A buccal facial uses massage techniques to release the fascia, or connective tissue, surrounding the facial muscles. The difference between this and your typical facial massage is that during buccal massage, the facialist will don a pair of rubber gloves and massage your face from the inside of your mouth.
“I can only feel so much from the outside, but when I’m inside and have the muscles both ways, I can really target and hold on and get different angles,” says Amanda Jeppesen, founder and CEO of Sous La Face, a Toronto spa with seasonal pop-up locations at the city’s Bisha Hotel and in Port Carling, Ont.
She explains that the benefits of buccal massage can sometimes go beyond aesthetic sculpting to include relief of facial pain, tension or headaches caused by long periods of wearing a mask or clenching your jaw. “The only way you can do it is by going inside your mouth and then we’re able to use our thumbs or index fingers to actually feel and pull out the tension.”
My recommendation: Sous La Face’s Radical Radiance Regime facial was my first buccal massage and it blew me away. Where I really noticed a difference was in the skin beneath my chin, which no longer held any crunchy tension. If you unconsciously hold a lot of tension in your face like I do, this could feel amazing.
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Sous La Face RRR Facial Oil, $89 at Sous La Face (182 Davenport Rd., Toronto, 416-901-2340, souslaface.com).
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