The Skin Nerd: Do jade rollers actually work and how do I use one?

Jade rolling and Gua Sha tools have become incredibly popular in the last few years.

Q: I have very puffy eyes and cheeks at the moment because of hay fever. My social media feed is full of people using jade rollers and Gua Sha tools for lymphatic drainage. What are they and do they actually work? Eimear, Cork 

A: Eimear, humans across the world feel your pain. As your body erroneously recognises pollen as an intruder who can cause damage to you, it floods your body with histamines as an inflammatory response, and a part of this can be swelling or puffiness, officially termed as oedema.

With any form of puffiness, the goal is to improve circulation and lymphatic drainage, and as any therapist knows, manual manipulation can do this quite easily. The classic mode of carrying this out is manual facial massage, which is why if you have a facial, you will notice therapists’ move their hands outwards from the centre of your face and downwards towards your lymph nodes.

Jade rolling and Gua Sha tools have become incredibly popular in the last few years, but they’re nothing new. Jade stones are an integral part of ancient Chinese medicine, where they were used much in the same way they’re used today — as a cooling, soothing, easy mode of manual skin manipulation. To answer your question directly, yes, they definitely can help to reduce puffiness instantly.

Rose quartz facial roller and gua sha beauty firming tools.

Although jade stone is believed by many to have healing properties, from my perspective, what is important is that the stone being used stays cool.

 Jade stays cool, rose quartz stays cool and many others do too. The colder temperature helps to constrict blood vessels and reduce blood flow (in a positive way), which will temporarily bring down the swelling. Nerdie fact: this is why the “cold spoons under the eye” and the haemorrhoid cream straight from the fridge tricks work too, that constriction factor.

Jade rolling, or using a Gua Sha tool or performing manual facial massage, has other benefits too. 

The circulation and drainage brought about from oh so gently prompting those systems can create a general glow and improve the tone of the muscle under the skin. So that’s a whole host of benefits!

If you’re sceptical of spending money on a tool, even though they tend to be quite affordable considering you can have it forever at the €20 to €30 point, give manual massage a go. You can find lots of information about it online, and I even have some IGTV demos on The Skin Nerd Instagram. All you need are your hands and a product with a bit of slip, such as a facial oil.

I use the Afterspa Jade Facial Roller (€18.00, theskinnerd.com) each morning and throughout the day if I have a moment between meetings. To use a jade roller, begin by double-cleansing and applying your serums. Grab your jade roller, small head first, and start with your under-eye. Gently roll outwards and downwards, towards your temples. Work along the sides of your nose, from the centre out, moving downwards as you go.

With the larger jade head, place the jade roller at the top of your forehead in the centre and roll outwards and downwards towards one of your temples, and repeat on the other side. Next, roll from the centre of your face, outwards and downwards towards your earlobes. Use the smaller head on your upper lip region, once again, you’ve guessed it, from the centre, outwards and downwards, and switch back to the larger head to move from the centre of the chin out along the jawline.