If you were a part of the YouTube beauty community during pioneering blogger Michelle Phan’s peak, you will have definitely come across the cold spoon trick. Take two spoons, pop them in the fridge overnight and place them over your eyes for 30 seconds to a minute after you wake up the next morning to de-puff and brighten the eye area — a form of cryotherapy. It’s an age-old trick (literally, it was used by Russian empresses in the 18th century) that has evolved over the years and come in and out of the limelight in the beauty industry. Now, it’s back — better than ever. Welcome to the world of skin icing.
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What is Skin Icing?
When we talk about skin icing in this context, we are referring to the practice of rubbing ice cubes on your face — yes! — for a few minutes with the aim of soothing redness, controlling blemishes, encouraging exfoliation and many other things which we will elaborate on below.
Skin Icing Benefits
If you’re wondering why rubbing ice on the face is good, look no further. Like many forms of cryotherapy, icing your face can have multiple positive side-effects.
- Soothing redness
We’ve been brought up to treat many a muscle injury with ice, but have you ever considered that maybe those ice cubes are good for the skin as well? Skin icing has been shown to calm the skin and reduce the inflammation that causes redness whilst adding a glow to the skin. - Controlling blemishes
Though quick and limited, the exposure to the extreme cold from the ice cubes can help to reduce inflammation associated with blemishes and therefore could possibly decrease the pain that comes from large, cystic spots too. - Exfoliation
Any sliding motion, done with physical or chemical tools for exfoliation can help the skin to shed old cells and layers. Skin icing provides a light exfoliation to the skin through the sliding of the ice cubes across the face.
Considering the history of the relationship between the face and ice cubes, the rising success and popularity of skin icing is no surprise to us,. Before the 2017 Victoria’s Secret fashion show, supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss uploaded her pre-show skincare regime to YouTube, where her and facialist Georgia Louise trialled LED light therapy masks, moisturisers, serums and Kloss herself used — yep, you guessed it! — an ice facial. The two plopped their heads in buckets of ice for nearing a minute and the before and afters are magical. The glow on her face won’t be able to get past you.
How to Do it at Home
At the moment, there aren’t very many salons in Australia that offer this treatment. However, skin icing can be trialled at home with caution using your own ice cubes, whilst sliding them across your face for a few minutes on each area, in a similar fashion to the popular lymphatic drainage technique we see done with crystals and guashas. There are also specific products that mimic the effect of ice cubes that you can buy for a luxurious, spa-like treatment in your own home. In the US, the treatment price begins at $50 USD.
Beware!
With any facial treatment, we need to be cautious of any potential risks and/or dangers — the face is to be protected at all costs! Excessive exposure to ice can cause the skin to become inflamed, which is the opposite of what we want. Recommendations to say to have the ice cubes slide across the face for a few minutes, however if you feel stinging or pain in excess, stop, or tell your treating beautician to stop, following which you can reassess if it is safe to continue with treatment.
Following a skin icing treatment, it’s also important to be gentle with your skin by prioritising hydration with good, humectant-filled moisturisers and promoting healing with rest (get in those eight hours of Zzz’s!). Light, milky cleansers instead of those with gel or foam consistencies can also be used if you feel your skin is inflamed.
In summation
If you’ve never thought about rubbing ice cubes on your face before, it might be a good idea to give it a go for yourself and see what kind of benefits you reap; maybe you will be able to reduce the inflammation and pain in any spots of cystic acne, achieve a youthful-looking glow, or calm the redness in your skin. Our team will keep you updated with our own results as we keep an eye on the before and afters of the skin icing treatment! Feel free to DM us with your experiences on Instagram too.
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