Facial toning

Facial toning, or facial exercise is a type of cosmetic procedure or physical therapy tool which promises to alter facial contours by means of increasing muscle tone, and facial volume by promoting muscular hypertrophy, and preventing muscle loss due to aging or facial paralysis. Facial toning and exercise is therefore in part a technique to achieve facial rejuvenation by reducing wrinkles, sagging and expression marks on the face and skin. As a physical therapy, facial toning is used for victims of stroke and forms of facial paralysis such as Bell’s palsy. Facial toning achieves this by performing facial muscle exercising. There are two types of facial toning exercises: active and passive face exercises.

Active Face Exercises

Face exercises involves repeated voluntary contractions of certain facial muscle groups. This category can be further sub divided into pilates or yoga facial exercises, gentle spa facial massage exercises, facial exercise using gadgets or the hands to add tension and less aggressive holistic "handsfree" exercises.

History

In ancient times, such historical figures as Cleopatra and the Empress of the Imperial Court in China 2,000 years ago were known to use facial exercises to maintain a youthful appearance. Since then, traditional Chinese facial exercises have been used to this day.

The first face exercises were released commercially in a pamphlet in 1710 about a beauty routine that also included formulas for facial creams by Jeanne Sauval. Sauval was the personal attendant of madame Ninon de L'Enclos, the creator of the routine who had died five years before the pamphlet's release. The courtesan and author Anne "Ninon" de Lenclos wanted to be independent, and had no intention of marrying. Her lifestyle as an unmarried woman with multiple lovers led to her imprisonment in 1656, but was released soon after with assistance from Queen Christina of Sweden. She was well known as a smart and beautiful woman; she died at 84 years old.

Mr. Sanford Bennett's book Exercising in Bed was published in the early 1900s, using exercises and routines to uncover "the secret of health, strength, elasticity of body and longevity of life," including a number of exercises for the face. Exercising in Bed is available online with many "before" and "after" clinical examination reports of Mr. Bennett.

Following Sanford Bennett, facial exercises became the next fad with the rise of physical exercise. Advertisements and articles published in magazines featured women contorting their faces to sculpt a more defined face, with headlines like "How to Look as Young as a Girl" and "Make an Ugly Face be Beautiful." Some names of the era known for using facial exercises included Kathryn Murray, Lillian Russell, Elinor Glyn. Elinor Glyn wrote movie scripts in the 1920s to support her family, but was most famous for pioneering women's erotic literature. She was admired for her wrinkle-free skin, and wrote a book on facial exercises entitled "The Wrinkle Book".

After the wars, Jack LaLanne brought a whole new scope to exercise, including face toning and exercise. Opening the first fitness gym in 1936, LaLanne was an exercise guru long before Jane Fonda or Richard Simmons. He lived to be 94, and was still doing face exercises.

The modern style of facial exercise (face pilates and face yoga) was developed in the late 1950s, and popularized in the 1960s by Senta Maria Runge in Face Lifting By Exercise (in its 12th edition as of 2013). Runge's studio had thousands of testimonials posted on the walls from satisfied customers and television viewers.

Face Pilates and Face Yoga Exercises

Overview
Face pilates or face yoga are a type of facial exercises that work the muscles and the skin of the face using fingers (to move the face) and facial expressions. Yoga and pilates facial exercises use pilates and yoga techniques on the face, focused on relaxing facial muscles using "larger than life" expressions and laughter. Routines are designed to increase blood circulation, lift the muscles, improve skin condition, and relieve stress.

In The Media
Since the 1960s, news shows and talk show hosts like Dr. Oz have discussed its benefits often citing Eva Fraser's work with celebrities like Madonna. Celebrities that use face pilates include Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Aniston. Richard Hammond has tried the face exercises on the popular television program Top Gear. Besides its current availability in a variety of studios, trainers, and social media, face pilates has broken into the mobile market as well with an app dedicated to personalized face exercise experience in English and Spanish.

Routines for Face Pilates and Yoga Exercise
The philosophy of Pilates and Yoga's resistance, relaxation and toning techniques are used to manipulate the muscles on the face and neck, to exercise the face. Routines involve breathing, stretching, and massaging. Routines include jowls, mouth, neck, cheek, eyes, chin, and forehead. Exercises include sticking out the tongue, puckering the lips, bending the head back, moving the nose from side to side, and raising the eyebrows.

As an Alternative to Plastic Surgery
Plastic surgeries have been increasing, with botox rising as one of the top procedures amongst men and women. The eyes, forehead, mouth, neck and nose are all areas that are prone to signs of aging, combated with more collagen, peels, tucks, and other forms of surgery or procedures. Although theoretically possible and endorsed by many devotees, the effectiveness of facial toning techniques are difficult to evaluate and prove scientifically. As these muscles are not prime movers, like any internal muscle additional resistance cannot be added, so the muscles will not gain considerable strength like muscles in the legs or arms. However, face exercise does improve blood flow. Face pilates and yoga are about feeling young again without plastic surgeries such as a face lift, ear surgery, a nose job or eyelid surgery and act as a less invasive, natural alternative.

Passive Face Exercises

Passive exercising by direct skeletal muscle electrostimulation. In this, flat metal electrodes smeared with a conductive gel are affixed to certain points in the face and an electrostimulation divide is used to generate waveforms which promote facial muscle contractions.

As Physical Therapy and Other Medical Benefits

Facial toning may not only be beneficial as a means of remaining looking youthful from the additional oxygen and nutrients supplied by the blood reaching the facial tissues but may also positively affect the functions of the sensory organs, (the eye, ears, nose and tongue) from increased stimulation of the neural pathways within the cranial nerve of the human brain that affect the sensory systems. Medically facial exercise is endorsed and encouraged by physicians to aid in recovery from Bell’s palsy and other facial nerve paralysis caused by a stroke or trauma and post rhytidectomy surgery. The extra stimulus strengthens the neural pathways within the brain to improve facial nerve function and consequently the muscles to pull up the face. For the past 49 years in The People's Republic of China eye exercises have been compulsory twice daily in schools to combat myopia.