THE CURRENT CONVERSATION: LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE
Lymphatic drainage is the current conversation in the beauty world. The thing I love about this industry is how things cycle back around. Lymphatic drainage is being talked about like it’s this brand new breakthrough facial massage that contours and lifts the face, but it’s not. It’s been around FOREVER. I remember in esthetician school 12 years ago learning about it, and back then it was historic. Every esthetician knows about lymphatic drainage, however not every esthetician sees the value in making it a massive part of their facial treatment.
Today I want to talk ALL THINGS LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE, and why you desperately need it in your life.
Our lymph systems get backed up and causes a whole mess of problems for us.
SIGNS THAT YOUR LYMPH SYSTEM IS BACKED UP
•Chronic headaches
•Brain fog
•Swollen lymph nodes or tonsils
•Energy loss
•Ear popping or ringing
•Bloating or swelling in the morning
•Itchy skin
•Acne or dry skin
•Unable to lose weight
These are just some of the over all physical symptoms that your lymph system needs some attention. Being that I am an esthetician I am going to focus on facial lymphatic drainage in today’s post.
WHY YOU WANT YOUR ESTHETICIAN TO DO LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE
Lymphatic drainage is a technique designed to stimulate the flow of lymph. Lymph is a fluid that transports white blood cells, oxygen, and nutrients throughout the body. The massage typically involves gentle, small, circular movements on the face and neck. Repetition is key for lymphatic drainage. You want someone who focuses on puffy areas for awhile. The eyes and jowls are the main areas we get backed up fluid. Those two areas can really change our appearance as well. The fluid will just sit stagnant causing more swelling, and build up until it is manually removed. I know, that may sound gross, but we ALL get this fluid build up. We think it’s age, or weight gain, or even allergies, but it’s fluid build up. . . YUCK! And…. no thank you!
I highly recommend discussing lymphatic drainage with your esthetician before your next facial, but there are also ways you can do lymphatic drainage on yourself. A few times a week I de-puff my face with a frozen jade roller. I keep it in my freezer and take the larger end and roll my face. The trick is to start at the center bottom of your face and work your way out and up. I roll up from my chin to my ear. I don’t roll back down, that’s defeating the purpose. Once I get to my ear, I lift the jade roller up and go back to my chin and start again. I repeat this over and over with gentle pressure until my face starts looking de-puffed. Next, I turn the jade roller over the to the small side and do the same thing with my eyes. I start at the inner corner of my eye and roll outward gently all the way past my temple to my hair line. I even go over the top lids of my eyes too! The key is to be gentle. We aren’t massaging the muscles in the face, we are pushing out fluid that is right above the muscles, close to the surface.
TRAVEL TIP
A great last travel tip I just recently learned was after a long flight, you can stop at the airport massage lounges and request a facial lymphatic drainage massage. When we fly we get a lot of excess fluid build up which results in swelling, and no one wants to show up to their vacation looking puffy, tired, and swollen. This is a great quick way to remove the excess fluid and contour your face. You may be exhausted, but you won’t look it!
I hope you enjoyed learning about lymphatic drainage as much as I did. I am all about facial contouring, so this is a topic I plan to expand on in the future!
XX
KC