Facing it with stones: Ancient Chinese healing practice

Personal care is a tussle between K Beauty and J Beauty. The new cult that has taken social media by storm is C Beauty with Gua Sha, a traditional Chinese healing method. Gua means scraping and Sha means bruises, in the Chinese language. The literal translation is ‘to scrape away the pain.’ During a Gua Sha—pronounced gwashah—the practitioner makes scraping motions on your face in upward strokes with a flat piece of jade or rose quartz.

Applying lotion to the face before a session will prevent marks from appearing on skin. Influencers across the world are swooning over Gua Sha’s power to make the skin glow and remove double chins. The scraping is meant to reduce acne and remove puffiness causing an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response that produces pleasing sensations in the brain. Google search reveals a five-fold climb in public interest in Gua Sha in April compared to February. It has 300,000 posts on Instagram after pop singer Lizzo declared on TikTok, “Y’all, I got me a Gua Sha,” as she stroked her jawline with what looked like a potato chip.