While Therabody’s body-focused massage tool, Theragun ($600), may be well known among athletes, the brand is launching the new TheraFace Pro ($399)—it’s constructed specifically for the face—and it will convert anyone to be a user.
Theragun uses a form of massage called percussive therapy, which directly targets soft tissue pain in the body. The TheraFace Pro—it’s available beginning today—uses this same technology to reduce facial tension and relax the face muscles, but that’s only one of its many talents. A revolutionary all-in-one device for maintaining facial health, TheraFace Pro comes with a handful of attachments that not only massage your face, but cleanse, “lift,” help heal and rejuvenate it too.
“We’ve got 22 studies about what percussive therapy does for the body, but it’s sort of crazy that we ignore the face,” says Dr. Jason Wersland, founder and CWO of Therabody. “We wanted to be able to use something that addressed all of the same things on our face as our body—we wanted to start thinking about the shoulders-upwards and how we could help people take care of their face. This isn’t about beauty, it’s about facial health.”
The device features an easy-glide magnetic ring system that allows you to easily switch between and combine the attachments. Featured in the kit is the body of the device, along with a microcurrent attachment, an LED light attachment, a cleansing brush, and three percussive facial attachments in different shapes and sizes. Each of these can be used as needed, or incorporated into your everyday routine for long-term results.
“There are three levels of percussive therapy that you can use on the device,” says Lissa Bankston, director of human performance at Therabody, who adds that this is the first time the brand is bringing percussive therapy to the face. Pointing at the top button on the device, she says, “This button will allow you to choose between 1750, 2100 and 2400 RPMs of percussive therapy. The attachments all have a groove that fits into the top of the device, and they attach magnetically so you can easily pull them on and off as you use each one. The device is water-resistant, it is not waterproof, so we don’t want to submerge it in water, but we can clean the attachments separately and re-attach them to the device.”
“Your body receives percussive therapy differently than it receives vibration,” says Wersland. “The nervous system responds differently, too. Vibration kind of sits on the skin and shakes it, but percussive therapy taps the skin, which stimulates it in a different way.”
After Bankston taught me how to use each attachment, I’ve perfected my TheraFace routine. I start by washing my face with the cleansing brush attachment, which I then easily swap for the microcurrent head. I use this attachment with the TheraOne Conductive Gel, also included in the kit. Not only does this firm and tighten the skin, but it improves muscle tone and contour in the face and neck when used regularly. Next comes the LED light therapy device. I snap on the ring light, and I also attach one of the percussive facial attachments to massage my face while I use the lights. Featuring three different color modes, the LED attachment claims to reduce wrinkles around the eyes, kill acne-causing bacteria and provide therapeutic warming to reduce facial pain and discomfort.
There are also hot and cold rings that are sold separately, which come in an insulated case to ensure optimal cold and heat penetration into the skin. The cold device imitates the lifting and tightening effects of facial cryotherapy, and the hot ring improves product absorption and relaxes the facial muscles. “Think hot tubs and hot packs for increasing blood flow and relaxation,” says Wersland. “A lot of the athletes we work with deal with the stress of wearing a helmet all day or playing basketball—they carry just as much tension in the face as they do in the body, so this helps the relax and relieve the facial muscles.”
Together, these face-training modalities offer an inclusive approach to caring for your face, and since starting my TheraFace routine, I’ve noticed tighter skin, less tension and pain in my face and an overall more radiant complexion—it’s everything you need for skin health in one device, and it truly makes a difference.
