Face muscle says: Squinting again?

When the face muscle moves, it creates dynamic facial expression lines on our face.

For instance, raising the eyebrows induce horizontal lines across the forehead, whereas pulling in the eyebrows produce the vertical frown lines between the brows.

We don’t normally worry too much about facial lines created as a result of moving the face muscles. Most times, we are not  aware of these dynamic facial lines.

On the contrary, we can’t help but notice the lines and wrinkles showing on a face that is ‘at rest’. We certainly pay more attention to the forehead wrinkles or crow’s feet that’s looking back at us in the mirror.

Will facial expressions lead to facial lines?

Yes. This happens over time, and the effect is accelerated with aging. The fine lines you see on your face is often associated with a certain facial expression or facial activity.

Repetitive, everyday facial expressions or facial activity(eg. smoking) can produce permanent facial lines in the long run. For instance, think about laugh lines, frown lines or smoker lines.

How did dynamic expression lines become static(permanent) facial lines?

This happens because a facial expression often have one set of face muscle constantly contracted, and the antagonist muscle remains constantly relaxed.

Take the all so common problem of the frown lines between the brows. Even though you might object and say, “I am a happy person, I don’t have the habit of frowning. Yet I have the 11 etched between the brows.”

Well, the 11 can be a result of your work habits. Do you tend to knit your brows together in deep concentration while looking at the computer or when reading important documents?

Poor lighting(too dim or too bright) at your work station might also cause you to squint your eyes while you are at work.

What happens when the face muscle stays contracted in the same position?

To hold the brows in a knitted position, groups of face muscle have to remain contracted constantly. Over time, the repetitive contraction cause these muscles to lose tone.

In other words, a face muscle that can previously pull back(smooth out) a frown has now lost the tone and strength to do the job. As a result, the frown lines become apparent.

Babies have no problem with frowning or smiling too much. When a baby is upset, he frowned and wailed to get your attention. Once pacified, his scrunched up face relaxes. The face muscles spring back and the skin is smooth again

There are of course extrinsic factors like sun damage, alcohol, stress and lifestyle that also contribute to facial lines and wrinkles. However, we keep the discussion here focused on the relationship between expression lines becoming static facial lines, along with the aging process.

How can you minimize facial lines caused by your everyday facial expressions?

There are three ways you can reduce facial lines.

1. Eliminate Bad Habits
Get rid of bad habits associated with any facial expression or facial activity. Top on my list are squinting, frowning and smoking. Examine your everyday routine. You might come up with other detrimental behavior.

Hey, you don’t need to keep an expressionless face. Laughing, smiling is good for you. You just need to kick the bad habits that are not doing you good.

2. Use Skin Care Products
Good skin care can keep your skin healthy and supple and help reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

3. Improve Face Muscle And Skin Tone
Prep up the muscle and skin tone. In order to maintain muscle tone, we need to use all of our muscle fiber to optimal.

A face muscle that is in a constant state of contraction or relaxation will degenerate. You want to get every face muscle moving to the optimal. One way to do this is by doing face exercises.

The important thing is to have a well rounded workout, so that every face muscle and neck muscle get to be toned and strengthened. Skin tone improves naturally when you exercise your face.

So get going. Keep the lines off your face.

Image Credit: striatic

Face Muscle – Expression Lines Can Become Permanent Facial Lines is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

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Sagging jowls? I am the perfect model

Poor face muscle tone and saggy skin become more prominent as you grow older.

And if you add drooping facial fat pads to the above(problems), you can end up having jowls.

The once attractive triangular shape face has now turned into a square face.

You would probably notice the clean straight jaw line has disappeared. And the jowly face makes you look older and overweight. Sigh … time to get to know about jowls.

So what are jowls?

Jowls are the areas of facial skin or facial fat that have sunk to hang along or below the jaw line.

Taking a simplistic view, jowls can be caused by a combination of factors: saggy facial skin, droopy facial fat and loss of facial volume.

