A tallow balm makes good slip for gua sha. Warm a little extra balm between your fingers, and the stone glides over your face instead of tugging. What the massage does is modest. It may soften the look of a puffy morning face for a while, and it feels good. It won't sculpt a jaw or build collagen.
For most faces, I'd reach for Bare Silk ($34), and for the look of fine lines, Velvet Face Renewal ($89) at night. Prices are as of October 5, 2026.
What is gua sha, and what has research measured in the skin?
Gua sha is a traditional East Asian technique. A 2007 pilot study by Nielsen and colleagues describes it as surface frictioning that raises short-lived red spots and bruise-like marks on purpose. The tools vary. A 2010 systematic review by Lee and colleagues lists everything from a soup spoon to honed jade, used with oil or water. So slip's always been part of it. The review judged the evidence too thin to show it works for pain.
Nielsen's team put numbers on it. Laser Doppler imaging tracked blood flow after a single session on the backs of 11 healthy volunteers. Flow at the treated patch rose fourfold for the first 7.5 minutes and stayed significantly higher through all 25 minutes they watched. That's the back, under pressure hard enough to mark the skin. On a face, with light strokes, I wouldn't expect anything longer than that short window of extra flow.
How do you use a balm as gua sha slip?
Warm a pea of balm between two fingertips until it turns clear, a bit more than you'd wear to bed. Press it over a clean face, and add a second pea if the stone drags. Hold the stone almost flat against your skin. Light pressure is the whole technique: enough to glide, never enough to leave marks. Work upward and outward for about five minutes.
| Area | Stroke |
|---|---|
| Jaw | Chin out to the ear |
| Cheek | Side of the nose out to the ear |
| Forehead | Brow up to the hairline |
| Brow bone | Inner brow out to the temple |
Leave the soft skin under your eyes to your ring finger, which presses lightest. When you're done, press what's left into your skin, or lift the extra with a warm, damp cloth if you run oily. Wash the stone with soap and water after each use. If it's a morning session, sunscreen still goes on last, since tallow doesn't screen UV.
What can facial massage do, and what can't it?
The usual promise is drainage, strokes that move fluid out of a puffy face. Cleveland Clinic's page on lymphatic drainage massage, a gentle technique used for lymphedema, says facial drainage may increase blood circulation and reduce puffiness. On faces the research is thin, so I'd count any change as temporary. It feels good, though.
A stone can't move fat or bone, so it won't sculpt a jawline or slim a face. A 2017 PLOS ONE study by Caberlotto and colleagues tested a motorized device that oscillates 75 times a second against the skin. In lab skin samples, it raised levels of procollagen and other dermal proteins. Then 20 women aged 65 to 75 used it daily with an anti-aging cream for eight weeks, while 22 used the cream alone. A blinded grader found the device amplified the cream's results. The cosmetics company that funded the study employed all five authors and owned the brands behind the device and the cream. A stone in your hand doesn't oscillate 75 times a second, and a lab dish isn't a face, so we make no collagen claim for gua sha.
It won't do what a neuromodulator does either. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) says a tiny amount is injected into the muscle under a line, relaxing it so the skin above smooths out. The effect typically lasts about three months. A stone glides over the top, and the muscle carries on as before.
Who should skip gua sha?
Leave the stone in the drawer during a breakout or a flare, and keep it on intact skin. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says scrubbing acne-prone skin with tools can irritate it, and that touching your face through the day can make breakouts flare. A stone over a breakout does both. If you have rosacea, the AAD's advice is plain: avoid massaging the skin. The stone's out after a fresh procedure too. The ASDS tells patients not to rub areas treated with a neuromodulator, since the product could migrate. After filler or a peel, whoever did it sets the timing.
If a dermatologist is guiding your skin, check with them before a stone joins your ritual. It's cosmetic care, not a treatment. Your provider's plan comes first.
For most faces, the jar I'd hand you is Bare Silk Unscented, five ingredients with no essential oils or fragrance. It smells like nothing. For the look of fine lines, finish with a thin layer of Velvet at night. The "tallow for wrinkles before and after" photos you'll find online are hard to judge, for one plain reason.
The jar for this job is Bare Silk ($34). Subscribe to two jars and a third rides free, and every subscription takes 25% off the first delivery.
Questions we hear
Can you use tallow balm for gua sha?
Yes. Warm a pea between your fingertips until it turns clear, a bit more than you'd wear, and press it over a clean face. Start unscented, since your nose sits right above it. Stroke upward and outward with light pressure for about five minutes, and add a second pea if the stone drags.
Does gua sha get rid of puffiness?
It may soften the look of a puffy morning face for a while, and that's about the size of it. Cleveland Clinic says facial lymphatic drainage may reduce puffiness. The research on faces is thin, and a 2007 pilot study on the back found blood flow rose fourfold for the first 7.5 minutes. Expect a short window.
Does gua sha build collagen or change the shape of your face?
No study we read shows a stone building collagen, and a stone can't move fat or bone. A 2017 study used a motorized device, not a stone. Used daily with an anti-aging cream for eight weeks, it beat the cream alone on wrinkles, and the company behind both paid for the study. That's a different tool, so we don't make a collagen claim for gua sha.
Should you use oil or balm for gua sha?
Either works, as long as there's enough on your face for the stone to glide without dragging. Traditional gua sha used oil or water, a 2010 review notes. A balm softens on warm skin without turning runny, so it stays where you put it.
Go deeper
Our beef tallow for skin guide covers what tallow does on any face, and how to use a tallow balm has amounts for every part of you. For lines, read where bakuchiol fits. The stone shouldn't go near your eyes, and tallow around the eyes covers that thinner skin. Hyaluronic acid and ceramides under a balm covers what goes on before the stone, and tallow after procedures when massage waits.
Sources
- Nielsen A and colleagues (2007). The effect of Gua Sha treatment on the microcirculation of surface tissue: a pilot study in healthy subjects. Explore 3(5):456 to 466.
- Lee MS and colleagues (2010). Using Guasha to treat musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review of controlled clinical trials. Chinese Medicine 5:5.
- Caberlotto E, Ruiz L, Miller Z, Poletti M, Tadlock L (2017). Effects of a skin-massaging device on the ex-vivo expression of human dermis proteins and in-vivo facial wrinkles. PLOS ONE 12(3):e0172624, with its funding and competing interests declared.
- Cleveland Clinic (2024). Lymphatic drainage massage: what it is & benefits. Cleveland Clinic health library, last updated September 19, 2024, read October 5, 2026.
- American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (undated). Neuromodulators. ASDS public education page, read October 5, 2026.
- AAD (2024). 7 rosacea skin care tips dermatologists recommend. American Academy of Dermatology, page last updated April 3, 2024, read October 5, 2026.
- The American Academy of Dermatology, public education page (2022). Acne: tips for managing. AAD, page last updated November 16, 2022, read October 5, 2026.
Aspen is the co-founder of Craft Tallow and runs the wear tests: every recipe goes on her skin and the family's for weeks before it gets a label. Questions? Reply to any email from us; it lands with one of us.