Is face yoga really a natural facelift?

Is it my age? Or a search history so eccentric (dog de-wormers, world book day costumes, reporter’s notepads) that even a basic algorithm might guess I don’t prioritise skincare? Either way, recently I have been unable to open Instagram without being subjected to some form of the following claim: “I’m 42, but my chin is 20. I just do face yoga.”

I struggle to find time for traditional yoga, so would normally be impervious to such fads. But on TikTok, #faceyoga videos have been viewed 3bn times. On UK Pinterest, searches for “face yoga exercises” also rose 40 per cent between November 2023 and February 2024. And Luvly — one of the apps interrupting my mindless scrolling — has been downloaded 10mn times. Because who doesn’t want a natural facelift? Or is that desire also a betrayal of the sisterhood? Face yoga is furrowing my brow, even before I capitulate and download the app.

By relaxing some muscles, Luvly informs me, I can smooth wrinkles caused by tension, while contracting others will “sculpt” them. A gallery of “before and after” photos (all women) suggest that my face could morph from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” to something akin to Botticelli’s Venus. First, I complete a questionnaire, detailing everything I dislike about my face. Next, the app “analyses” a selfie and points out that I have wrinkles. This is deflating, if not exactly surprising (I am 39, drowning in deadlines and laundry), but soon the app has generated “my personal plan”, for “$19.99 a month”.

Daily instructional videos follow, bearing names such as “turkey neck prevention”. These do not sound like yoga asanas, so where did they come from? “There’s a long tradition of using the face in yoga,” says Di O’Reilly, chair of the British Wheel of Yoga, a charity dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of the practice.

Mudras or poses involving the face make appearances in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika — a Sanskrit text. References to toning double chins are, however, conspicuously absent from the 14th century manual. “They had a far more profound purpose — to lead towards meditation, which is to lead towards a higher state,” says O’Reilly.

Social media, however, more often leads us towards the shallows, linking all forms of yoga — be it face, hot or “challenge” — less to spirituality, more to “body look”, says O’Reilly.

Nikki Tuke, a BWY-affiliated yoga teacher whose practice includes some face yoga, says: “The first tenant of yoga is ahimsa, or non-harming. Are you looking in the mirror and giving yourself a load of criticism? If so, that’s really negative; that’s not part of yoga.”

A good face yoga practitioner, both Tuke and O’Reilly agree, will use the practice to explore benefits that include, but go beyond, the skin-deep. “Every day, I blow 30 kisses up to my grandmother in heaven,” explains Tuke. “It tightens my neck, but I’m also sending out love and good energy.”

You can strengthen and tone any muscle in the body [including the face] but that alone is not going to transform your skin

This all sounds more positive and less po-faced, so I ditch the apps and follow her advice. On the school run and commute, I run my knuckles from the centre of my forehead across to my ears. I puff out my cheeks and give them little taps. Two benefits ensue. I become far more aware of the tension I hold in my brows, and relax them. I also discover a very effective method for creating more space around myself on crowded commuter trains.

There is some scientific support for the anti-ageing benefits of facial exercise. One small 2018 study, published in the JAMA journal, asked 27 women, aged 40 to 65, to perform 30 minutes of face exercises daily for eight weeks, then alternate days for 20 weeks. Dermatologists who rated their photographs before and after estimated their average age at 51 at the start and 48 at the end. They also identified an improvement in cheek fullness. Hence the “natural facelift” tag.

Danielle Collins is a teacher and author of Danielle Collins’ Face Yoga whose most popular YouTube tutorial has amassed 2.7mn views. She suggests interest has risen in correlation to the boom in injectables, like fillers or botox, and surgery. Unfortunately, this burgeoning appetite for natural alternatives has led to what she deems “many really bad examples of face yoga online”.

“I like to teach in a way that doesn’t give false promises,” she explains. Her own face yoga method involves more than the facial exercises and massages shown on social media, although these do come into it, to tone muscles and boost lymphatic drainage and blood circulation.

“You can strengthen and tone any muscle in the body [including the face] but that alone is not going to transform your skin,” Collins explains. Her approach is more realistic and nuanced, involving “a combination of some gentle facial exercise, facial relaxation, facial massage, acupressure and living healthily [sleep, nutrition, skincare, hydration, sun protection, stress management, mindset]”.

Collins’ own background is in yoga, and she has partnered with luxury Ayurvedic skincare company Almora Botanica, which is offering “face yoga fitness” treatments — a hybrid of facial and workout for the face, “designed to help stimulate and rejuvenate the skin, naturally and efficiently”.

At the brand’s pop-up treatment room at John Bell & Croyden, in London, facialist Brigitta Lark flags that she began practising facial exercises long before she trained in face yoga. She developed Bell’s palsy in pregnancy and was taught rehabilitative exercises by a team of physiotherapists, successfully regaining her muscle strength and facial co-ordination. Her treatment leaves me frazzle-free, and with a seemingly far smoother face. Is that because of face yoga, Lark’s flair in facial massage or Almora’s sumptuous oils?

For consultant dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto: “The jury on facial yoga is out. Facial exercises may contribute to muscle tone, but the impact on skin sagging is likely very modest compared to factors such as genetics, sun exposure and overall skin health.”

“You can definitely achieve a temporary lift through some facial massage or yoga techniques, but they are exactly that, temporary,” says Mahto. Content creators, she warns, can also pose to amplify the “after” effect: “Pressing the tongue to the roof of your mouth can make your chin appear more chiselled, for example.”

In fact, says Mahto, those with acne-prone or sensitive skin should be wary of the trend, as touching or pulling their skin could worsen its condition. For the most part, though: “If someone enjoys doing it, then there’s no harm done. I just wouldn’t expect any dramatic or long-lasting results.”

I have now been doing face yoga for three weeks. If I really peer at it, my skin does seem softer, perhaps more pillowy. Whether this is down to the exercises or the oils I applied while doing them, I cannot be scientifically certain. But overall? I am 39. And my chin is, too.

Find out about our latest stories first — follow @financialtimesfashion on Instagram — and subscribe to our podcast Life and Art wherever you listen