Can You Dry Brush Your Face?
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free skin care · Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:15 am

I have heard a lot about the wonders of dry brushing the body in terms of exfoliation and lymphatic drainage etc but was wondering if you could do this safely on your face? I have a DHC face brush and accidently forgot to wet it when I was using it on my cleanser this morning, it felt a little different but didn't hurt and it lead me to ask this question. I have the face brush since I can't yet afford a clarisonic but I was just wondering if anyone else had ever thought about this or maybe even did this? Oh Saturday morning musings.

free skin care · Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:08 am

http://www.dhccare.com/DHC/ProductDetail.aspx?CS_ProductID=357&CS_Catalog=DHC%20USA

this is the link for the DHC facial brush I use. Hope that helps!

free skin care · Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:05 pm

kj68 wrote:

I have a question...I dry brush my body and really like the results. When you are dry brusing your body you always brush toward the heart. Up the legs, down the chest, up the arms, ie. I don't think one would want to brush down on the face. So do you brush up? Up and out? How are some of you brushing?

I am starting with upwards strokes from the bottom of my neck towards the chin.
From what I have read, you are supposed to brush the face from the middle towards each side. I start with small, circular movements from the middle of my forehead towards each side of the forehead. Then I do the same procedure from the nose towards each of the ears, and likewards on the chin. I brush the nose in some light, sweeping strokes.

It could be and idea to start with a one minute session and double or triple the time when your face get used to dry brushing.

Please share your experience if you try facial dry brushing.

free skin care · Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:49 pm

I bought a face brush years ago that had natural bristles on it like dry brushes I have seen for the body. It is made by Earth Therapeutics. But when I visited their website today, I see Earth Therapeutics now only sell ones made with synthetic bristles:
http://www.earththerapeutics.net/products.asp?dept=44

If you want one with natural bristles, you may still be able to find one. Or maybe a "mushroom brush" with natural bristles would work...

I did find a couple facial brushes with natural bristles online with quick search:

New England/Earthline - Face Brush Natural Bristle Wood Hand (Nicole Reeds Skincare & Spa Products)
Price: $3.70
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VV0JNQ?smid=A7135810W5EN2&tag=nextag-hpc-20&linkCode=asn

Walnut Wood Facial Brush by Hydrea
Price £5.50
http://www.beautifulpure.com/hydrea/walnut-wood-facial-brush
This classically designed facial brush is ideal for smoothing and rejuvenating delicate facial skin. It works by exfoliating and removing dead skin cells to leave skin glowing, refreshed and smooth.

Wooden Face Brush by Hydrea
Price £3.50
http://www.beautifulpure.com/hydrea/wooden-facial-brushExfoliate and refresh tired facial complexions with this wooden facial brush with natural fibres.

free skin care · Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:48 am

I am a face brusher and love the way my skin looks and responds when I do it regularly. I brush my neck and chest as well and feel that the skin on my neck has thickened some, which is great!
I definitely agree that a baby brush is way too soft and flexible for this kind of lymphatic massage. Not to say that it wouldn't feel lovely and exfoliate, but you really need the stiffer bristles of a natural fiber brush in order to encourage lymphatic movement and drainage (that actually sounds kinda gross, doesn't it?!! Laughing

Here is a link to the inexpensive but quality brush that I use. It's currently on sale!
http://www.internatural.com/ingr/ingr375128.cfm

Here are some instructions on how to properly brush your face:

First of all, you should use a plant fiber face brush.

You brush up on the neck and then on the face, you brush up and out:

Jawline - brush out in circular motions towards ear.
Cheekbones - brush out in circular motions towards ear.
Forehead - start in middle of forehead and brush out on each side towards temple.
Nose - small circular movements over the nose.
Under eyes - tiny, light circular motions from outer eye in towards the nose (NOT out towards ear).

