The benefits of gua sha have been extolled by wellness fanatics and beauty gurus alike – of course, the practise is Goop-approved. However, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to techniques like this one, from the efficacy of your tool to what it’s made from and the accuracy of your technique.
Gua sha, a practice with its origins in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), uses gentle pressure and sweeping movements across the skin using a hard tool, usually made from stone, to help tone, tighten and promote better circulation and lymphatic drainage.
Manipulating the fascia – the network of connective tissue that surrounds and supports your muscles and bones – used to be a little-known technique for soothing tension and inflammation. But these days, you can’t open Tiktok or Instagram without seeing someone “depuffing” their face with a piece of quartz and boasting about how “snatched” their jawline looks after using a gua sha.
Experts are divided on whether the practice is good for your skin. Paula Begoun of Paula’s Choice once told me to avoid facial massage because this trend encourages pulling on delicate facial tissues that will eventually lead to sagging and damage. Others, like ocular surgeon and founder of MZ Skin, Dr Maryam Zamani, are pro facial massage and consider a gua sha a “high-performance tool”.
“By gently scraping the gua sha across the skin, it can enhance blood flow and relieve muscle tension, leading to a more lifted, toned appearance,” says skincare and TCM expert Charlotte Yau. “Over time, this technique can help with reducing wrinkles, promoting collagen production, and achieving a healthy glow.”
“While gua sha may not provide instant results, consistent use can lead to long-term improvements in skin elasticity and texture. Plus, it’s a natural, non-invasive way to pamper your skin. Traditional Chinese Medicine offers a holistic approach to skincare that not only addresses surface-level issues but also promotes overall health and wellbeing [...] The skincare industry is increasingly turning to TCM for solutions that go beyond beauty.” she adds.
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Personally, I started using a gua sha because I had read that applying pressure to the face and body with a stone, wooden or metal tool could ease pain and muscle tension. In a similar approach to foam rolling, acupressure, even using a theragun, self massage using a tool can help with facial tension and the effects of teeth grinding and TMJ, as well as trapped nerves and pain from stress headaches or strained vision.
I wasn’t looking for a razor-sharp jaw and I was never under the illusion that I could change the shape of my face with a slice of crystal, however, by manipulating fascia and moving fluid around, I have noticed changes in how defined my features look. Just remember that if you’re going to try gua sha, there are a few rules to follow.
Always clean your tool before and after use to prevent spreading bacteria across your face. Be gentle with your skin – the skin on our faces is thin and sensitive so dragging or pressing too hard isn’t advised. Always use a quality oil or serum to help the tool glide across your skin. For the body, if you have sensitive skin, you might want to consider wearing leggings or a tight outfit to help the tool glide without pressing directly onto your skin.
Along with lymphatic fluid, gua sha is also intended to move energy around the body, targeting stagnant chi and easing inflammation in the process. But, whether or not you believe the more mystical claims touted by Traditional Chinese Medicine, the practice has plenty of tangible benefits. I put a range of gua sha tools to the test and these are the results.
How I tested
First I looked at the weight, hand-feel and materials of each tool. Gua sha are typically made of stone as this offers the ideal pressure against the skin. Natural minerals are an important element of TCM practices and certain precious stones supposedly lend your gua sha routine different properties – you’ll find that many tools are made from materials like jade and quartz. I also looked at shape and grip and, while most gua sha have a distinctive long heart shape, several new generation tools offer different angles for facial sculpting. I also tried lymphatic tools for the body after exercise and on rest days and tested the effects over time, including de-puffing, skin texture and sculpting.
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The best gua sha tools for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Espa rose quartz gua sha tool: £34.57, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Revolution Skincare jade gua sha: £4.70, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for face and body – MZ Skin gua sha: £45, Spacenk.com
- Best wooden tool – Wooden body gua sha: £18.95, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for body – Hayo’u body sculptor: £89, Hayoumethod.com
Espa rose quartz gua sha tool
Best: Overall
Material: Rose quartz
Why we love it
- Deep V-shape for facial sculpting
- Made from rose quartz
- A great all rounder
The Espa gua sha is the perfect shape and feels great to hold. It’s a classic if you’re looking for a quality gua sha that works hard. The proportions are spot on with a deep V-shaped top to sweep over areas like the jaw and a long, gently curved side for moving over flatter areas on the face and body.
