Next was the part of the facial I was most intrigued by. Amani began massaging inside my mouth, targeting my cheeks and jaw. It’s a weird sensation to begin with, but, I soon got used to it and could feel the tension in my jaw slowly melt away. As she did one side, I was actually quite shocked at how much tension had been released.
“The buccal massage looks like traditional lymphatic drainage massage, but is performed inside the mouth and is slightly deeper to release tension,” says Amani, noting to go gently around the jaw if you’re doing this for the first time. The masseter muscle (which sits over our jaw) can hold on to a lot of tension, so it can feel very tender here. It actually felt quite sore to massage during my treatment, so Amani advises to go gently and build the pressure over time as your adjust.
“The buccal massage is one of the facial massage techniques that specifically targets the drooping of the jowls, the lower region of the chin, which is a known problem area for some,” she says. If you’re doing this at home, she recommends thoroughly washing your hands, or wearing gloves, to gently massage inside your mouth.
If you don’t fancy putting your hands in your mouth, Amani says there are alternatives you can try. “If you are not comfortable putting your fingers in your mouth, you can gently use your hands or a facial tool with your favourite facial oil to perform lymphatic drainage,” she says.