Facial puffiness occurs due to too much fluid collecting under your skin. Our lymphatic system has an important role in removing those toxins and waste from our body and our faces to reduce facial puffiness.

Now that summer is behind us, it’s a good time to introduce some face massage techniques to eliminate excess fluid as well as some simple at home remedies to boost the circulation of the whole body.

Please check out the video below and watch a short tutorial on how to massage your face. If you don’t have our cryo globes, you can also use a spoon!

In order to do that effectively, it needs to keep circulating lymph and draining interstitial fluid from the space between the cells. When your lymph is stagnant, the toxins and debris begin to accumulate and your face begins to feel swollen, puffy, and stiff. 

At Fit Face, we’re big believers that health = beauty. If we keep our internal world happy, that will radiate through our skin – helping us maintain a youthful and glowing appearance.

How does the lymphatic system affect our face

Lymph is a transparent fluid containing white blood cells and proteins. The superficial lymph lives in the fascial layer between the skin and muscles and can be stimulated through muscle contractions and gentle compression. 

Lymphatic system plays an important part in our immune system – it is the first line of defense against pathogens. Its function is to produce immune cells, antibodies, and filter any poison that might enter the body. Unlike the circularity system which keeps going thanks to our pumping heart, the lymphatic system sometimes needs a helping hand. 

TECHNIQUES THAT REDUCE FACIAL PUFFINESS

A slow lymphatic system can manifest in swelling, puffiness, and congested skin. In order to renew the skin and improve its appearance, we need to encourage lymphatic drainage with deep breathing, facial massage, and face yoga. Try out some of our favorite techniques to boost your lymph flow system and build up your immunity.

1.) Belly breathing

Place your hands on your stomach. Imagine you have a balloon inside your belly, that expands as you inhale and shrinks when you exhale. With each inhalation let it rise and with each exhalation let it soften and relax. This activates the deeper layer of lymph nodes inside the digestive tract. Repeat at least 5 times.

2.) Gentle massage

Tapping massage: Interlace your hands behind your head and take a side stretch to your right. Then release the right hand and gently tap around the left armpit to release the axillary lymph. Repeat on the other side.

Neck massage: Most of the lymph channels lie just under the skin and that’s why we can stimulate the lymph flow with a light massage. With your fingers gently massage both sides of your neck, using circular motions moving the hand from the jaw down towards the collar bone. This stimulates the cervical nodes and glands. You can use fit face facial tools to further improve results.

3.) Face yoga

Any type of muscle contraction helps move lymph along, but because face yoga focuses on all 57 muscles of face and neck, it’s especially effective for reducing the morning puffiness and swelling in the facial area.  Your muscles contract during exercise and put pressure on your lymph vessels which helps fluid move through the vessels and improve your skin complexion.

4.) Hot and cold therapy

Another effective way to boost your lymphatic flow is to try hot and cold therapy. In the world of yoga, people do this by flowing from yang (heated, active, high energy) practice to yin (slow, calming, cooling) practice. Using warming and cooling breathwork is also one of the great ways to achieve that.  At Fit Face, we use the warmth of our hands to warm up skin with massage and using puff busters to cool, calm, and boost lymph flow.

I hope this was helpful about how to reduce facial puffiness ! Please comment and share if you think someone could benefit from this information 🙂