Hope this is helpful!

free skin care · Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:43 pm

If you like dry skin brushing for your face... What do you do for your surrounding eye area?
I have been using a baby brush too. And did work very well for neck and face, but found very dificult to reach some areaso of my face, specially inner hollows of my eyes or eyelids.
What I did is to get 2 tooth brushes, (plastic handle) put them in boiling water for a little bit. Enough to make the plastic bend easily, and then use pliers to bend then at the tip. I got an slight curvature, enough to reach hollow areas. Since I did it i hold the skin of one eye on the temple area towards the scalp while i use my other hand to, VERY gently brush my upper and lower eyelids.
Well, it works incredibly well. Little lines and wrinkles are pretty much gone, (this could be because of some other products that I use) BUT! the best part of everything is that my skin feels thicker than before more toned not as fragile as it was.
My friend always had terrible under eye bags and since I told her about this she laughed so hard... Bad Grin

later on she said she was tired of trying everything to get rid of her bags and almost at the door of considering plastic surgery she decided to give it a try. She told me "if this ruins my skin I will still have plastic surgery to reconstruct me". She has been for 3 weeks doing this now and she is really excited. I cannot see her personally 'cause we live in different cities, but she swears by it to the point that she got very enthusiastic and got some skin irritation after abusing a bit.

I just wanted to share with you all my little invention for eyes in case you want to try it. But please be very gentle and don't forget to hold your skin with one hand while you use the other to brush.

BTW do you brush your ears? I do! and feels great. We often forget about many areas that can easily tell what we are trying to hide in the ones we take care off. Wink

free skin care · Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:01 am

Thank you, Zenity, for your tips. I will try it. I guess you start at the outer corner of the eye and brush your under eye area carefully towards the inner corner of the eye?

I will invest in a baby toothbrush.

Kassy_A - if you can feel your lymph flow, it seems like your body and soul are in perfect harmony! Very Happy

free skin care · Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:13 am

KJ,
I have read somewhere that if your bags are because of a liquid retention there is a good massage to drain it off. I recall something like holding your skin towards the temple as described in my post and then use the knuckles of your free hand to press in and out in a slow motion all that fluid starting at the inner corner of your eye.
Sorry, I can't remember where i read this, and I cannot tell if it works or not. I don't have that problem, but I have been massaging my face and other areas of my body very aggressively with very good results. I think there is a myth about how fragile our face's skin is. I can only affirm that by doing a consistent routine of massage, pressure and motion with your hands your skin and muscles get a lot more oxygen, your lymphatic system cleans a lot all the dirt has been holding and therefore the benefits are multiple.

Sept,
I actually start in the inner part of my eyes and work towards the temples, or brush from the part that is closer to your eyelashes out (towards the eyebrows in the upper lid and towards the cheekbone in the lower lid) I do a diagonal motion too. Starting inner part of the eye and brushing out and up (upper lid) and out and down (lower lid).

If you hold your skin very tight you can do strokes in your whole eye to stimulate all the area.

free skin care · Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:16 am

I am game for most anything. Laughing

At my age I figure what the heck and go for it. I am a newbie to facial exercise. Part of the program is massage and being somewhat aggressive in handle the face (long story). I have the Clarisonic and tested using the delicate brush on my dry skin. After I go though all areas dry, I proceed and use a cleanser, pat dry and moisturize well. WOW...my skin feels so alive after doing this. If not for this thread I would have never tried it. Thanks Wink

free skin care · Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:13 pm

I have found a website that has great diagrams and explanations of the lymphatic system and glands in the face.
http://www.bartleby.com/107/177.html
In case someone wants to check it out to do proper lymph draining brush in the face.
It has helped me a lot to understand how to brush in order to direct the lymphatic fluid to the glands to get all the benefits of lymphatic cleansing.
There is also a great explanation about how to dry skin brush body and face in the same thread of FE that I posted before (these diagrams are there too)
Wink

free skin care · Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:51 am

It's important to start carefully. Your face is not supposed to get sore and red from brushing.

Here's a link on face brushing from Beautifulonraw:

http://www.beautifulonraw.com/Facial_Dry_Brushing_Exfoliate_Your_Face.html

free skin care · Thu May 08, 2008 7:31 am

After six weeks of daily, facial dry brushing I would like to give an update.

Decollete, neck and face
I brush these areas with up- and outwards circular strokes every night before cleansing. Initially I used a medium stiff brush with natural bristles.

After some weeks, I felt that my skin required "stronger stuff" and moved on to a nail brush with natural bristles. I bought it at my local health food store. The bristles are quite stiff. I find it to be very efficient in terms of boosting circulation and removing dead flakes. I have actually retired my NCN pumpkin peel for now, as the brushing is highly effective for exfoliation purposes. My skin is fine with the nail brush. I believe dry brushing has gradually made it stronger, and I don't experience any soreness, redness or broken capillaries.

