FACIAL EXERCISES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 November 1940, Page 6

FACIAL EXERCISES

KEEP THE FACE FIRM AND YOUNG. Just as exercises help keep the body supple, so facial exercises will help keep the face firm and young. In youth face muscles are constantly used—children whistle, shout, and sing. In later life whistling and singing are often replaced by the frowns of worry—and the lines of age begin to show. The brows become furrowed, crowsfeet show below the eyes, and the mouth droops. With proper exercise, these drooping muscles can be strengthened and coaxed back into normal activity. Just as bodily exercise creates a glow of health in the skin, so will facial exercises create a new glow of beauty in the face. The most difficult part of any exercise is gaining the will-power to carry it out. This applies not only to exercising, but to any beauty treatment. We are too prone to allow our beauty programme to be carried out in a lazy way. Therefore, if you wish for results, make up your mind right now that you will rigidly adhere to your beauty treatment and carry it through to its final stage. ’ With facial exercising this is very important. Immediate results are not noticeable, and it is not until the final stage of the treatment that the muscles become youthful and elastic. When you first start the exercises smear the face with a good lubricating cream. Sit in front of a mirror and watch yourself grimace, and carry every exercise through to a conclusion. Exercises should be done daily, preferably in the morning and each movement should be repeated five to 10 times.

Afterwards the face should be washed with plenty of cold water. The muscles which most frequently sag are those controlling the jaw line. To counteract this, practice opening the mouth very slowly to its fullest extent, at the same time trying to keep the corners as square as is possible. / Now try to lift the upper lip/ so that the teeth will show. Now show the lower teeth, at the same time’ trying to close the mouth without actually doing so. This means that you are straining every muscle around the jaw. Hold this grimace for five seconds and then gradually relax. The mouth will feel tired and sore, but after a few days’ treatment the beneficial effect of the exercise will become apparent. Now try this movement, which will help to iron many small wrinkles from the skin. Close the lips tightly together, lift the corners of the mouth and try to force the cheeks upwards in a broad smile. You will feel the whole of the face lifting and the muscles becoming tense. Hold this position for a few moments, then purse the lips, and you will gradually feel the whole of the skin being tightened. Hold the movement for a few seconds and then relax slowly. Repeat ton times. For a drooping mouth close teeth firmly together and hold the jaws in a rigid grip. Then raise the corners of the mouth in a forced smile, open the nostrils wide and wrinkle the skin over the nose.

Throughout the whole of this movement the lips must be kept tightly clenched.