Gua Sha: The anti-aging massage technique that's taking TikTok by storm

TIKTOK has become something of an incubator for trends, as one of Gen Z's go-to social networks for beauty hints and tips, as well as the hottest new innovations. Since the beginning of the year, TikTokers have been going wild for Gua Sha, an anti-aging beauty technique straight out of China that could soon become an essential part of your routine.

TikTok views for Gua Sha total some 286.5 million, showing keen interest in this massage technique hailing from traditional Chinese medicine, which essentially involves rubbing or scraping the skin on your face (and sometimes also body) using a flat stone, generally rose quartz or jade. This age-old anti-aging technique has become a viral trend on social media in recent weeks. As well as promising to sculpt and tone the face, it also supposedly combats the signs of aging (wrinkles, fine lines, firmness) and is sometimes claimed to fight acne. And TikTokers have gone wild for the technique, among other current trends.

The global search platform Stylight* reports +468% search interest on Google Trends since the beginning of the year for the keyword "Gua Sha" -- which translates as "scrape" (gua) and "petechiae" (sha), which are tiny, flat red or purple spots of light bruising. This enthusiasm has been echoed in online beauty shopping behavior on Stylight, with interest in the facial massage accessories category up by over 215%, and a spike of over 700% for jade stones specifically.

Note that toners and blushers are also having a moment on TikTok, driven by over 216 million views for the #sunkissed hashtag. Clicks on Pixi's popular Glow Tonic increased by +300% on Stylight, with clicks on cream blushes up +38% in 2021. And although makeup generally took a hit during the pandemic, Stylight insights reveal plenty of followers for the #lipstickchallenge, which involves having pretty red lips all day long, despite wearing a mask. In fact, the hashtag counts no less than 755 million views on the social network. And, here too, the impact has been seen on shopping behavior, with an increase of 407% in clicks for the lip pencil category, and a 158% increase in clicks for the liquid lipstick category.

Summertime soon!

In another significant trend, people seem to be thinking ahead to summer. From skin to hair to nails, thoughts are turning to summer prep to get beach-ready for this year's vacations. This is reflected in the popularity of #bodyscrub and #frenchtipnail hashtags, with 115 million and 11.7 million views respectively on TikTok.

With summer just around the corner, scrubs are riding high, with clicks for the category up 262% on Stylight in 2021, while clicks for brightly colored nail polishes were up by 127% compared to 2020.