A five-minute face massage you can do yourself

Facial puffiness in the morning is mostly fluid that settled overnight while you were horizontal. A few minutes of light, directional massage helps move it. Here is a simple sequence.

First, the rules

• Use slip. Clean skin plus a few drops of facial oil or a rich moisturiser. Dragging dry skin is how you cause irritation.
• Go light. Lymphatic vessels sit just under the skin. You want to move the skin gently, not press into muscle.
• Always work outward and down towards the sides of the neck, where the drainage points are. Down the neck, not up.

The sequence

1. Open the neck (30 sec). Flat fingers just under each ear, stroke gently down the side of the neck to the collarbone. Ten times. This clears the route everything else drains into — don't skip it.
2. Collarbone (20 sec). Small circles in the hollows just above the collarbones, ten each side.
3. Jawline (1 min). Knuckles or flat fingers from the centre of the chin, along the jaw, to just below the ear. Ten passes each side. Finish each pass with a stroke down the neck.
4. Cheeks (1 min). From beside the nose, out across the cheek towards the ear, then down the neck. Ten passes each side.
5. Under-eyes (1 min). Ring fingers only — the lightest touch you have. From the inner corner, tap or glide very gently outward along the bone under the eye to the temple, then down. Ten passes. Never drag the eyelid.
6. Brows and forehead (1 min). Pinch along the brow bone from inner to outer. Then flat fingers from the centre of the forehead out to the temples, and down the sides of the face. Ten passes.
7. Finish (20 sec). Both hands down the sides of the neck to the collarbone, five slow strokes.

Small things that help more than the massage

• An extra pillow, so your head is slightly raised overnight.
• Something cold on the face first — a cool flannel, or the back of a chilled spoon under the eyes.
• Less salt and alcohol the evening before. This is usually the actual culprit.

When to skip it

Don't massage over active acne, broken or irritated skin, sunburn, cold sores, or recent injectables or facial procedures — leave those to settle, and follow whatever your practitioner told you. If you have had recent facial surgery, ask them first.

Where a professional session differs

A trained facial drainage treatment works the deeper node points, covers the scalp and neck properly, and reaches areas you cannot do to yourself with any real effect — and someone else's hands let your face actually relax, which yours never quite do. Before an event, a 30-minute session is the best-kept secret on our menu. But the home version, done most mornings, is genuinely worth the five minutes.

A note on all of this: everything here is general guidance based on standard practice, not medical advice. If something is painful, spreading, or simply not settling, please see a GP or pharmacist rather than waiting for your next appointment.