Facial Exercise: Share the Process and Results
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Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:40 am

Hi KayS,

I posted this on the Ageless thread for you but will post again here.

Hi KayS, I'm not sure if you know about this link to her amateur videos of Day 1 & Day 2, this may help you until you get your dvd.

http://s378.photobucket.com/albums/oo228/LouiseAnnette/

free skin care · Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:40 pm

KayS wrote:

That is why I was soooo disappointed that my Ageless dvd is blank and is also the reason I am not going to attempt certain exercises until I can see them being done as I can not picture how some of the exercises in day 2 are to be done. LouLou states to do the exercises on alternating days not both in the same day. For now I am sticking with the cheek exercises only. I can not see how this would hurt anything as that is an area I want to concentrate on the most anyway.

Hi KayS - I've pm'd a lot with LL and she has said it is okay to do all of the exercises in one day if that works for you. Once you see her free on-line demo I'm sure things will come together better. I can't wait until you get the bugs ironed out and start working the program that will do you the most good. Then you can start giving us progress reports too!

free skin care · Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:44 pm

Tigerlilly wrote:

I just have to share my little story here...
Well, a few days ago, I had a luncheon with my sister, my mom and a good family friend (the family friend hadn't seen since Thanksgiving). Anywho, she's never been a big fan of mine (came around somewhat in recent years), so I was kind of surprised when she said, "you look younger every time I see you"...which was SUCH a nice thing to say, but I dismissed it as just a nice thing to say, not necessarily sincere.
Well, then, while we were having lunch OUTSIDE in the sunlight (not my best light), she said to me. "Your skin is AMAZING...I mean, I'm sitting here looking at your skin and I can't get over it...My daughter is younger than you, but she's getting some lines around her eyes...What are you doing?"
Well, I was NOT expecting THAT kind of praise at ALL! I was completely caught off guard and started rambling about my skin care routine, then admitted I slacked off of it all...
Only after I had gone home did I remember, the ONLY thing I was consistent about was facial exercises. I do some of LouLou's and some of Carole Maggio's.
Oh, and I wore my hair up, away from my face (something I pretty much NEVER do, but I was having a bad hair day) and my sister said how that hairstyle was flattering because it really showed of my cheekbones (which are prominent, but look far more lush lifted and tight now which is what she noticed, not the hairstyle)
Bottom line: FACIAL EXERCISES WORK!

Tigerlily - (Love your name): I am just reading this and want to comment on how awesome that is. And ... Please tell us what your skincare program is too:lol:

free skin care · Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:19 am

I can't wait to get started and start sharing with you my results. I thought plastic surgery or injections were the only way to go until I started reading about facial exercise. It is so empowering to know we can do it ourselves!

free skin care · Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:31 pm

KayS wrote:

I can't wait to get started and start sharing with you my results. I thought plastic surgery or injections were the only way to go until I started reading about facial exercise. It is so empowering to know we can do it ourselves!

It sure is. Let us know if we can help in any way.

free skin care · Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:22 am

Sis,

Please tell me more about your Alpha Hydroxy Souffle.

TIA

edit: Also Sis, since you started the thread, how's about a pic of your progress???!!!??? (hee hee hee)

Inky

Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:35 pm

Quote: "There used to be a huge thread on the Fe forum about Paula's post, its complete and utter nonsense, but saying that - we don't know what program she has looked at to come up with that program (of course thats presuming she has looked at a program, its possible she hasn't).

Data and information is so large in quantity that you can probably find data to suggest that anything and everything you do is right/wrong. With facial exercises, to me the real proof is in the pudding. If I had seen any adverse effects I would not be doing them after all these years and with long standing facial exercises out there - like Deborah Crawley, Eva Fraser and Carole Maggio, its an interesting conflict for sure!"

I can vouch for the nonsense of Paula´s post just by the mere fact that any wind instrument player (I play the oboe) knows that the embouchure changes the facial muscles. (Embouchure is the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument) I always notice my cheeks are firmer and cheekbones higher when I play my oboe regularly and most woodwind (I would guess brass players as well) would agree. Playing an instrument may be an alternative to facial exercises! But to those of you who don´t want to go that route, I believe facial exericise is the way to go to give the muscles a workout.

Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:43 pm

Re: FlexEffect

FYI. I saw alot of changes in my neck in the beginning of my training because my neck was so weak, but it wasn't until I got into FE's Advance Neck Training that I made a huge jump in progress. Like Deb says "You can build your neck until you don't even have one" Very Happy

she wasn't kidding Shock

free skin care · Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:14 pm

Flannery or anyone - What is Paula's background? How is it she is an expert? I really don't know so if anyone else does, please do tell.
I'm skeptical about her information - in my experience I have NEVER heard or read of anyone who has actually put a year of time and consistency into exercise and believes facial exercises were bad for them. The naysayers I've known of are those who have never done them, Those who have a financial interest in people not doing them or have not invested the time and energy into them.

Chitchat, I assume that you are a regular at FE by your posts. I do lots of neck exerises but have never done the full regimine in the manual, maybe that will be my summer project - along with learning Argentine Tango....!

