Shape Your Face

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Skin Lubricants

Vigorous facial exercise stimulates the skin to produce natural lubricants. In every square centimeter of skin there are at least a dozen oil glands. (Men have more oil glands in the face then do women. Perhaps that's why their facial skin ages less rapidly.)

A good facial workout will squeeze some oil (sebum) out to the surface of the skin. This will make your face glow, but if you don't like the glow, you can gently wipe the excess oil away.

Getting rid of the stagnant oil and other metabolic debris that builds up in the oil glands keeps these glands healthy. It may also ward off subclinical inflammation and possibly acne too.

What the program does

Instead of plastering "rejuvenating" creams and serums on the outside, you will be working on making your face healthy-looking from the inside. The skin of the face will tighten up as the facial muscles become toned up. The exercises will also increase blood flow to facial tissue. (Blood flow to contracting muscles is ten times greater than normal.) This, in turn, will stimulate collagen and elastin production. Collagen is the insoluble protein that's in the connective tissue, including the skin. Elastin is a protein substance that gives the skin pliability and resilience.

The exercises will also quicken lymphatic drainage getting rid of toxic waste products that may be building up under the skin. This together with an effective, and not necessarily expensive, skin cleanser will keep your skin looking good. (Don't use soap on facial skin. I use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser.)

Exercise Two - Muscle Around Mouth

The exercise for the orbicularis oris, the circular muscle around the mouth, is not a gentle one. The gentle ones produce no positive results; this one does.

Although it looks like I'm stretching my mouth and therefore the muscles surrounding the mouth, I am not. Alternating contraction and relaxation develop muscle, not stretching. In fact, stretching of the facial muscles may not be good for the overlying skin.

I do this exercise when I shave in the morning. Before doing it I splash a lot of water on my face. (Never exercise the facial muscles without lubricating the skin either with water or oil.) Now I insert my index fingers into my mouth exerting a steady pull on the corners of the mouth. (Be sure to have clean hands when doing this exercise.)

You do not need to get much extension and contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle. I get less than a quarter inch. This small amount of movement will strengthen the muscles around the mouth and, especially in women, make the lips look fuller. It will in no way, though, change the essential shape of the mouth.

When this exercise is done correctly, it is both an isotonic exercise and an isometric exercise. It is isotonic because there is a change in the length of the muscle; it is isometric because you will hold the contraction of each rep for a second or two - in other words, the muscle will maintain a constant length as you hold the contraction.

To restate all this - you will:

• Pull the mouth with the index fingers getting perhaps a quarter to three/eights of an inch of movement.

• You will hold the contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle for a second or two.

• You will then contract the orbicularis oris even more strongly until the index fingers get closer together. 

I usually do two sets of 25 to 50 repetitions. But I suggest starting this exercise slowly, concentrating on form. Don't be in too much of a hurry to do a marathon mouth workout.

Go to this thread on the Discussion Forum for more information on Exercise Two - Link to the message.

 
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