How To Use Your Tools

None of these tools are complicated, but all of them work better with a little technique. Here is everything, in the order you would actually use it.

Jade roller

Start on clean skin with a few drops of oil or serum, otherwise the stone drags instead of glides. Work from the center of the face outward and upward: chin to ear, cheek to ear, forehead to hairline. About five passes per area. Use the small end under the eyes and around the nose, and go gently there.

Keep the roller in the fridge. Cold stone on a puffy morning face is most of the point.

Gua sha stone

Hold the stone almost flat against the skin, around a fifteen degree angle, not on its edge. Sweep, do not scrub. Along the jaw, out toward the ear. Down the sides of the neck to finish, always toward the collarbone. Five strokes per line is plenty.

If your skin goes slightly pink, that is normal. If it hurts, you are pressing far too hard.

Ice roller

Freeze the head for at least two hours. Roll it slowly over clean skin for about a minute, upward and outward, never holding it still on one spot. Good in the morning for puffiness, good in the evening after sun or a workout. The head detaches for cleaning.

Rose marble body gua sha

This one needs a generous amount of body oil or lotion. Hold it by the cut-out opening, keep the edge shallow, and sweep in long strokes toward the heart: ankle to knee, knee to hip, wrist to shoulder. Five to eight strokes per line. Firmer pressure is fine on the body, but keep it light if you take it to your face.

Pore vacuum

Open your pores first. A warm towel over the face for three minutes, or use it straight after a shower. This step is not optional and skipping it is why most people are disappointed.

Start on the lowest setting. Keep the head moving in a straight, steady glide, never parked in one place. Finish with a cool rinse and a light moisturizer. Once or twice a week at most, and never on broken, sunburned or actively inflamed skin.

Bamboo paddle brush

Start at the ends and work upward in sections. Never start at the roots and drag down through a knot. Once the tangles are out, brush from the hairline back over the scalp in slow passes. That second part is the one that feels like a head massage.

Lift the hair out of the pad weekly with the end of a comb, wipe the pins with a barely damp cloth, and dry it pins-down.

Wooden scalp massager

Work shampoo into wet hair first, then bring the brush in. Slow circles from the hairline to the crown, then down toward the nape. Two minutes. Rinse well, then stand it pins-up outside the shower to dry.

It also works dry, on a tense head at the end of a long day.

Caring for everything

Stone: rinse in lukewarm water, dry with a soft cloth, never soak, never freeze. Wood: wipe, dry standing, never leave it sitting in water. Electronics: wipe the handset, rinse only the removable heads.

Treated properly these last for years. Left wet in a shower caddy, they will not.