And as far as pics - I don't have any specific befores. Do you know how much I wish I did? I would LOVE to share my results, even with myself. I truly am amazed and feel like I am a poster child for the improvements that can happen. I am close to a one year anniversary and I'm thrilled.
Posting probably would not be a good idea
I teach college and have chosen to not go to clubs, bars where students might be, also never put your face in a place where a student might see you. I can just imagine what that would be like all over a big college campus. My before and afters. My students do think I'm the youngest on our faculty and I am one of the oldest. To all of you, I will say in addition to facial exercise, keep the body toned as well, hold your face in a good place (lou lou discusses this in her book) and keep your posture.... Walk tall...! A good attitude and confidence really speaks volumes.

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:52 am

I just love that last part of your last post, Sister Sweets! It's very inspiring - thanks a lot!

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:21 am

KayS wrote:

That is why I was soooo disappointed that my Ageless dvd is blank ...

I'm sorry for this brief digression, but I wanted to mention that my copy of the Ageless DVD won't play either Sad

I haven't been keeping up with the Ageless thread but I suspect the problem is that the DVD's are automatically formatted for viewing in the UK only, by default. If this is the case, I don't think there's much that Loulou, or anyone else, can do about it.

I just emailed Loulou (I know she's probably swamped, so I hope she gets it!) and asked if she would consider creating the video as a bittorrent file and making the file available for purchase. That way, those of us with DVD burners can download the file to our own computers and burn it to our own discs and then we can watch it regardless of location. I'm hoping that, if those of us outside the UK send her proof that we purchased the DVD, she'll let us have free access to the torrent. But I want to see the video badly enough that I'd probably pay for the torrent too, sigh. My computer is ancient and the video clips always lock everything up, so I can't view the photobucket clips anymore.

Sister Sweets, I agree with lilome that your post was very inspiring Smile

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences!

Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:43 am

Hi Sister Sweets wave

Re: the neck, a few posts up.

Just want to point out FlexEffect's ex. 'Neck Retraction' I personally feel that one is probably the most beneficial of all for preventing that obvious sign that says we're getting up there Sad

. I trained another women for a few months and we really honed in on that one (she really needed it) Her improvement was nothing short of amazing Shock

so much so I started going for it myself! I never gave that particular ex. that much thought until working with her. How you hold your head is at the very least 50% of an aging neck.

So I really appreciate and totally agree with what you said:

"keep your posture.... Walk tall...! A good attitude and confidence really speaks volumes"

RIGHT ON!

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:08 pm

Cool... Off to check out Neck Retraction exercise Very Happy

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:17 pm

lilome wrote:

I just love that last part of your last post, Sister Sweets! It's very inspiring - thanks a lot!

Awww shucks - thanks Very Happy

And Inky - The alpha Hydroxy souffle is originally a Kassy recommendation. It can be found on ebay and on Amazon .com. It is a 12% glycolic acid in a lovely, lightly moisturizing base and it smooths the face. No narly days either - or haven't had any from using this product.

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:01 pm

Regarding LouLous dvd. I do not know how to burn cd, dvd or anything else so all I want is a replacement dvd from her. I purchased a dvd player that is converted to play dvds from anywhere in the world and it will not play the Ageless dvd that is how I know it is blank. I e-mailed LouLou this morning giving her my order number and just reminding her that I would rather have a dvd than a refund so we will see what happens.

free skin care · Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:21 pm

KayS wrote:

Regarding LouLous dvd. I do not know how to burn cd, dvd or anything else so all I want is a replacement dvd from her. I purchased a dvd player that is converted to play dvds from anywhere in the world and it will not play the Ageless dvd that is how I know it is blank. I e-mailed LouLou this morning giving her my order number and just reminding her that I would rather have a dvd than a refund so we will see what happens.

Did you buy your CD from lulu.com? If so, have you contacted them. I did and my refund was given through them.

free skin care · Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:00 pm

I just posted this on another thread but I am so excited that I received my FE program in the mail today!! I am going to read the booklet and get a feel for everything first. I just am thrilled that I have the ability now to build up areas of my face that I was not happy with and not have to rely on plastic surgery or fillers which I could not afford anyway. Very Happy

free skin care · Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:52 am

I haven't found discussion of my favorite facial exercise program at EDS yet - Carolyn's Facial Fitness - and someone asked me to post about it so I'm adding it to this thread.

My history with facial exercises - I can't remember how, but I came across Carole Maggio's program about 7 years ago. I was interested and tried it off and on, but never saw any real results, was unsure that I was doing the exercises properly, and remained squeamish about the whole idea - afraid to really commit - because I'd been a Paula Begoun proponent for years and believed her spiel that facial exercise could only be harmful.

Some years later I bought Flex Effect and promptly misplaced the booklet, in which I'd put my ID# in order to join the facialbuilders forum. Rolling Eyes

I still haven't dug out that book from wherever it went, so I still haven't gotten past the public FE forum. Due to those frustrations I haven't done very much Flex Effect, but soon thereafter I discovered that some previous FE users had switched to a program called Carolyn's Facial Fitness and were absolutely thrilled with it. That was intriguing of course.