This longer side is especially good for the neck, the upper arms and the thighs. If you haven’t tried it before, long strokes with your gua sha on the back of your neck feel incredible – stimulating your vagus nerve and providing a nervous system reset.
The price falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum because this tool is made from semi-precious rose quartz – the stone of peace and love. So if you’re not looking for a basic budget tool and want something with slightly better hand-feel, a nice weight and the supposed healing properties of rose quartz, this will be the one for you.
Buy now £34.57, Amazon.co.uk
Revolution Skincare jade gua sha
Best: Budget buy
Material: Jade
Why we love it
- Affordable
- Great for the body
Take note
- Not as effective for the face
This is my all-time favourite affordable gua sha tool. Great for beginners, it does the job and won’t break the bank. It’s a little chunkier than other tools and the V-shape isn’t that deep, so you won’t be at risk of hurting yourself on the edges. However, that does mean the sculpting efficacy isn’t quite as good as with other tools.
What this tool is great for is full body. We often forget about our underarms or our inner thighs and stomachs with this kind of practice, but this tool is perfect for those areas. You can employ the same sweeping motions to smooth and work the areas and target any tension. This is great for activating your nerve endings in areas you might not think to stimulate and encourages better circulation.
The logo indentation and the fact that this tool is made of jade means that although it looks pretty, you have to be diligent about cleaning it before and after use. Soapy water and a cloth will do the trick. Just make sure you clean off any oil, dirt and skin cells to make sure you’re not damaging your skin with a grubby tool.
Buy now £4.70, Amazon.co.uk
MZ Skin gua sha
Best: Face and body
Material: Rose quartz
Why we love it
- Great for face and body
- Storage pouch
Take note
- Slightly more expensive
Intended to be used with the brand’s own clinical skincare, the MZ Skin tool is a slightly heavier piece of rose quartz in the classic gua sha shape. It’s my favourite small tool for face and body with its gentle curves and medium-sized V-shape.
At the higher end of the price scale, due to being made from a semi-precious stone, you’ll want to use the little travel pouch for protection. Precious stones are considered to be a more traditionally beneficial material, however, be aware that there is some porosity with organic materials, so make sure you clean thoroughly before and after use to avoid any bacteria from your skin entering the tiny micro channels and then being redistributed next time you use it.
The cool feeling of the stone is perfect for refreshing your face in the mornings or at the end of a long day. But the large flat side of the tool is also perfect for use all over the body. Use firm sweeping motions to encourage blood flow around the body and tone the skin.
Buy now £45.00, Spacenk.com
Hayou body sculptor
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Best: Body tool
Material: Bian
Why we love it
- Made from quality bian
- Different edges for different uses
- Easy to use
Take note
- Expensive
The Hayo'u body sculpture is my favourite for a full-body gua sha experience. Designed by Chinese medicine practitioner Katie Brindle, the tool aims to contour, smooth, and tighten the body. Made from highest grade Bian stone, it feels satisfyingly weighty in the hand. However, it’s very easy to grip, hold and manoeuvre around the body thanks to the wide handle.
The tool offers three edges with different functions. The small smooth edge is for smaller areas on the body, like the arms. The large smooth edge for bigger areas on the body, like the waist and thighs and the comb edge is intended to stimulate tissue movement. Brindle says this can help with reducing the appearance of cellulite.
The tool is great for post-workout recovery where your skin might feel inflamed or tight and your muscles might ache. By pressing and gliding the tool across your skin, things start moving, resulting in what’s known as myofascial release. This can also improve circulation and free up stagnant lymph fluid in the body.
When used with a body oil daily I noticed that my skin looked slightly more contoured and glowier, especially my upper arms and tummy. The only drawback with this tool is that it’s on the expensive side, but this is down to its composition. Bian, also known as Chinese black jade is a material that’s supposedly derived from a meteorite impact and contains over 40 trace minerals that are considered beneficial for health in traditional Chinese medicine.