In fact, one of the earliest sign of facial aging is the development of jowls. Jowling can happen as early as your mid 30s. You might not notice the subtle changes at first. But slowly and surely, the jowl problem becomes more prominent as the face muscle sag worsens. Sagging jowls and drooping jaw line become apparent after 10, or 20 years.

What causes jowling and why do the jowls sag?

1. Time And Gravity

The constant downward pull of gravity can change the appearance of the face over time. Gravity causes jowls to form and other parts of the face to sag. For eg. the tip of the nose droops and the ears elongate. Often, facial sagging is noticeable in people in their 50s.

2. Loss Of Face Muscle Tone

With age, the face muscles weaken due to wear and tear. The muscles lose the firmness, causing your facial features to sag. Jowls form when the cheeks sag. The sexy cheekbones disappeared, and you now have a flat, wide face with cheek pouches.

3. Reduced Skin Elasticity

The skin loses elasticity with age and sun exposure. Loss of skin elasticity causes skin to sag. Since the lateral and lower cheeks are not tightly attached to the facial bones, the cheek muscles tend to droop along with the sagging skin.

4. Loss Of Facial Volume

We have less facial fat as we get older. The face is less full and the overlying skin can become lax and sags.

Also, facial fat is positioned up in the cheek when we are young. With aging, the facial fat descends. Fat pads hide the jaw line and gives an unattractive square shape to the jaw instead of a more attractive triangular shape.

5. Smoking

Smoking cigarettes can speed up the normal aging process of your skin, causing wrinkling and sagging skin.

The nicotine in cigarettes causes narrowing of the blood vessels near the skin surface. This restricts blood flow to your skin. With less blood flow, your skin doesn’t get as much oxygen and important nutrients, such as vitamin A, which provides protection from skin damage.

Many of the over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke also damage collagen and elastin. These are fibrous proteins that give your skin its strength and elasticity. Wrinkles and facial sag develop prematurely and this can contribute to jowling.

6. Weight Loss Or Weight Gain

Overweight individuals usually have more facial fat. Hence the jowls are noticeable.

On the other hand, a rapid weight loss can leave excess facial skin that droops and form saggy jowls. So do watch your weight and state of health. Choose your diet program wisely. Losing too much weight too quickly can leave you with sagging jowls.

7. Genetics

In some cases, your genes from your mom and dad play a role in the development of jowls. If older family members have developed jowls, you might be predisposed to getting them yourself when you grow older. It can be a hereditary facial feature.

How to get rid of sagging jowls?

The jowls can be treated by a number of surgical or non-surgical procedures. You have options like: facelift, liposuction, filler injections, and skin tightening using laser or heat generating devices.

If you want a DIY solution, consider doing specific face exercises that target the jowls. It might take some time before you see results. But it is safer and a less expensive approach.

Face exercises strengthen the face muscle tone and keep your skin healthy. It helps to firm the jowls and give you a leaner, younger looking face overtime.

Image Credit: claudiogennari

Face Muscle – Sagging Jowls And Drooping Jaw Line is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

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Chubby face cheek - Baby fat or genes?

Are you feeling self-conscious about the appearance of your face cheek? Perhaps you are thinking your cheeks are just too round or chubby.

A common misconception is that only over weight people have chubby cheeks or a double chin.

But this is not true. The fact is, even when your body is in pretty good shape or if you are slim, you still can have a chubby face. And this makes it all the more exasperating for people who have a svelte body but a fat face.

Here are some factors that might cause your face to look chubby or fat.

1. Over Weight
If you have gained weight recently, or if you are obese, the extra pounds can show up on your face and neck as well. Face fat makes your face looks fuller.

2. Genetic Predisposition
Yes. The genes that your mom and dad pass on to you can cause you to have round cheeks. In other words, you have a genetic predisposition to carry fat in your face.

On the other hand, some individuals might be prone to accumulate body fat in the abdomen(love handles) or outer thighs(saddlebags). So, our body is built differently. And the way your body utilizes body fat also works a little differently.