What I have experienced, is smooth, soft skin coming to the surface. The skin almost achieves a "polished" look with diligent brushing, and it's definitely stronger and more robust.

The dry, red patches of some kind of eczema on the sides of my neck, below the ears, have been absent for the last weeks. That's unusual. I believe the improvement is due to the dry brushing as the patches have been there - more or less - for a long time, and I haven't changed anything else in my routine.

I can also report on another happening two days ago. Warning: Sensitive people might skip this passage and move on

Well, it may be disgusting to read about, but I'll take the chance in the name of enlightenment of the people. Wink

I realised that I felt something in my ear, and I was actually able to dig out a large amount of dark-coloured ear wax, i.e. it has been there for a while. It was really quite a lot, and it felt like a relief to get rid of it. I have never experienced anything similar. I lean towards the theory that the lymph drainage from face brushing might have encouraged the wax moving out.
I would like to hear if others have had similar experiences.

Eyes
Using a baby tooth brush, I have been brushing my under eye area. I begin in the outer corner and brush inwards with small, circular movements. Then I have been brushing in the opposite direction, starting in the inner corner. I have heard that it can be beneficial for drainage to use this technique.

It's difficult to estimate possible improvements, but I believe there might have been some flattening of the under eye bags. My under eye lines are still present.
I intend to continue the under eye brushing, as well.

Unnecessarily to say, I'm experiencing such great benefits with facial dry brushing that I undoubtedly will continue. I now reckon brushing to be one of the most important steps in my skin care routine. Razz

free skin care · Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:04 pm

Mars wrote:

Hi, Guys, At 57, am I too old to dry brush my face? My skin has thinned terribly from lack of estrogen. I've dry brushed my thighs (cellulite) and my wobbly upper arms. No positive results, but I wonder if I'm doing it long enough per session. I only do it for 90 seconds or so per area. Thanks!

Hi Mars,

You are NOT old ~ nor too old to achieve skin tightening and lifting results with dry brushing. What you do need to do is not count the seconds per area. Rather, perform 30-40 strokes or scrubs per area, as Carole Maggio likes to call them. As for the face, she happens to sell two mitts. The one I use is the regular facial beauty mitt. She now has another one made out of bamboo that is supposed to be more intense on the skin. I didn't use it because I tend to be too rough on skin and don't want to rub the thin skin off my face! Yikes! I have to say I myself, was NOT a believer before I started doing MORE strokes than just 15 per area. Once I bumped it up to between 30-40 per area, as Carole suggested, the change was amazing and impressive. The face requires a different approach, you use circular movements instead, moving around the face. Still, performing about 30-40 circular movements per area. In conjunction with Facercise and No Lipo, Lipo on my body, I have created more youthful skin and I am in peri-menoapuse so I certainly have emphathy for you! Believe me, the dry brushing technique serves a dual purpose, it is indeed good for detoxification as well, firming & lifting the skin of the Face & Body. Take care, Aprile

free skin care · Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:35 am

SCJ

I bought a special brush for my face, but no I wouldn't recommend you use the big body brush, as thats too challenging for most people. Its a small nail brush I use made of natural fibres.

Theresa

free skin care · Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:25 am

Well I do it only 2 to 3 times a week max. I used to do it daily, but I've got dry skin and it seemed to stress it out a bit. So its worth monitoring how your skin responds. I just do small little circles from the centre of the face outwards, along the jawline, upper lip to ears, under eye area, and temples and forehead. I'm celtic, so go very red on things like this and massage, but it makes my skin feel so soft and smooth afterwards, I'm never going to give that up.

free skin care · Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:13 pm

I have been thinking about these mitts too and I can understand the confusion. I am not the best to read directions...I get excited and try something without reading directions. Rolling Eyes

So what I did was first use it wet...like I do with my clarisonic...made sense and then I was watching the product demonstration on her Rolling Eyes

dvd for the ultimate Facercise and saw that it was suppose to be used dry....oh wow at first I was using it wet. Well then the fact that there are two mitts...one is pink and best I can tell both sides are the same. The other one is bamboo and one side is rough and raised and the other side is smooth. Now I will show the mitts I have and the instructions and you guys can take it from there.Hope this helps. Wink

other side

free skin care · Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:41 am

You caught me laughs but i'm a beautician and enjoy doing it, for those that dont... keep it simple Razz

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