Facial exercises

Back around January of this year, I decided to try facial exercises, and I made up my mind to do them to the best of my ability and see how much benefit was to be had from them.

My first effort in facial exercise was several years ago with a device called a Dermal Tone that electronically stimulates the face.  I feel that I saw improvement after a couple of months of use.  But the Dermal Tone was out because it was off the market and eventually the one that I had broke.  I did look for other replacements, and found one called the Tua Viso, and the newer model, the Tua Trend. I carefully considered it and ordered the Tua Trend from tua-viso-usa.com and waited and waited for it to arrive.  It never arrived, but they had charged my credit card $379!  :(  I called their number and heard a recording say they would "try" to connect me with someone, then a voice message saying someone would call me back if I left a message.  I left many messages but no one ever called back.  And so it was that I disputed the charge with the credit card company.  I think that is on the verge of being resolved in my favor.  Beware!!

Another device I have tried is the Facial-Flex Ultra.  This only costs $40.  It's a thing one puts on each side of the mouth and then makes contractions.  The device gives resistance, and it does a pretty good job.

A third device is a neck exerciser that is sold by several companies on Amazon.  I only recently bought that (for $10) and haven't done it very long, so I don't know if it works well or not.

The latest device is a lip plumper that uses suction to puff up the lips for a few hours.  ($20) Does this work?  Yes, surprisingly it does.  It's a nice effect.

But can't you just do facial exercises without machines, just moving the correct muscles?  Yes, you can and really, I think you probably should because of the level of benefit for the effort.

I bought several videos, the first one from Carole Maggio which I like a lot and do most days.  I've done this since January and see improvement.  Another person that you can watch on the internet without buying the video is the five or six exercises at Shapeyourface.com. This is done by Tom Hagerty, who says that he is now 81, and he truly has a marvelously sculpted face.  I first watched his videos on his site about six months ago, and added one of them to Carole Maggio's routine.  That exercise was was to contract the occipitalis muscles which are located behind the ears, and are the muscles that cause the ears to wiggle.  A lot of people have trouble with this exercise, but I'd say it's a good idea to learn to do it because it also moves the scalp along with the ears, and in pulling the scalp up lifts the face and smoothes the forehead.  One additional benefit is that in moving the scalp, one stimulates the blood flow to the scalp, and this is good for the hair.  I actually saw new hair growth along my hairline.  I had not noticed that my hairline had receded, but I'm certain I have new growth because I had a scar about an inch from my hairline that is almost at my hairline now.  Even if one doesn't have hair loss, it's always nice to keep the hair as vibrant as possible.  Mr. Hagerty stated that he started facial exercises at age 19 because he saw that at that young age he was losing hair.  It seems to have solved the problem because at 81, he still has a nice head of hair.

I feel that the improvements that are to be had from facial exercise are something that almost everyone would be interested in if they understood how much benefit is to be had.  I found that on days that I didn't want to exercise, I had to rely on motivation that was a based on the belief that it would help me, even though any results were a few months away.  So if one embarks on this path, even though it isn't a hard path, I would say it's good to keep yourself convinced that this will help you.

I've read a few things that various people had to say about facial exercise on the internet, and one idea I'd like to challenge is the view that "well, I'm only 22 (or whatever) so I don't need to do facial exercises."  Haha  Wrong!!  We do start to age at a young age and it would be lovely not to look old ever.  Moreover, most of us have things about our faces that we'd like to improve, a more chiseled, sculpted look.  Not to mention that there are nose exercises one can do to modify the shape of the nose.

The most confusing thing about facial exercises to me is that there seems to be several schools of thought on it.  I got several dvds on facial exercises, and I think I've got enough to keep me busy.  One is by Patricia Goroway.  She said that she had started doing facial exercises as a result of being injured in a car accident and was amazed at the improvements that one could make on the facial muscles.  Facial exercises are also good for TMJ and Bell's palsy.  Another dvd I bought is by Carolyn Cleavers, which is also a fine dvd.  And finally I bought one by Deborah Crowley, also very fine.  I bought two books that I like, one by Reinhold Benz called The Five-Minute Face-lift.  The other is Face Lifting by Exercise by Senta Maria Runge.

Other than Carole Maggio's Facercises, Tom Hagerty's six exercises, using the Facial Flex Ultra, and doing some of the neck exercises out of The Five Minute Face Lift, I haven't done anything consistently with the other dvds.  I just seemed to have my hands full doing those and some of my other endeavors.

I'm really thrilled with myself for having discovered a way to stay looking young at any age, and benefit the general health of my face and scalp.  It's not hard, it's not expensive, and I think other people that decided to do facial exercises would be glad they did.  PS  I greatly appreciate the efforts that Carole Maggio, Tom Hagerty, Patricia Goroway,  Carolyn Cleavers, and Deborah Crowley have made on the behalf of myself and others to steer earthlings along the puzzling path of facial exercise.