Lately, you might have seen a ton of your favorite beauty influencers on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok rolling an icy face roller on their faces. There are a ton of different products on the market today that you can use to improve lymphatic flow and drainage, improve blood flow, reduce puffiness, and reduce inflammation such as gua shas and crystal rollers like jade or rose quartz rollers. Now, in terms of beauty trends, the new kids on the block are ice rollers. They’ve been popping up all over the internet due to the incredible benefits of ice rolling. Curious to know all the reasons why you should be using an ice roller on your face? Keep reading!
Contents
1. What is ice rolling?
2. Benefits of ice rolling
3. How to properly ice roll
Key Points
- Acting as a form of cryotherapy, ice rolling describes using a chilled face roller on the face to achieve specific benefits for the skin that come from the coolness and movement of the roller.
- Benefits of ice rolling include reducing puffiness, promoting lymphatic flow and drainage, reducing stress, muscle pain, fine lines and more.
- To correctly use an ice roller, roll in an upward motion, beginning from the center of the face moving outward. Avoid rolling back and forth and applying pressure to the skin.
What is ice rolling?
Acting as a form of cryotherapy, ice rolling describes using a chilled face roller on the face to achieve benefits such as tightened skin, reduced puffiness, and lymphatic drainage. Applying ice to the skin for beauty benefits has been around for decades as beauty enthusiasts have popularized using ice cubes, iced spoons, or chilled cucumber slices through the years (1). Plus, ice therapy has been known to help medically for centuries, as ice can be used to reduce muscle pain, pain from soft tissue injury, and reduce swelling (2, 3). This is why you’ve probably seen athletes using ice baths after an intense game, practice, or injury.
While ice rolling can be done with any chilled face roller (yes, you can stick your jade roller or gua sha in the freezer/fridge to achieve similar benefits of ice rolling), there are specific ice rolling products available now that can stay cold for longer period of time. Unlike a chilled face roller made at home which would quickly warm up as soon as it hit the skin, products such as ice globe facial massagers are able to retain coldness for longer even if they’re put in the fridge for a shorter period of time (4). As a face roller, there are already benefits of ice rolling that can be achieved with other face tools such as crystal rollers or a gua sha. What really sets ice rolling apart from other types of face rollers is the fact that there are extra benefits that come from the cold.
Benefits of ice rolling
Ice rollers are all the rage in the skincare space right now due to all of the benefits of ice rolling on the face. While ice rolling is more of a temporary fix and can’t treat concerns like acne, fine lines, or dark circles in a long-term sense, it’s great if you need a pick-me-up during the day or are getting ready for an event. Other than refreshing the face on an off day, there are a ton of benefits of ice rolling that can benefit you by adding a few minutes of ice rolling in your skincare ritual. The most notable and talked-about benefits of ice rolling include:
- Reducing puffiness
- Creating the appearance of lifting the face
- Stimulating the lymphatic system for flow and drainage
- Removing toxins
- Reducing inflammation and calming the skin
- Coldness can cool and soothe the skin
- Reduces stress
- Reducing swelling
- Reducing muscle tension and tenderness
- Refining and reducing the appearance of pores, which gives the effect of “shrinking” larger pores
- Reducing the appearance of fine lines
- Relieving headaches and migraines/pain or tension in the temples, sinus, and forehead
- Reducing the appearance of dark circles and under-eye bags
- Giving a brighter, fresher appearance to dull skin, or “waking” the skin up
- Massaging flushes out excess fluid to shape the face
- Cooling action to constrict blood vessels and tighten the face
- Temporarily reducing redness from the cold (4)
How to properly ice roll
When using an ice roller, keep in mind these certain do’s-and-don’ts to ensure you’re getting the full benefits of ice rolling by doing it the right way.
- Cleanse the face before using an ice roller, as it will most benefit you when you have freshly clean skin.
- Use the ice roller in an upward motion, just like you would with other face tools like a gua sha.
- Begin from the center of the face and use your ice roller by moving it outward.
- Don’t roll the ice roller back and forth.
- Don’t roll the ice roller too hard on the face or use pressure when ice rolling, as this can bruise or irritate the skin.
- Avoid ice rolling on top of the eyes as this can cause injury. To reduce puffiness, gently use the ice roller under the eyes. The undereye area of the face is very delicate as the skin layer is thin here, so the ice roller should be handled with care.
- Avoid ice rolling for at least two weeks to a month after receiving filler or neurotoxin injections, as rolling can possibly push the product into the wrong area of the face (4).
- Avoid using an ice roller over healing tissue (such as after surgery) as scarring can worsen if the edges of a wound are moved and don’t align correctly.
- A smaller-sized ice roller is recommended to use around the eyes and temples, while larger rollers are great for areas such as the cheeks, forehead, jawline, neck, chest, and shoulders.
- Avoid ice rolling on thin or sensitive skin, broken capillaries, and skin that has been lasered or peeled in a cosmetic treatment so the skin can heal (5).
- For ice rolling, you only need around 5 minutes a day or every other day. Ice rolling more than once a day or for a longer period of time won’t affect the results of ice rolling.
Written by Selena Ponton
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SOURCES:
- https://www.byrdie.com/best-ice-rollers-4773213
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11510876/
- https://journals.lww.com/clinorthop/fulltext/1996/09000/effectiveness_of_ice_packs_in_reducing_skin.29.aspx
- https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/beauty-style/ice-roller-for-face
- https://health.clevelandclinic.org/facial-icing/
