How To Use A Face Roller: 6 Tips + Benefits, From The Pros

Lymphatic drainage tools have been around for centuries—and people have long relied on their hands to get the lymph fluid moving in the body and the face. 

Before you touch the face roller to your skin, be sure to have both surfaces clean. Just cleanse your skin as you normally would (or double-cleanse, if you're into that), and then use face wash or hand soap to clean your face roller. 

"Using a facial roller after moisturizing would be preferable in order to minimize the risk of friction that could potentially damage the skin," board-certified dermatologist Rebecca Marcus, M.D., FAAD, founder of MaeiMD, tells mbg. 

Medical aesthetician and founder of JTAV Clinical Skincare Joie Tavernise agrees: "This will help with product penetration and ensure that the roller does not drag or pull the skin to cause wrinkles," she explains.

The main reason people look to face rollers is their ability to trigger lymphatic drainage, thus de-puffing the face. Many people think rolling upward will support this purpose, but, in fact, you'll want to move downward, says traditional Chinese medicine expert Debbie Kung, DAOM, LAc.

"Around the nose and the mouth where there's not much room, you can actually do shorter strokes, and then when you're doing the forehead or the chin to the cheek, you can do longer strokes," Kung says. 

You don't have to stop after your initial go-around, though. "For more of a lifted look, you'll want to go upward toward the hair," Kung says. You can do this on each part of the face after you've gone through your lymphatic drainage rollout—think of it as a second pass for aesthetic benefits. 

Your face roller isn't just reserved for the face (though the name might have you thinking otherwise). In fact, traditional Chinese medicine uses tools like face rollers to move around heat, or chi, in the body, Kung explains. 

One way to move around this heat is by rolling upward or downward on the back of the neck. Moving from the bottom of the back of your neck to the top (right where your hairline starts) will help to increase mental clarity and improve complexion, Kung says, thanks to the increase in blood flow and chi. 

While face rollers are great for lymphatic drainage and relaxation, they won't necessarily increase the collagen in your skin, nor will they ease wrinkles entirely. 

"Face rollers do not trigger collagen production in any significant way," Marcus notes. "However, by supporting circulation, they help cells to maintain optimal function, which is necessary for efficient collagen production," she adds. 

At the end of the day, face rollers have plenty of worthy benefits, assuming you use them correctly. Remember to roll toward the top of your neck for lymphatic drainage purposes, and roll upward toward the hairline for a lifted effect on the skin.