Scientifically speaking, humans find symmetrical objects pleasing to the eye. This theory has led people to work hard for perfectly flat faces for a while now. Facial symmetry is not just a product of lucky genes but is strongly affected by lifestyle and exercise.
What Causes Facial Asymmetry
The face has about twenty flat muscles. Like all muscles, these can become stiff through disuse, and some may get more developed than others, resulting in an unbalanced face. For example, one of the most common facial asymmetries is the eyebrow. People prone to raising their eyebrows a lot tend to raise one eyebrow more frequently than the other. Over time the muscle that pulls the more used eyebrow may not relax properly, leading the eyebrow raised slightly higher than its natural position. And this can make you look like you’re constantly expanding your eyebrow.
How Do We Fix It?
The solution to fix such problems lies in exercise, stretching and massages. There are many video tutorials online that you can watch and follow to exercise all your facial muscles. Unlike body workouts, facial exercises need to practise slowly. If you do the activities wrong, you could strain your nerves and make your facial structure worse. So make sure you’re careful and have the suitable form when you do these. Consistent effort is what will show you results. These exercises don’t hurt and should make you feel more active and relaxed. Do those every day if you want to improve.
Can We Prevent It?
Prevention is just as crucial as actually solving the problem. In your day to day life, you do a lot of things that could strain your facial muscles. From eating, sleeping, chewing gum and raising your eyebrows – you need to be mindful you don’t overuse the forces on any one side of your face. When you chew food, chew on both sides by turn, which will ensure your mouth will not be one-sided tilt. Try to avoid raising your eyebrows and sleep comfortably, not on hard, lumpy surfaces. Because when we sleep on uncomfortable feelings, our faces contract in our sleep to protect our bone and softer features from the pressure exerted back by the hard surface. The use of this can cause muscle knots in our faces and make us look unbalanced.
Facial Massage
One of the best ways to promote facial symmetry is to give yourself facial massages. Massages help loosen tight muscles, knots and relax strained nerves. They improve blood circulation and help with soreness. For example, you could massage your jaw to stop it from being tilted on the side. You may buy jade rollers, Gua Sha stones to help you with your massages.
Moreover, you can use these rollers on your face to relax. Or you could try electric facial massagers. These vibrate on top of your muscle to help unknot it.
Always use clean equipment/ fingers when massaging your face. And always use a little bit of facial oil or cream on your face before the massage to help lubricate it before you start pulling and stretching it. Massaging dry skin can cause the skin to crack. Self-massaging is not difficult at all, and you should not be scared to try it. If you’re still scared, you could always go to a parlour for a weekly massage.