3. Water Retention
Puffy face cheek problem can be a result of water retention. Your face may look bloated when your body retains excess fluid in the system. Water retention can be caused by any one of these factors: the food or beverages you take, hormonal imbalances, health condition, medications or irregular sleeping habits.

If it is a medical condition, you need to consult your doctor. Trying to get rid of your puffy cheeks by taking up a weight loss or exercise program might compromise your health in such circumstances.

4. Baby Fat
Young people and teenagers can have round cherubic faces because of baby fat. This chubbiness naturally slim with time. As such, cosmetic surgeon do not encourage removing too much face fat before patients reach their mid 20s.

Face cheek fat is also called ‘Buccal Fat’. Have you heard of Buccal fat removal? This is a cheek reduction surgery to reduce the size of the cheeks. By removing the fat pads, you can slim the cheeks and contour the face.

Face exercises can also help you get rid of your chubby cheeks. There are specific face exercises that target face cheek fat or a double chin. Combine the facial exercises with a sensible nutritional plan, and you can get more defined cheeks and a leaner face for your efforts.

Image Credit: malias

Face Cheek – 4 Reasons Why You Might Have Chubby Cheeks is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: cheek surgery, chubby cheek, Face Cheek, Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face muscles, face toning

Face exercises now or later?

Some people prefer the safe and painless way to looking younger, so they give face exercises a try.

We all want to stay younger, longer.

However, flabby muscles and wrinkles on our face make us look old.

Face lifts seems like a normal thing to do these days(or is it?). But if the thought of surgery makes you anxious, you might want to look for other alternatives.

Doing the right face exercises can help you tone and firm your face muscles and create a more attractive facial contour.

Many people start doing face exercises after they encountered the lose of muscle tone. This is when they begin to notice the onset of flabby cheeks, droopy eyelids, saggy skin, or other problem areas on the face.

But better yet, you can make use of face exercises as a preventative measure. If you start early, you have the added advantage of building strength and tone on healthy muscles and skin.

This will keep you looking youthful and vibrant now and slow down the signs of an aging face in later years.

How are wrinkles formed?

There are many causes of wrinkles. Right now, we are going to look at the specific relationship between muscle tone and wrinkles.

The skin lies on top of the face muscles. Think of your face muscle as a cushion for the skin to rest on. One end of the face muscle originates from the bone and the other end is weaved into other face muscles or attached to the facial skin.

When the face muscles lose their tone, they also lose the firmness. As the muscles weaken, it can no longer offer support. The overlying skin sags, and you see lines and wrinkles.

Doing exercises for the face can tone up the facial muscles, which helps to diminish facial lines, resulting in healthier, smoother looking skin.

With regular face exercises, you firm and strengthen the face muscles. This gives your face a up lift appearance and a more defined facial contour. At the same time, your skin tone improves making you look healthier and younger.

It is easy to learn face exercises when you have clear instructions or diagrams to follow. It can be fun to join a class and do the workout together with others. Watching face exercise videos is another easy way to get started.

Whichever option you choose, the important thing is to do the face exercises that get you the desired results.

Check out this video face exercises program that helps to reduce facial wrinkles and droopy eye lids.

Try it out now!

Image Credit: Playingwithbrushes

Face Exercises – Start Early To Get The Edge Over Wrinkles is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face firming, face lift exercise, Face Muscle, face muscles, face toning, firming exercises, non surgical face lift

Face Muscle Expression

Prior to face exercises, I didn’t realize the intricacy of the face and face muscle. A cheek is a cheek … ok … the cheek is made up of flesh. But I never thought of it as cheek muscle.

Nowadays I get curious about every other face muscle on my face. It seems like each muscle of the face has a job to do. Some describe the face muscle actions as a ‘tug of war’ between elevator and depressor muscles.

An elevator function is to raise a face muscle while the depressor role is to pull down a face muscle.

For instance, if the Frontalis(elevator face muscle) is activated, we have raised eyebrows. Conversely, if the Procerus  or Corrugators(depressor face muscles) is activated, the brow is pulled downwards into a frown.

