Phyt-ality

Facial exercising is something I decided to try at the end of 2007. I had checked out web sites on this topic as early as 2005, but I decided not to pursue the activity since I read quite a few negative articles on it as well. However, I came back to the issue a couple of years later and asked myself how could sensible exercising hurt anyone?

I first checked out several web sites, and decided to order Flex Effect®, which I tried for about three months. I could tell that it was doing something to my face within two weeks. My whole face felt different. I also had a significant adjustment period during which I had to get used to touching my face. I had allowed myself to be brainwashed into thinking that touching my face was bad for my skin. Now I realize how incorrect that is. Deb Crowley says in her FlexEffect® booklet, “It is not facial expressions or the handling of your face that cause lines and wrinkles. Lines and wrinkles are caused when skin cells lose vitality and lack resiliency. When this occurs, it enables facial expressions to set lines and folds. Which incidentally wouldn’t have happened in the time that it did had you handled your face in the first place.” And I have to concur. What I’ve learned and experienced in the last year has convinced me that the best thing for any part of your body, your skin included, is increasing blood flow to that area, which can best be done by exercise and appropriate massaging.

Two or three months after I started my FlexEffect® regime, I came down with a bug I couldn’t shake, plus I thought my face had started looking unusual, so I quit the facial exercising. However, I restarted it in April of 2008 and immediately saw results again. This time, I decided to stick with it. But because the FlexEffect® regime takes about 45 minutes a day, I decided to try Carolyn’s Facial Fitness™, since it said I could accomplish the same results in just 15 minutes a day. I received my DVD toward the end of April, and I have been doing the exercises ever since, averaging six days a week of muscle building. I must admit the exercises take me more like 25 minutes a day, but that’s a manageable time allotment for me. I also like the exercises because they include more massaging of the skin, but then I had already made the adjustment from “do not touch” to “touching okay” during my trial of FlexEffect®, (which is a very good program also).

I have never been one to take pictures of myself, so I don’t have before and after pictures. Also, I’d love to report that people have commented on how improved my skin looks, but that’s not the case either. However, I have personally noticed positive results, and I’d like to report those results to you:

1. Reduction of whiteheads and blemishes. I’ve always had oily, problem-ridden skin. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t clear it up. But within two weeks after starting facial exercising, I noticed a significant reduction of blemishes, especially those hard to eliminate whiteheads. My forehead had been covered with them for years, and now they’re practically gone. That alone makes these exercises worthwhile to me.

2. Evening out of skin tone. Having dealt with acne for 40 years, you can imagine how blotchy my skin is. Also, for about 15 years up to about 2003, I had constant problems with sinusitis and bronchitis. The frequent wiping of my nose with tissue broke many capillaries and made the area around my nose noticeably red. With just a few months of facial exercising, I’ve noticed my skin tone and the color of the area around my nose have significantly improved.

3. Reshaping the face. My whole face, neck and upper chest feel different - tighter - and I know that some of the sag has been taken up. Not all of it, unfortunately. And the skin under my eyes appears unchanged to me. There is one exercise I do where I put my thumb inside my mouth along my lower jaw, and grasp the skin between the thumb and fingers. Then I use the muscle to pull the skin through my fingers till my fingers and thumb reach the mouth. When I first started, the skin would fold over at the bottom forrow every time I pulled it through my fingers. Now I notice it doesn’t fold anymore, even when I try to get it to happen. So some skin tightening has apparently occured! When I check the before and after photos posted on some of the facial exercising web sites, I can see it takes a couple of years of consistent application before sagging skin appears to be eliminated. And since I believe this is already good for my skin even without sag reduction, it’s no problem for me to be motivated to keep going for a couple of years.

4. Better skin texture. There’s nothing like exercise to get blood to flow to a muscle. As I continue bringing blood flow to my facial muscles, I believe the condition of my dermis is being improved. And, as a result, the texture of my epidermis is becoming better. It’s smoother, some of the large pores have shrunk, some of the scarring seems to have filled in.

5. Relaxation of face muscles. I realized after I started exercising that some muscles in my forehead were in a permanent state of contraction. And the muscles default to the contracted condition when I’m not paying attention. Doing the exercises has helped restore flexibility to the muscles and has helped me to consciously relax them. I still have to pay attention, they still want to go back to the contracted state, but I believe they’re getting better.

Okay, here’s a link to my post on the negative opinions on facial exercising. Read up on it for yourselves and let me know your conclusions.

Posted on December 1st, 2008 under Skin • Tags: Acne, Facial exercise. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback