What is a Jade Roller and what the hell do you do with it?

If you are anyway interested in beauty and have been on Instagram in 2018 you can’t have missed this insta trend but what is a jade roller and can rolling a green rock up and down your face like a rolling pin on a slab of dough really do anything to your skin?

Jade facial rollers have been used to massage the skin since the 7th century in China and Jade is believed to balance fluid within the body, calm the nervous system and smoothes skin. It is known as a cleansing stone which assists in the removal of toxins and detoxifies the blood. They have been used in eastern skincare and certain facials to help “remove toxins” de-puff the face and brighten the skin but it’s only in the past few years that they have seen a surge in popularity and have become the secret miracle tool according to every beauty influencer.

The many claims of this miracle in a mini rolling pin include;

• Reduce facial puffiness
•  Smooth fine lines
• Decrease dark circles and under-eye bags,
• Helps your products penetrate more deeply into your skin.
• Ease tension headaches,
• Calm inflammation,
• Heal breakouts, and
• Create an overall feeling of “zen.

Phew, that’s a lot!

But do these paint roller looking beauty tools actually work?? And should you get one?

Although I’ve been using a jade roller for a few years and personally I love it! (It’s also one of my 20 wellbeing gifts) But I thought I would do a bit of research whether or not these statements about jade rollers are true.

True or false: A Jade Roller depuffs your face

True: Coming from an actual scientific perspective jade doesn’t really do anything to your skin. But as jade is cool to touch the coldness can help increase circulation and lymphatic drainage which will drain fluid away from your face, thus reducing puffiness. The rolling motion also helps the fluid drain into the proper channels and away from your eyes where fluid can settle. But a facial massage will also have the same benefits. However, for more dramatic results, it’s a very specific technique that professionals to ‘drain’ your face and the average jade roller isn’t really going to be able do that.

True or False:  A Jade Roller can smooth fine lines

False: Sorry guys –  to reduce wrinkles you need to stimulate collagen production which a jade roller just can’t do. It does help to relax the facial muscles so indirectly it could lessen the formation of wrinkles in the long run.

True or False:  A Jade Roller will brighten your skin

Trueish: As I said the coldness of the jade increases circulation and brings blood up to the surface of the skin so that would give you a glow but not permanently and can’t brighten your skin like using an exfoliant to get rid of dead skin cells.

True or False: A Jade Roller can help with breakouts.

False: Nope there is no connection with the lymphatic system and acne and It could actually make breakouts worse if you use it on not so clean skin as it would push dirt further into the pores. You could also rupture pimples by applying too much pressure as you roll over them. However, the relaxing properties of using a jade roller could indirectly help breakouts. It’s possible that the massaging motion of the jade roller can, on some level, stimulate certain hormones and have a relaxing effect on one’s well-being and stress levels, which can, in turn, affect acne.

True or False:  A Jade Roller reduces eye bags and dark circles

Again Trueish: Puffiness around the eyes can be caused by a build-up of fluid so using a jade roller can help stimulate the draining of this fluid and thus reducing eye bags. But eye bags can be caused by genetics and age (hello me!) and no amount of rolling will reduce it! (Believe me, I’ve tried!).  As I said before it can stimulate circulation which can help slightly with dark circles but for the most part, dark circles are caused by genetics, diet and health issues.

True or False:  A Jade Roller can help ease tension headaches and create a feeling of zen.

True: We hold a lot of tension in our face so by using the cool stone to massage and relax the muscles it helps to release that tension and ease pain. It’s also excellent for problems with sinuses as it moves the fluid along, reducing the pressure and helping with a hangover. That coldness on your forehead feels so good! Also, this light type of massage will have you feeling relaxed and zen-like.

True or False: A Jade Rollers helps your skin care products work better.

Trueish: There is a belief that can help work treatment serums and oils deeper into the skin, and thus work on a deeper level. I’m not convinced there is a difference between massaging oil into your skin with your hands or with a roller, I think the only benefit with the roller is you lose less product to absorption in your hands. The main reason your products could be working better is that the increased circulation helps to “feed the product” to more skin cells.

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So should you get a jade roller? As you can see it’s not a miracle worker many claims it to be but as an enjoyable part of your beauty routine that does help with reducing puffiness.. I say go for it! As I said I personally love my jade roller mainly for the coolness of the stone ( and how good it feels when I have a hangover –  I’m Irish don’t judge me). There are plenty of affordable options out there so it’s a pretty low-stake investment. See below for different options and how best to use it.

There are many different types of rollers as you can see from the images. The most common ones have a smaller roller on one end to use for massaging around the eyes but the single head ones do just as good a job. You can also get them in rose quartz or with a spikey head. The spikey one is good for more stimulation of the circulation and is also recommend for massaging the body. Alot of them also come with a Gua Sha facial massage tool but that is a whole another post!

Price wise you could spend anything from a couple of euro to €60 Amazon has the biggest selection and Cult Beauty has a few with good reviews. Generally, you should spend at least €15 – €20 to make sure you don’t get one that falls apart the first time you use it.  A word of warning though a lot of the lower end of the price range tend to be “fake jade” – usually painted marble, which is still cool to touch. I’ll be honest unless you particularly concerned about the actual healing properties of the jade stone the cheaper ones work just as well for massage purposes. If you want to know more about how to tell if your jade roller is fake, this is a great post!

So You’ve come this far and whether you have one already or are thinking of buying one to get the full benefits you need to use it correctly.

How to use a Jade Roller?

To get the best results from your Jade Roller follow these directions from Shiffa.com

Start by working on one side of the face and repeat the same sequence on the opposite side. Each movement can be repeated 4-6 times.

1. Using the large part of your Shiffa Jade Facial Massage Roller, begin on neck starting in centre and roll outwards.
2. On the chin slide outwards following the jaw line towards the ears.
3. Place the roller next to the mouth and gently slide upwards.
4. Starting next to the nostrils, drain outwards towards the ears.
5. Using the small part of your roller drain up next to the nose.
6. Slide outwards under the eyes towards the temples.
7. Change to the large roller and begin between the eyebrows slide up towards the hairline.
8. Drain upwards and outwards on the entire forehead.
9. Repeat all movements on the opposite side of the face.