As you can see, it is the movements of the face muscles that creates facial expressions. And these facial expressions in turn produce the dynamic expression lines on the face. As such, face muscles are sometimes called the muscles of face expressions.

The elevator and depressor muscles work as a team. When one set of face muscle is activated, it contracts(shortens); the other set of muscle relaxes(lengthens).

Another way to understand the working of face muscles is to categorize the muscles as agonist and antagonist. The agonist is a contracting face muscle whose action is opposed by another muscle(antagonist) that acts in opposition to it.

For example, one set of muscle open the eyelid, and another set of muscle get to close the eyelid.

I find that by learning how the face muscles work, I become more aware of my own face muscle movements. This has been helpful when I am doing my face exercises or when I am engaged in everyday activities.

Now, I am able to catch myself in the moment I’m about to frown, squint or turn my lips down. And for each self alert, it brings a smile to my face.

Yes, gotta have more smiles and less of the other undesirable face muscle actions.

Image Credit: FranUlloa

Face Muscle – Watch That Expression On Your Face is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: Face Exercise, Face Exercises, Face Muscle, face muscles, facial expressions, muscle anatomy

Face Exercises Result

Why do people have such different results when they try face exercises? Some notice improvements in a matter of weeks, others might take a couple of months, and still … there are people who get little or no results.

There are many face exercises programs available in the market today. Each program is customized differently.

There is the very basic exercise to tone and firm the face muscles to the more specialized exercises that help you to attain a more attractive well defined facial contour.

Here are tips to help you get the most out of your face exercise program.

1. Match Face Exercises To Your Needs

Start by knowing your own needs. Do you simply want to firm and tone your face? Or are you looking for exercises that come with skin care routine and anti aging? Or perhaps you are keen to lose the face fat together with your chubby cheeks and double chin.

Know what you need, then do the right type of face exercises to get results.

2. Do The Face Exercises Correctly

To get results, you want to follow authentic instructions and do the exercises correctly. Because face exercises can be simple, there is a tendency to DIY without following proper instructions.

You do not want to spend your time on exercises that don’t give you results. Do you? So, follow the proper instructions and do the exercises correctly.

3. Get To Know Your Face Muscles

Your face is made up of different face muscle groups. It is helpful to know which face muscle you are targeting in each exercise you do. Knowing where the specific muscles are located makes it easier for you to focus on working them.

And if you understand the relations between face muscle, facial expression and facial lines, you become more aware of your own undesirable habits, eg. frowning which leads to frown lines between the brows in the long run.

4. Exercise In Front Of The Mirror

For beginners, do your exercises in front of the mirror where you can see your own reflection. This prevents you from scrunching up your face in the wrong place. Observe the movements of your face muscles as you do the exercises. You can easily spot a mistake and self correct.

5. Start With Clean Face And Hands

There are some face exercises that require you to place your fingers on your face. I prefer to wash my face and hands prior to doing such face exercises. This prevents dirt or germs on my hands going onto my face, eyes or mouth.

So, there you have it. Five simple tips to help you get started with your face exercises. Look out for more useful tips in Part 2 of the article, Face Exercises – Tips To Get Optimal Results.

Image Credit: kikashi

Face Exercises – Tips To Get Optimal Results (Part 1) is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

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Jack LaLanne is the “The Godfather Of Fitness”, and America’s well loved fitness and exercise expert since the 1950s.

In the era of black and white TV, he has “The Jack LaLanne Show”. It turned into the longest health and exercise TV show in history, lasting a total of 34 years(1951-1985).

There is a series of Jack LaLanne face exercises on Youtube. I have too many favorites(they are quite amusing with the quirky sound effects). Anyway, I picked these 2 videos for you. They explain the benefits of face exercises and a testimony by Jack himself.

Jack talks about face exercises and the face muscles using Henry Gray’s Anatomy Chart.

Jack replies to the question “Did you have  face lift?”

