Don't want Botox? How a massage inside your mouth could be just as good (and Meghan is a fan!)

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I’m lying on a treatment bed, mouth wide open, while a woman wearing latex gloves rummages around my gums. At first, my brain goes into ‘dental work’ mode, and I grip the side of the bed, but within seconds I realise that the experience is rather pleasant.

I relax as the woman nimbly kneads my cheeks and jawline on both the inside and the outside of my mouth.

I’m having an intra-oral (or buccal) massage with Abigail James, the facialist who has treated countless actors, pop stars and models for more than 20 years. The concept has been around for a while but it’s having a moment: the hashtag #buccalmassage is all over TikTok, while the Duchess of Sussex and Kate Moss are among its famous fans.

Buccal massage can help improve blood flow to, and the elasticity of, the lower part of the face, and facilitate better lymphatic drainage to help reduce puffiness. Its current popularity is, in part, because many midlife women are seeking natural alternatives to Botox, fillers and other tweakments.

I’m trying James’s new Rejuvology facial treatment, which she launched nationwide last year, training around 70 practitioners across the UK, with more to follow this year. The 60-minute session (which costs from around £100 up to £250 with James herself in her Surrey home clinic) is a ‘noninvasive, nonsurgical alternative to facelifts and other facial rejuvenation treatments’.

Alongside the buccal massage, my treatment includes craniosacral work, gua sha (a traditional Chinese practice where a stone tool such as smooth jade is pulled across the skin), cupping (a small glass ‘cup’ is swept across the face, sucking up and twisting skin as it goes – which sounds painful but isn’t) and numerous facial massage techniques, some gentle, some firm.

It is surprisingly effective. I leave with skin that is less puffy but more plumped (thus making lines less visible), a slightly firmer jawline and cheekbones that seem to have travelled an inch north. ‘Facial massage is not going to give you the same results as Botox,’ cautions James. But from my vantage point, it’s certainly a credible alternative.

‘I have had an increasing number of 40s-plus clients who are beginning to see their faces age but don’t want to go down the injectables route,’ says James. ‘Then there are the ones who have tried injectables but didn’t like them. While there’s an increase in younger women having tweakments, there’s a slowing down when it comes to older women.’ 

The Duchess of Sussex, pictured with Prince Harry last month, is among its famous fans

One of the reasons, James believes, is that the more open conversation around menopause and ageing today means many women  are more accepting of bodily changes and no longer see wrinkles as the enemy.

Sophie Perry, author of The Natural Facelift (£12.99, HarperCollins), teaches facial massage to therapists and began her career assisting aesthetic doctors. At 21 she was persuaded to have lip filler by a colleague. She was told it would dissolve in 12 months – instead it migrated, looked terrible and she finally had it removed six years later. The experience swore her off invasive beauty treatments both personally and professionally.

Perry’s book is subtitled Sculpt your Face at Home in Just Five Minutes a Day. Really? Will a DIY face massage and facial exercises make a difference?

‘You’ll see a result immediately as it will improve blood flow and reduce water retention,’ she says. Then there’s the longer-term impact: ‘Your muscles have memory, so doing exercises to contract them, and adding in some massage, will make your face appear more lifted and defined.’ There’s more: stress is often etched on our faces, so if we build a five-minute facial massage into our daily routine it becomes a self-care ritual. See some of Perry’s techniques below.

The key is consistency. ‘There’s a cumulative effect with facial massage,’ says James. ‘It’s like going to the gym – once is nice but you will benefit from repeat visits.’

‘Try it for yourself, five minutes a day for two weeks,’ says Perry. ‘See the difference it makes.’ So I do – and it does.

3 facial massages by Sophie Perry

For the mouth and jaw

• Use a face oil or cream, and work with the same hand and side of your face (right hand with right side), using the opposite hand for light support on the chin.
• Massage in circular motions along the jaw, starting at the chin and ending at your ear, focusing the pressure on lifting upwards not pulling down. Use medium pressure with your finger pads. As you release tension above the jawline, let the thumb follow lightly underneath it.
• Repeat up to 8 times before switching sides.   

For marionette folds (the creases that run down vertically from the corners of your mouth to your chin)

• Place your finger pads on your masseter muscles (they’re either side of your jaw – the big ones you use for chewing).
• Lightly lift the skin, pulling towards the ears and keeping it taut.
• Blow air out of your mouth ten times, as if you’re blowing out a candle, making an O with your mouth each time.
• Repeat 20 times.

For between the eyebrows

• Using the lengths of your middle and index fingers, place them along both eyebrows, leaving a space in the middle.
• Apply very slight pressure to both eyebrows and begin to attempt a frown, resisting with your fingers to prevent wrinkle formation.
• Hold for 3 seconds. Repeat 20 times.

To book a Rejuvology treatment, go to abigailjames.online/clinic-finder