to know about one of the greatest, most ancient, beauty secrets of all time?
GUA SHA
I’m not even going to phonetically write it out because I don’t care how you say it: it’s magic. I’ve been practicing gut shua for over three years now: I actually love it so much that when I got married all my bridesmaids were gifted their own gua shua tool, face oil, and rose quartz face roller.
This is one practice, that when I stop doing it: I notice it. Especially with this pregnancy. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you know I’ve deeply stepped up my skincare game since getting pregnant with baby #2 because she is literally sucking all the radiance and glow out of me!
Prior to becoming a mom, I established a pretty solid vegan skincare routine thanks to Arbonne. I learned the importance of the ingredients I was putting on my body, and I was always a good girl and washed my face. Postpartum…well, listen, if I get to wash my hair more than once a week it’s a huge accomplishment so obviously a skincare routine went very far out the window.
However, I have not enjoyed what has happened over these last 20 weeks and so I returned to the things I knew to be tried and true and always effective- one of those is the art of Gua Sha. Now there are SO many amazing ways you can do gua sha, and one day when my kids are bigger and I get to sleep more than a few hours at a time, I’ll go balls to the wall with it. But for now, I keep it simple-which, thanks to Wilding Beauty is EASY PEASY.
I actually found Wildling before it was created, I somehow stumbled across Britta Plug’s instagram and she had so many great little tutorials on how to use gua sha tools. And if you go to Wildling Beauty’s instagram or website you can find SO MANY amazing tutorials on how to do gua sha. Let me tell you, the body tools will be on my registry for my postpartum care plan FOR SURE because the magic this works on my face so I can age gracefully…I can’t wait to use it on my waistline after baby girl is here!
Wildling Beauty has an exclusive code for you to get started on some serious selfcare: ARIELLE10. The one I suggest starting with is the Empress Stone.
Now that I’ve told you that I love it and it works, I want to give you a quick breakdown of what exactly it is. See, here’s the thing: we are aging. I am aging. Thankfully, my skin’s age is much younger than my age, and I intend to keep it that way by drinking water, continuing to use my clean products, and utilizing Wildling’s gua sha tools. I’m not one to poo-poo aging: I’ve lost friends, and life is a gift. To age is a gift. But there is nothing wrong with wanting to age looking and feeling younger than you actually are!
The facial gua sha method works by releasing tension in the muscles of the face, smoothing out the fascia, and circulating blood and lymph through the tissues. By releasing muscle tension and activating collagen production (HELLO! this is clutch because we loose collagen as we age…have you noticed how many products have us CONSUME collagen? Gua Sha (and the vegan collagen builder I drink daily) promotes the face to create it! No wonder my skin looks over 5 years younger than I am) it actually erases fine lines and wrinkles. Gua sha also plumps the skin by increasing qi (energy) in blocked areas of the face, brightens the complexion because the strokes of the tool stimulate blood flow as well as clearers lymphatic congestion which minimizes pores. And finally-it lifts and sculpts the face because the light strokes (think gently frosting a cake) work with the fascia to firm and tone! See…it’s bomb.
Now there are a LOT of gua sha tools out there, but I love Wildling for a number of reasons: 1. The tool itself is literally made to easily fit all areas of the face, plus to move energy and stimulate blood flow. 2. This is a female founded and run company. 3. This actually is my favorite: They plant a tree in an area of the world that needs it most for each item purchased!!
So, go check them out here and enter the code ARIELLE10 to save you some money, honey! You deserve to practice self-care no matter how busy you are, or how much your littles need you!