It seems like everyone on Instagram without me is jade rolling. Everywhere I turn, people are either talking about or showing off that they're vigorously dragging a mini paint roller that looks like it's made of stone into the hollows of their cheeks and chin. "It's eliminating puffiness," testified almost all of them. Others believe in the benefits of the jade roller's slimmer face and "natural" contours.
Passing by a crystal store selling them for $29.99 the other day and receiving countless DMs from people asking if facial rolling really works, I tried to find some answers - or at least some consensus. I spoke with estheticians, dermatologists and face rolling junkies to debunk or confirm some of the most commonly heard claims I've heard about jade rolling. Here's what I found.
Jade rollers massage your face.
For real.
Tina Craig (aka Bag Snob) has six jade rollers and has been rolling on them daily since a few years ago. Craig told me that jade rollers were part of her Taiwanese childhood: "My grandmother always had some kind of jade roller. [Her] roller moved up and down her spine ([and] could always count on one of her grandchildren to roll her, because [they] thought it was a fun game)." Today, her Taiwanese friend continues to use the jade roll, claiming it helps slim her face and outline her jawline.
Any facial you've ever had includes a facial massage, a technique that drains lymph nodes, when an esthetician sweeps her hands across your face and performs lymphatic drainage. Like a body massage, this is designed to eliminate facial tension or stiffness caused by general life and facial expressions without Botox injections. Afterwards your face feels a bit like a rubbery Kincaid. If you do it right, and if you can't get your esthetician to perform on-demand facials like Madonna, you can use a jade roller to give yourself an at-home cool stone facial massage. Aesthetician Renee Rouleau, whose clients include Demi Lovato, calls the Jade Roller "a great massage tool. Roll it over the lymph nodes on your face (that's where they are) and it should feel great.
The Jade Roller removes puffiness from the face.
Yes, kind of.
Feel free to call it puffy face syndrome: ramen, sushi, sugar face, or just plain old face every morning. I was intrigued when I read that jade rolling can help get rid of facial swelling, especially after a late night outing to Koreatown.
Rouleau says it depends on the situation. In her experience, lymphatic drainage massage does help reduce facial puffiness, something that other senior New York facialists also believe in. She used to work with a plastic surgeon who used her massage techniques to reduce swelling. However, a regular jade roller may not get into the nooks and crannies of the lymph nodes the way an expert facialist's fingers do. As she explains, "For true lymphatic drainage, it's a very specific technique that you have to use to 'drain' your face. A regular jade roller wouldn't really know what to do."
However, she does add that the jade roller is perfect for circulation. Even if you can't do lymphatic drainage like you can with a Cate Blanchett penis facial, any kind of facial massage is good. She praises the roller's ability to increase skin circulation, explaining that it helps "bring fresh blood and oxygen to the skin. You can also change the pressure of the roller. The deeper you go, the redder the skin becomes. "If it's bright red versus light red, it shows how fast your skin is circulating."
Dermatologist Ellen Marmur adds, "The cool jade roller does have some immediate effects and temporary benefits, such as reducing swelling." Craig, a longtime jade roller often seen rolling on planes and in her daily life on her Instagram stories, says, "I roll in the morning and my complexion is brighter from increased circulation, which is a great stress reliever. Professional facial massages can be both expensive and time-consuming, but you can do it yourself at home for a fraction of the price."
Jade rolling helps skin care products "penetrate" your skin better.
The wrong one.
Perhaps you've seen one Instagram influencer praise jade rolling for making skin care products "penetrate" your skin better. That's cute - but all the experts agree it's not true. Think of a jade roller as a butter knife. You can use the knife to spread peanut butter more perfectly around the edges of your toast, but that doesn't make the nut butter "sink" into the bread any better. Similarly, if you roll the serum on your face, it may help it spread more evenly, but it won't help it penetrate deeper into your skin.
There's no denying that facials often use cold temperatures because they make it easier to draw certain things into the skin. Some fancy facials contain ice, explains Rouleau, "which immediately constricts blood vessels, creating a vacuum effect and drawing substances deeper into the skin." However, jade, although cold, is an adaptable stone. While it does become immediately cold when placed in a refrigerator, once it comes into contact with the skin, it begins to warm and adapt to the skin's temperature.
If you're planning to make jade rolls, here's the right thing to do: think about it. "Never roll down," Craig emphasizes. "Always go up and out." Gravity is already pulling things down, so you don't need the help of a jade roller. Don't massage on dry skin. Just as you don't want a massage therapist to give you a massage without oil, be sure to add a serum, lotion or oil to apply to your face while jade rolling to reduce friction. Make sure you buy a quality jade roller. "Jade is a soft stone, and rolling it daily can break it up and cause rough edges on the skin," Marmur says. The benefits are cumulative, too, according to Craig. "Face rolling is like an exercise routine. People tell me I must have naturally good skin because they've done it three times and it doesn't work. But it's like expecting Tracy Anderson's body after three workouts!"
Jade rolling is also not for all skin types. If you already have a lot of inflammation, or a skin condition such as eczema or rosacea, jade rolling may not be for you. "You don't want to add more circulation than you already have," says Rouleau. Nor are there any scientific studies on the benefits of jade rolling or facial massage. Studies - especially the gold standard of scientific research, the double-blind study - are expensive, and no facial massage committee wants to sponsor them. But dermatologists agree that it's harmless, and they'll even do it in their private time. I only flip my face when there's a lot of congestion or swelling," says dermatologist Purvisha Patel. After a late night out, after eating a lot of salty food, if I have allergies, or if I accidentally sleep on my face." So, if you're up for it, hang out with the bros.
