The Chinese Skin-Care Tool That Will Cool, Tighten, and Depuff Your Face in Seconds

 

Perhaps that extra margarita sounded too good to pass up or you couldn’t say no to just one more episode of Stranger Things, and now, in the light of day, your skin—puffy, inflamed, and tired—is bearing the consequences. Coming to the rescue is the jade roller, an age-old tool that has been an integral part of Chinese beauty regimes since at least the 7th century. For Dr. Lamees Hamdan, whose skin-care line, Shiffa, incorporates the healing properties of precious stones like emeralds into its products, the discovery of the pale green wands while on a visit to China resulted in the addition of a powerful new weapon to her anti-aging arsenal. “There were jade face rollers in the museum dating back centuries, so that got me very interested because I always thought of jade as being decorative and protective but not as a beauty tool.” Soon afterward, she issued her own gold-accented version of the roller, which uses gentle pressure to assist in the sweeping away of toxins and the balancing of excess fluid in the tissue.

And Hamdan isn’t the only one who swears by the method, which is refreshing in the hot summer months. New York facialist Ling Chan, who grew up in Hong Kong, regularly uses the tool on her black book of model clients—starting at the center of the neck, then moving outwards and upwards along the planes of the face before finishing at the hairline. “Just as exercise can tone your body, the jade roller can tone your face,” she explains of its ability to clear fluid, boost circulation, improve elasticity, and promote cell turnover for a brighter, healthier look. At her namesake spa in Union Square, she also glides the roller over skin after applying a mask to help the product to further penetrate—a process she says can be re-created at home, whether in front of the TV or while lying in bed.

“Just a few minutes of massage is very anti-aging. We overuse the muscles in our face—whether we bite our teeth or stare at the computer for too long. The roller can break through the blockage.” And unlike the high-tech but equally high-maintenance DIY light devices and at-home lasers of recent years, Chan says that making it part of a daily routine is a no brainer: Simply put, “you just roll it,” she says with a laugh. Consider us sold.

 

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