I think Jack LaLanne looks amazingly youthful at his age. This fitness pioneer breaks all the gender barriers. He is the first fitness expert to inspire women to lift weights during a time when women wear pretty frocks. This makes me wonder, is he the first male trainer that shows people how to do face exercises.

Drop me a line if you know the answer.

Face Exercises – What Jack LaLanne Has To Say About Facial Exercises is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face firming, face lift exercise, Face Muscle, face muscles, face toning, free face exercises, non surgical face lift

Face Muscle

I must confess, it’s so much easier to do a face exercise than to learn the name of a face muscle.

For example, have you heard of Orbicularis Oculi, Buccinatorius or Mentalis?

If you read Latin, then not a problem for you, but for the rest of us, it can be difficult to remember the names.

Each of the term refers to a specific face muscle. In this case, it is the muscle around the eyes, cheek muscle and chin muscle.

We have more than 50 muscles in the face and neck, so it can be a pretty challenging task to master the names of all the facial muscles.

But why do you need to know about facial muscles?

Actually, you don’t have to. Even if you have no knowledge about the face muscles, you can still go ahead  with facial exercises.

However, many face exercises make reference to specific face muscle in their training instructions. So, if you are familiar with the name and location of each face muscle, you can quickly and effectively focus on the target muscles. No more hit or miss, or worrying whether if you have place your fingers on the correct positions on your face.

If you are doing face exercises, it’s good to have a basic knowledge of the facial muscles. You will have a better understanding of your face structure and a greater awareness of the relationships between face muscles, facial expressions and facial lines.

The more you know about the working of the face muscles, the more confident you have in performing the face exercises correctly and each specialized exercise becomes more meaningful.

Come with me if you are interested to know more. I found an interactive website where you can teach yourself the name and position of each face muscle. Once you are on the website Artnatomy, click on “Application”(on the lower right hand side), and you can start right away. Have fun exploring.

Image Credit: Patrick J. Lynch

Face Muscle – Why Can’t They Give It A Simpler Name? is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: Face Cheek, Face Exercise, Face Exercises, Face Muscle, face muscles, facial exercises, muscle anatomy, muscle head

Here is an example of a face exercise that help you lose face fat. The purpose of the exercise is to sculpt your chubby cheeks and stretch your facial muscles and contour. This face exercise  helps you to lose the stubborn face fat.

Face Cheek Fat Flattener

1. Close your mouth.
2. Blow air under your top lip, puff it out
(Your mouth remain closed. You are NOT blowing out air)
3. Hold for 10 seconds.
4. Move the air to the left cheek.
5. Hold for 10 seconds.
6. Move the air to the right cheek.
7. Hold for 10 seconds.
8. Do a set of 10.

Note: In the video, top lip refers to the moustache area.

You might need a little time to get used to the puffing action … especially the top lip part. But, it gets easier with practice. Try the face cheek exercise to give yourself beautiful toned cheeks. Have fun.

Face Cheek – Being Chubby In The Wrong Place? is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: chubby cheek, Face Cheek, Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face fat, face muscles, face toning, facial cheek

Looking Good

Some people believe in face exercises, and some think it’s silly and ineffective.

Which group do you belong to?

Do you say “Yay!” to face exercises?

Or do you shake your head and say “No way”.

I was intrigued by the controversial opinions about face exercise, so I went online to look for some clues.

The sense I got from it all is, there seems to be more kudos than critics on this issue. There are active discussions about face exercise on beauty and fitness boards, where people share facial workout tips and compare results.

Veterans of face exercise shared their personal success stories and encouraged the newcomers to test it out. Of course, there are also posts by people who have tried some form of facial workout, but failed to get the desired results and were disappointed.

Nonetheless, the general atmosphere is a supportive community of people who are passionate about face exercises, who enjoyed doing and talking about it.

It’s kind of hard to brush off the many positive experiences from regular people who tried face exercises and found that it works.

