| Author | Message | ||
     Irina New member Username: Huliganka Post Number: 1 Registered: 05-2008 |
Hello Tom, Yesterday I found your website with the instructions on facial excercises. I read it from A to Z, including forums and yet I have difficulties to perform the exercises correctly. Especially number 5. Even after reading "My Approach". I guess, I am not alone here.  After reading the forum I became unsure even more if I understand them all correctly! So was thinking if it would be beneficial for me to buy your DVD to speed up the learning process. I understand it could take forever to get those muscles for #5 to work! And I am very impatient! What do you think? Also, does DVD explain other exercises? My best regards, Irina P.S. Speaking of patience.. I bought the DVD while posting this..:-) | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 64 Registered: 05-2006 |
Irina: Of course it's difficult to perform the facial exercises correctly in the first week or even few weeks of doing them. Exercise number five - the Scalp Exercise - is especially hard to master even for an "impatient newbie." The DVD will help you here because you'll see exactly how it's done. This is important because many people think they're doing it right when they are not. I think all the exercises I describe on my website are effective for keeping the face looking toned-up and young. But the scalp exercise is the most important one, and the hardest to learn too. It's important because strong occipitalis muscles at the back of your head keep the forehead smooth, keep the eyebrows high, and keep what are called hooded eyelids from forming. These muscles do this because they pull up and back on the upper face, not allowing other facial muscles to sag. It's not easy to gain control of these stubborn occipitalis muscles, though, but it's worth the effort. Many women, including two TV actresses in California, have sent me emails describing the benefits they have achieved from doing exercise number five. The benefits include a more expressive, dramatic look, very important for TV actresses when doing close-ups. (And we're all actors and actresses at times.) Be patient and persistent with these facial exercises. I know you'll benefit from them. | ||
| Irina New member Username: Huliganka Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2008 |
Tom, I am very happy I found this website. I did read about facial exercises long time ago, but I couldn't believe they actually worked. Oh, I will be very patient with them! I am only impatient to learn new stuff because I am not planning on wasting any more time. Thank you, Tom for your encouragement. I am very happy you have that DVD! Hope it arrives soon. My very best wishes, Irina | ||
| Therese Foure New member Username: Kind_gal Post Number: 8 Registered: 10-2006 |
That scalp exercise took me forever to learn but it was worth the effort. There is no doubt that my eyebrows now look higher and my eyes are more expressive. At first I got a few horizontal lines in my forehead but these have disappeared. The secret is getting a full contraction from those muscles at the back of the head. That is what took me so long to do. I think it took me two months. Be sure to apply some kind of oil or moisturizer to your forehead before you do the exercise. | ||
| Irina New member Username: Huliganka Post Number: 4 Registered: 05-2008 |
I got the CD yesterday and finally saw what needs to be done. The only problem for me is How it is done?  I searched through forums on Tom's the other website for tips - and there are many! Well, I CAN'T move nothig on my head. I raise brows, open eyes wide, scalp just doesn't move forward. Can't even think on how to get ears move besides the times when I simulate the chewing movement. What I hoped to see on that CD is step by step approach like do this first, then do this and so on. I'll keep trying though and maybe in few months I'll learn | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 66 Registered: 05-2006 |
Irina: I know that you are impatient and would like to do the scalp exercise perfectly right away. Some people - very few - can do the scalp exercise as soon as I show them how it's done. These people, mostly men, usually have a lot of hair, though, and don't see any need to continue doing it. Women often have a lot of difficulty in gaining control of the occipitalis muscles at the back of the head and even the frontalis muscles at the front of the head. This is because these muscles are usually atrophied in women - and in some men too. The best suggestion I can give you is to practice the "pillow technique" that I described on page 12 of the booklet I sent you. This is effective. This is the way I learned to control these stubborn muscles. It took me about two weeks of frustratingly hard work to get even a mild contraction in these muscles. But once you gain even a mild contraction, you'll gain full control of the scalp muscles fast. Here's an email I got from Jason: Unbelievable Tom!! | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 58 Registered: 06-2007 |
