You’ve seen the TikToks. A creator swipes a piece of polished jade across their jaw for thirty seconds and—poof—a double chin vanishes, replaced by a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. It looks like magic. It looks like a lie. Honestly, it’s a little bit of both.
If you’re looking at gua sha before and after double chin photos and wondering if a $15 stone can actually replace Kybella or a neck lift, we need to have a real talk about anatomy. Your face isn't just made of one thing. That "fullness" under your chin is usually a cocktail of three different ingredients: actual fat cells (submental fat), loose skin, and stagnant fluid.
Gua sha is incredible at moving one of those. It’s okay at another. It does basically nothing for the third.
The Fluid Factor: Why the "Before and After" Looks So Wild
Most of the "instant" transformations you see online are real, but they aren't permanent fat loss. They're the result of manual lymphatic drainage. Your lymphatic system is like the body’s garbage disposal, but it doesn't have a pump like your heart does. It relies on movement.
When you’re stressed, eating too much salt, or just sleeping at a weird angle, fluid pools under your jaw. This is "puffiness," not fat.
By using a gua sha tool, you’re essentially "pushing" that fluid out toward the lymph nodes in your neck. When that fluid leaves, the skin hugs the jawbone tighter. Suddenly, you have a jawline again. A 2025 study published in PMC actually measured this, showing that gua sha can reduce facial contour measurements by over 2mm just by shifting fluid and relaxing muscle tension. It’s a visible win, but it’s a temporary one. If you stop doing it, the fluid eventually comes back.
Can Gua Sha Actually "Burn" Chin Fat?
Let's be blunt: No. You cannot "scrape" fat away.
Fat cells (adipocytes) require metabolic changes or physical destruction (like freezing in CoolSculpting or heat in Morpheus8) to disappear. A stone rubbing on your skin doesn't have the biological power to break down fat.
If your double chin is purely genetic—meaning you’ve had it since you were a skinny teenager—gua sha will likely only give you a 5% improvement by reducing inflammation. It won't change the structure of your fat pads.
However, there is a nuance most people miss. Gua sha is a form of Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM). It works on the fascia—the connective tissue that wraps around your muscles. If your jaw looks "heavy" because your neck muscles are chronically tight (looking at you, "tech neck"), gua sha can help release that tension. This allows your head to sit further back on your neck, naturally elongating the area and making the double chin look less prominent.
Real Results: The 8-Week Reality Check
If you want to see a real gua sha before and after double chin change, you have to look past the 24-hour mark. Clinical trials have shown that consistent use over 8 weeks actually starts to change the "tone" of the face.
While the facial roller is better for skin elasticity, gua sha is the king of muscle tone. By stimulating microcirculation—increasing blood flow to the area by up to 400%—you’re bringing fresh oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. This can lead to:
- Better Skin Texture: The skin under the chin often gets "crepey." Increased blood flow helps keep it thicker and more resilient.
- Defined Mandible: By clearing the "stagnation" along the jawline, the bone itself becomes more visible.
- Postural Awareness: You start noticing how much you're crunching your neck, which is half the battle.
How to Actually Do It (Without Bruising Yourself)
Most people do this wrong. They press way too hard, thinking "more pain, more gain." In reality, the lymphatic vessels are just beneath the surface of the skin. If you press too hard, you collapse them, and the fluid can’t move.
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- Prep is everything. Never, ever use a stone on dry skin. You'll get "sha" (red spots) which are actually tiny broken capillaries. Use a face oil with good "slip"—something like squalane or jojoba.
- Angle the stone. Don't hold it 90 degrees to your face. Tilt it so it's almost flat against your skin, maybe at a 15-degree angle.
- Start with the neck. You have to "open" the drain before you pour the water down it. Start at the collarbone and move up to the ears.
- The Chin Sweep. Use the notched end of your tool. Start at the center of your chin and hug the jawbone as you glide slowly toward your earlobe. Give it a little wiggle at the end to "deposit" the fluid near the lymph nodes.
- Light as a feather. The weight of the stone is almost enough pressure on its own.
The Limits Nobody Talks About
I’m a huge fan of gua sha, but it’s not a miracle stone. It won't fix a double chin caused by significant weight gain. It won't fix severe skin laxity in your 60s or 70s where the "turkey neck" is caused by a total loss of collagen.
It’s a tool for maintenance and refinement. It’s for the person who wakes up feeling "puffy" or the person who wants to define the jawline they already have.
If you're looking for a permanent, structural change to your bone or fat, you're looking at medical procedures. But if you want a ritual that makes you look 10% more "snatched" every morning and keeps your skin healthy, this is it.
Your Next Steps
To get the most out of your gua sha routine, start by committing to five minutes every other night for three weeks. Take a photo in the same lighting before you start and another at the 21-day mark. Focus on your profile view. Most people notice that while the "fat" hasn't moved, the "heaviness" of the lower face has lifted significantly. Keep your stone in the fridge for an extra de-puffing boost, especially if you’ve had a salty dinner the night before.