But despite the many “It-Works” testimonials, there are professionals in the medical and beauty industry who claim that face exercises do not work. This made face exercise enthusiasts questioned whether the claim was made based solely on knowledge and theories, rather than facts and findings.

So I guess one way to prove whether these statements against face exercises is true or not, is to test the exercises out yourself.

And before you start, why not look up personal testimonials and find out which type of face exercises people are already doing. Read about their experiences, and learn how they get optimal results with the exercises. This handy information will give you a good start and help you set realistic expectations of what face exercises can achieve.

Another misconception is that face exercises will give you wrinkles. Your facial skin may look crinkle while you are performing certain face exercises, but this doesn’t mean it will create wrinkles.

If you follow the correct instruction, a face exercise should not over stretch your face muscles nor the skin. However, if you have any skin problem(eg. sun-damaged or dry skin), it is advisable to seek the advice of your dermatologist prior to any face exercise.

The purpose of face exercises is to work specific muscles in the face and neck in order to tone and lift target areas as such the cheeks, chin, jaws, lips and brows. These exercises help you to regain muscle tone and reduce sagging facial skin.

I am happy for you if you have seen improvements to your facial appearance with face exercises. On the other hand, if you have tried but see little or no results, then perhaps you might want to consider a few things here.

• Are you doing the right face exercise for your needs?
• Are you doing the exercise correctly?
• Do you exercise as frequently as required?
  
• Some face exercise programs come with a special diet plan for optimal results. Are you following the meal planner?
• Did you give it reasonable time for results to show? It can take a few weeks to a couple of months before you see noticeable improvements.

I would leave it to you to decide whether face exercises really work or not. For those of you who had seen improvements to your facial contour and skin tone, I know you are now grinning from ear to ear.

Image Credit: House Of Sims

Face Exercises – Some Think It’s A Waste Of Time is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

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She recommends doing the exercises 3-4 times a week in order to really make a difference in your jowl.

How to Firm the Jowl With Facial Exercises — powered by eHow.com

Face Exercise 1

1. Tilt your head back and look up at the ceiling.
2. Move your mouth in a chewing action for 20 times.
3. Move your head back down to the normal position.
4. Repeat exercise several times.
   

Face Exercise 2

1. Tilt your head down towards the right shoulder.                                             (imagine you are touching the shoulder with your ear)
2. Hold for 30 seconds.
3. Do not shrug your shoulder. Keep the shoulder level.
4. Move your head back to the normal position.
   
5. Repeat exercise for the left shoulder.
   
6. Next, slowly turn your head to the right, back to center, and to the left.

Face Exercise 3

1. Look up at the ceiling.
2. Pucker your lips (imagine you want to kiss the ceiling).
3. Hold for 5 seconds.
4. Move your head back to the normal position.
   
5. Do a set of 5.

Is there a face exercise you do that has helped you toned your jowl? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Face Exercise To Firm Your Jowl is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face jaw, face jowls, Face Muscle, face muscles, free face exercises, jaw exercise, neck exercise, neck exercises

You would see a pink glow to your complexion. And overtime, the skin looks fresher and feel more supple.

Radiant Complexion

Here are the key benefits of face exercises for your skin.

• Improve blood circulation around the face, neck and scalp
  
• Adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the skin cells
  
• Prevent premature break down of collagen and elastin
  
• Promote skin cells renewal and exfoliation, revealing healthy skin
• Healthy skin absorbs and retains moisture better, staying hydrated
  
• Skin looks supple with a radiant glow
• Stimulate lymphatic drainage and detox
• Skin looks clearer
• Release tension and stress in the face
• When you feel relax, you don’t frown as much(causing frown lines)
• Minimize fine lines and wrinkles

Image Credit: AJoelle xo

Face Exercises – Workout Your Face To Better Skin is a post from: Face Exercises Blog where you can get tips and resources on facial toning exercise.

Technorati Tags: better skin, Face Exercise, Face Exercises, face firming, face lift exercise, Face Muscle, face muscles, face toning, non surgical face lift