Buy now £89.00, Hayoumethod.com
Par Olive the gua sha
Best: Metal tool
Material: Stainless steel
Why we love it
- Lightweight and easy to use
- Made from hygienic stainless steel
- Different edges with different functions
Loved by Victoria Beckham, along with other high-profile clients of celebrity facialist Melanie Grant, Par Olive is known for its excellent collagen powder. However, I also rate its gua sha. The stainless steel tool is great for travelling because it won’t break in your luggage and can withstand being dropped on a hotel bathroom floor.
Different edges offer different uses for smoothing, sculpting and working on different areas. The comb edge is supposedly best for gently smoothing forehead wrinkles and encouraging better circulation in areas like the underarms and clavicles.
Always work in an upward and outward motion to lift the skin, use a quality oil to avoid pulling your skin and drink plenty of water afterwards. According to the brand’s founders, this helps to, “flush out any toxins released during the massage”.
Buy now £27.00, Parolive.com
Wooden body gua sha
Best: Wooden tool
Material: Wood
Why we love it
- Lightweight and easy to use
- 100 per cent wood
- Handle helps with harder to reach areas
Take note
- Porus material
Wooden massage tools are slightly different to traditional gua sha but offer all the same benefits, depending on how you use them. The practice of massage with wooden tools is called maderotherapy and it’s used to encourage lymphatic drainage and keep skin firm.
As with other tools, you’ll want to use an oil to avoid hurting your skin and encourage a natural gliding motion. The handle on this tool makes it great for hard-to-reach areas and I particularly like using it for my neck and shoulders and calves after a spin class when muscles feel a little strained.
Tools like this are great for relief, recovery, reduction of pain and better mobility. This tool also supposedly helps with circulation, cellulite reduction and lymphatic drainage. Although it is worth mentioning that any reports of visible cellulite reduction are usually anecdotal when it comes to tools like this. Cellulite is completely normal and isn’t something we need to fix.
Be sure to clean the oil off the tool thoroughly when you’ve finished and clean it before use too. Wood is an organic material which makes it slightly more porous than something like stainless steel.
Buy now £13.99, Amazon.co.uk
Kitsch stainless steel gua sha tool
Best: For travelling with
Material: Stainless steel
Why we love it
- Sterile stainless steel
- Won’t break
Take note
- Harder on sensitive skin
I’ve broken three gua sha tools by dropping them on the floor or having them fall out of my bathroom cabinet, so investing in a stainless steel option is one way to avoid that kind of repeated heartbreak. The Kitsch gua sha is lightweight and easy to hold, and it glides over the skin nicely.
The steel makes it lovely and cool, and the temperature is much more receptive to a stint in the fridge, which can be great for rapid de-puffing in the morning. This is also a great hack for soothing any inflammation after a day in the sun or a long-haul flight.
The added benefit of the stainless steel is that it’s a non-porous material – unlike stones like quartz or jade. Although these are more traditional for gua sha, they are porous so they contain an abundance of tiny micro holes in which bacteria from your skin can build up. Obviously you can prevent this with proper sterilisation but there is a chance that skin cells can get right into the stone and this isn’t ideal. With steel, once it’s clean, it’s clean.
That being said, steel is a little harder on the skin than a stone gua sha might be but, overall, it’s great for sculpting and achieving that snatched look, especially around the jaw and cheekbones. Just be gentle with your forehead and make sure you’re not pressing too hard on any sore areas or broken skin.
Buy now £24.00, Lookfantastic.com
The verdict: Gua sha tools
It might seem like all gua sha tools are fairly alike, but once you start testing them, you’ll find there are clear winners in this game. I’ve tested tools made from various metals and semi-precious stones, tried different body oils and facial serums with each tool and assessed the weight, strength and hand feel of each.
My everyday go-to is the Espa gua sha, but I do love the MZ Skin version for its weight and luxe appeal. My favourite metal tool is the Par Olive gua sha but for body, I love the Hayo’u tool for it’s easy-to-hold handle, weighty feel and functional edges. If you’re a beginner, I’d recommend going for the Revolution tool and see how you fare before upgrading. Just remember to always be gentle when beginning this practice, choose a good oil or serum and take your time with it. You should start to see some great results in the space of a week.
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