Hi Irina: I have been doing the scalp exercises for years so I cannot remember how I was in the beginning. I can tell you though that even with many several years of doing the scalp exercise, because I only started doing the frontalis part of it recently, my scalp doesn't move forward the way Tom's does, when I raise my eyebrows. Why? Because it will take many sessions of doing the exercise to get the muscles at the front so strong that they will make the scalp move. Again, I have done the exercise for years, but only involved the occipitalis muscles (back of the head) so I do have a bit of tone, and so when I put my hand on my crown then raise my eyebrows, I feel a slight movement forward. I don't think I will be able to actually see it happen any time soon. But I feel it and know that it will come with time. Getting control of the muscles at the back of the head isn't easy. I might be wrong but I imagine that when you feel cold on a very chilly morning and you hunch your shoulders up and shiver, that those muscles contract too as the back of the neck seems to shorten due to raised shoulders. Try to simulate that movement. Imagine the temperature is below freezing, and you're outside on this wintry morning with no sweater on and a chilly breeze blows right through you. Raise your shoulders up as you would and make yourself shiver as you would pretend if you were in a play. Do you feel the back of your head tighten as you shiver? You may feel it more in your neck, but also a bit around and above your nape. OK, now how about imagining that cold breeze again but this time, do not hunch your shoulders up, but still imagine the icy breeze going through your neck and once again shiver as you would only w/o shoulder raised. The reaction is similar to cringing...like you might if someone's sharp nail were scraped down a blackboard. *shudder* I believe you can best feel the movement of the muscle while lying down face up with your head on a pillow. So how about repeating the above exercise while lying down. Don't despair if you don't feel it the first time you try. Take a break and whenever you think of it, just try it. Even sitting up, if your head is pressed on a headrest, say at a traffic stop, "shudder with cold" and pay attention to how your scalp feels against the headrest. Now if you wear glasses or shades, that's another way you will begin to notice improvement in your ability to flex the occipitalis muscles. Because when you contract and relax the occipitalis muscles, the glasses move into your face and out...because your ears pull them as they move. Now about the moving ears, I admit that even with years of doing this--but probably because I don't do the exercise often enough to see steady progress--only one of my ears moves enough for others to notice. The other just kind of just shakes, but ever so slightly that you really have to look hard to see. So the movement of the glasses is probably the first clue you'll get that your ears are indeed moving. Remember, dear Irina, Tom has been doing this for over 50 years. And he probably does it daily without fail. So his scalp moving so freely is due to half a century of practice. I have been doing it for maybe 3 or so years albeit not daily--just when I think of it. Yet even *I* don't see movement except a slight twitch in one ear and a nod in the other. You only just started so just take a few times out of your day, whenever you think of it and try it. Every bit of practice will not be in vain. In time, it'll come to you. Where there's a will, there's a way, so do not give up. I applaud Therese because even when she thought her forehead lines were getting worse, she trusted what she saw in Tom's face and kept at it. And not only were her forehead lines ironed out and she has mastered the exercise. So keep at it, my dear. And when you need more of a boost, we're here. I hope KateB comes on to chime in. She's another member who had trouble with the scalp exercise but can now do it. Perhaps her "journey" to the point where she could now do it may serve to encourage you some more. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 67 Registered: 05-2006 |
C M: You wrote, "Because when you contract and relax the occipitalis muscles, the glasses move into your face and out...because your ears pull them as they move." I didn't use this technique to gain control of the occipitalis muscles, but I know it works because many others have had good results from this. "Tom has been doing this for over 50 years. And he probably does it daily without fail. So his scalp moving so freely is due to half a century of practice." After I gained control of the scalp muscles when I was 19 years old, my scalp moved the same amount then as it moves now. I guess the amount of movement one gets is determined by individual anatomy. Practice can certainly help a person gain some scalp flexibility but if the attachments of the scalp are genetically tight, don't expect to win the gold medal in the scalp exercise competition. |
