Beauty bible

Jaw-tightening exercises that might just work

Give your face a workout – yes, really

Where to start with facial exercises? the ridicule maybe. Mention them in some quarters and you might as well have announced you’re becoming a scientologist. at least the guffawing may (let’s not over-claim here) stimulate some collagen production.

the main problems with facial exercises are that, one they make you look ludicrous; and two, there has been no serious medical research into their efficacy. there is even the schadenfreude brigade who claim they create more wrinkles, which, if you’ve seen some of the facial postures demanded by some Fe gurus, isn’t hard to countenance.

It’s vexing not to have a categorical answer to this, but probably as it should be. Would you rat her t he eggheads focus on a cure for cancer, or on one for your wrinkles?

still, a little consensus among the experts wouldn’t go amiss, but on this, as on most important life quest ions, they’re as divided as ill-fitting curtains. exercise clearly strengthens and tones the muscle sin the body. But they’ re attached to bone, whereas the muscles in most of the face are attached to other muscles or to skin, which is why the faintest con traction can transform your expression.

In the end you have numerous options: shut yourself away somewhere private where you can perform a sun salutation with your eyebrows( I ex ag ger ate, but not much), have a facelift, accept ageing gracefully, or go for an à la carte selection of the above.

that’ s what I’m doing. I’ve tried most types of F e–from those that claimed to be aerobic to those that were more chi. I’ve been personally tutored by eva F ra ser, a woman who at 80 looked so unlined that one executive insisted on checking behind her ears for scars before agreeing to publish her book; and attempted to follow the videos of a Japanese Fe evangelist whose facial contortions started to worry me.

I still throw in the odd eva move from Eva Fraser’ s Facial Workout, (Penguin ,£8.99), but am currently happily settled with Danielle Collins’s 10- minute facial-yoga apps (£7.99, face yoga expert. com ), partly because they’re downloaded on to my phone, and that’s mighty handy.

If you are going to give Fe a go, try to wean yourself off the idea that crows’ feet and lines are evil, and turn your fight instead against the thing that really doesn’t look pretty: sag. this is where I think facial exercises can work. Unfortunately, like everyone else, I don’t have empirical evidence, but the other day a neutral observer actually said the words, ‘It’s all right for you, you’ve got a good jawline.’ It’s not definitive proof, but it’s a start.