You may not realize it, but your nose, just like any other parts of your body, never stops growing. No, not like Pinocchlo's! When we age, the tissues in our nose weaken, resulting in a changing shape, saggier surrounding skin or more pronounced nose. The most common way people reshape their nose is with a surgery called rhinoplasty, more commonly known as a “nose job". But recently, beauty gurus have sought after non-surgical methods such as make up and doing face yoga exercises for the nose. In this blog post, let's discuss the science behind face yoga for the nose and Luvly will introduce you 7 exercises so you can practice at home.

How does the nose change overtime with the aging process?

Your nose is made up of cartilage, bone, and soft tissues. As time goes on, the skin and tissues in your nose will start losing their strength. This is why you’ll notice a more dragged down appearance to your nose. Also, the glands in your nose expand which gives it a wider and bulbous look. Not only does your nose change in appearance as you age, but it also changes the way you breathe. Airflow through the nostrils shifts when the nose shape changes. So far, there’s no scientific evidence that nose exercises or “face yoga for nose” can reshape your nose drastically. Biologically speaking, the shape of the base of your nose, where it attaches to your face, is determined primarily by the shape of your bone. The tip of your nose is primarily shaped by the soft cartilage that gives it its flexibility. And there’s no evidence that nose exercises can noticeably influence the shape of either of these tissues. However, it is possible to work on the muscles around the nose to give it a more toned appearance because it is the collagen and elastin that help the nose retain its shape. As we get older, our skin produces less collagen and elasticity decreases, which help the skin surrounding your nose stay firm and strong. And one effective way to boost collagen is through facial massage and face yoga techniques. Our bones get weaker as we age, that of the nose included. It's therefore important to have healthy nutrition and exercise the whole body, face included, to safeguard bone density.

Face yoga for the nose does help to some extent

These exercises focus on the muscles around the nose rather than changing the shape of the nose itself. Also remember that everything is connected. There is a dense fibrous connective tissue that penetrates and surrounds the muscles, therefore activating all muscles in your face will delay the loss of elasticity. Face yoga is the perfect remedy. When some people begin to do face yoga for a slimmer nose, they expect a dramatic change in the nose's shape like a cosmetic procedure would bring and sadly, this isn’t possible. With that being said, these exercises below will focus on the nasalis muscle (the muscle alongside the bridge of your nose), and risorius muscle (the smiling muscle) to help you have a slimmer, toner nose area.

Exercises for a Slimmer Nose

The Lift and Smile

This super simple exercise helps lift the muscles area next to your nostrils, reducing the fine lines and helps with smoother breathing. The name is pretty self-explanatory. How to do it:

1. Smile
2. Push the tip of your nose upwards..
3. Push the tip of your nose down 10 times, but create slight resistance with your index finger.
4. Repeat twice more.

Exercises for a Smaller Nose

Alternate Nose Breathing

This exercise helps to tone the cartilage in the nostrils. It also aids in reducing anxiety, clearing sinuses, and balancing both brain hemispheres. How to do it:

1. Take your thumb and hold your left nostril closed — breath in with the other nostril.
2. Hold both nostrils closed for 1 second and release your finger from your left nostril — exhaling at the release.
3. Hold your right closed nostril with your index finger.
4. Breath in through the opposite nostril.
5. Hold both nostrils closed for one second and release.
6. Repeat this sequence for about 1 minute.

The Cheek Tap

This exercise helps to tone cheek muscles and boost circulation in the skin surrounding your nose.

1. Puff out your cheeks.
2. Using three fingers — index, middle, and ring finger — press down on top of your lips.
3. Lightly tap your cheek
4. Repeat this for 10 seconds and switch sides.
5. Alternate sides for 1 minute.

Exercises to Sharpen Your Nose

The Bull Dog Push

This exercise is ideal for those who possess a broader lower-nose. While the nasalis muscles are strong when we are young, they tend to get lethargic as we age, becoming broader and stretching outwards (like a blob). This particular exercise will not only tone your nose, but will also correct flaring nostrils. How to do it:

1. Place both your index fingers on the sides of your nose, with the base of your index finger closest to your nostrils.
2. Now, breathe in while flaring your nostrils and add pressure with your index fingers to reduce the size of the nostril flare.
3. Breathe out and release.
4. Repeat this exercise 5 times.

The Nose Lift

The Nose Lift exercise—similar to the Bull Dog Push—is effective for those looking to sharpen the muscles in the nostril area. How to do it:

1. take your index finger and thumb and place them on either side of the nostrils.
3. Now, with your thumb and index finger of the other hand, lift the tip of your nose and firmly press the third eye point (between the eyebrows), to build muscle memory: the thumb lifts the nose, and the index presses the third eye. Hold 10 seconds
4. Repeat twice more

Takeaway

When some people begin to do face yoga for a slimmer nose, they expect a dramatic change in the nose's shape like a cosmetic procedure would bring and sadly, this isn’t possible. The exercises above focus on the muscles around the nose rather than changing the shape of the nose itself. However, you can achieve good progress in getting your nose less puffy and more symmetric.