Lymphatic Love.
Lymphatic Drainage Massage
Beauty’s best kept secret.
If you’ve ever woken up looking like a blow fish, then you need to know the best kept secret in skincare and body wellness - lymphatic drainage! It’s what YLB has been doing for her clients since 2018, for the face and body. It’s a gentle technique that helps move lymph fluid through the body to the lymph nodes - reducing puffiness, flushing out toxins, eliminating water retention and boosting circulation which results in fresh and healthy skin, more sculpted and de-puffed!
Our lymphatic system is like a superhero for our immune system, helping us stay healthy and balanced. It acts as a sewerage system, removing excess fluid and transporting important substances like water, proteins, fats and toxins to the lymph nodes. These nodes work hard to process and cleanse the waste, ensuring it can be safely eliminated. However, when toxins build up, it can slow down efficient drainage and put us at risk of infections. That's why it's important to lend a helping hand to our lymphatic system through gentle drainage massage. By doing so, we support its vital role in maintaining our well-being and keeping everything in harmony.
Our lymphatic system plays a vital role in immune health but unlike our blood, it doesn’t have a pump. Gentle massage gives it the nudge it needs to keep things flowing and flush out stagnation. Sometimes us beauty therapists need a little nudge too! We’re out here looking after everyone else, dishing out advice but when it comes to ourselves? It’s easily neglected.
On holiday this year, I visited a Thai salon. I had initially booked myself in for a facial and full body massage but I’d totally forgotten about my surgery and my family were like hey, no, way too much! So I changed the full body to a reflexology session, thinking it would be nice and relaxing! It was a bit full on, to be honest and I always aware of my bad circulation but boy, did I exit that salon with very slim ankles! I left feeling lighter, clearer and deeply relaxed - as if my whole body just exhaled and I happily walked the 1.4km back to my hotel along the beach. This was my wake-up call to actually give my own legs some love and see a therapist (more than once a year, ahem!) and do daily massage on my legs myself!
At YLB, in our Swedish body massage, we move fluid upwards towards the heart in slow rhythmic movements, to encourage efficient flow of all the body’s major systems either directly (circulation, lypmph, muscles, nerves) or indirectly (through relaxation, hormonal shifts and improved systemic flow). It’s one of the few therapies that truly treats the body as a whole.
Okay, let’s talk about lymphatic drainage for the face - it might not sound as glamorous as LED Masks or other electrical facials but the manual effects of a traditional massage are surprisingly powerful. With gentle, rhythmic movements, it help shift stagnant fluid that causes puffiness, dullness and that “why do I still look knackered?” feeling. It’s all about softening tension, encouraging flow and bringing your natural features back into focus. Think less puff, more glow and a subtle lift that looks like you’ve finally had a decent night’s sleep.