I was and still am incredibly impressed by Carolyn's program and her website. She has far and away the most believable, impressive, and inspiring array of before-during-and-after photos I have ever seen on any facial exercise site, with equally inspiring and believable testimonials. Her website also provides a great deal of information, with a very helpful FAQ, free sample exercises, and a thorough bio of how Carolyn developed her program. The exercises and techniques are not unique to her - the elements can be found in a variety of other programs - but she picked and chose and arranged in a way that is very thorough, balanced, and well-thought-out.

The materials are absolutely excellent IMO. There's a set of flash cards for each exercise - with a photograph depicting the move, not a drawing - a "cheat sheet" which I use every time I do the routine (actually, I typed up my own copy with additions, so I wouldn't beat up the flash card) and a booklet with a variety of additional exercises to include once the basic program is mastered. The DVD shows Carolyn herself demonstrating each exercise - including all recommended reps - and is extremely helpful. There are also CDs to use when one does the routine lying down, as Carolyn recommends (I can't remark on these as I am deaf so don't use them).

Carolyn also includes a technique I haven't seen used in any other program, called "rubbing out the wrinkles," which I've found seems to work surprisingly well on my forehead lines and have now started to experiment with on my neck rings.

My one problem with Carolyn's program (or two actually) - it takes about 25 minutes to half an hour (with the additional exercises) and she insists one lies down on their back to do it ... I had so much trouble finding time to lie down for half an hour and NOT fall asleep!! - I tried to stick to her program for four months and was never able to do more than two or three workouts a week (she recommends five a week).

Then I read about Loulou's Ageless if You Dare program, and decided to try it for the convenience & time factor - no problem staying upright and awake for Ageless! In fact I'm able to do Ageless exercises while sitting at the computer - not a possibility with Carolyn's program. I haven't been doing Ageless long enough yet to see any noticeable effects.

However ... I've discovered my forehead wrinkles gradually becoming more pronounced since I stopped doing CFF.

I recently became re-energized and re-motivated about doing CFF (esp. as my forehead wrinkles immediately showed an improvement after just two sessions) so now I'm experimenting with "my own thing" ... doing CFF on Saturday and Sunday, when I can actually lie down that long without falling asleep - and Ageless twice during the busy work week.

I know some people strongly recommend sticking to one program at a time, but I'm going to try this combination at least for a few months - I think Loulou's program isn't enough for me currently, but I can't stick to CFF as regularly as I'd need to for it to be my sole program.

It's always an experiment ... Smile

free skin care · Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:22 pm

Well I personally do not see anything wrong with combining exercises as it gives the muscles a different workout. Or maybe for some reason you can not do a certain exercise in one program so you could work the same muscle in a different program to get the same result. Does that make sense?

free skin care · Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:06 pm

First, Sister Sweets, it is so thoughtful and constructive of you to start this thread. Hugs and hats off to you Smile

This has been quite a journey for me. I am very passionate about facial exercises. I'd like to share my story and be honest but fair (I hope!) about the different programs I've tried and my experiences with them. I only do this because I know it's helpful to hear both positives and negatives about particular programs. So here it goes...

I discovered Carole Maggio's program when I was 20 years old. It was playing on an infomerical on T.V. Having been into bodybuilding in the past, it made so much sense to me at the time--more so than the electro-current type devices--that I purchased it. I immediately fell in love with her nose exercise (and still do it today! and yes, it really does work over the long haul), but after a while, I stopped doing the exercises. When I was 22-23, however, I noticed my nose was slowly growing on my face in a way that was not attractive Shock

. So I started doing Facercise again, especially, the nose exercise. I at least did the nose exercise religiously for several weeks, and in photographs on my train ID card (no longer have, sadly, to share the photos), I totally could see that my nose appeared smaller, both shorter and more tappered in a way that made it look slimmer just above the "bulb" of my nose. For the next couple of years, I did Facercise on and off, but mostly off.

Then when I hit 24-25, I started on a raw food diet and lost about 15 lbs, but I lost it extremely rapidly--in the course of 10 days--no exaggeration, including 1.5-2 inches off my thighs. (When my roommate came back from his 9-day holiday, he was shocked at how much weight and cellulite I had cut off my thighs in such a short time.) The big downside is the weight loss, though not a lot and still leaving me with a reasonable and healthy bodyfat percentage, killed my face. My face was gaunt, deflated, and drawn and looked sickly. Even my mother, who has nothing but nice things to say about everyone, told me that my face looked gaunt. Honestly, a huge part of this was because genetically, my mom's side of the family has very severe cheekbones, and so the face has this severe gaunt-like look even at normal weight; but with extra weight, this structure looks like high cheekbones with a modelesque curve in the buccinators. But I'm not willing to be overweight just to have a non-severe looking face. So I plowed myself back into Facercise. It worked for a while, but then stopped. I couldn't quite figure out what was happening, but after a while of the Facercise exercises, my face would look even more severe. This happened on and off for 3-4 years, again mostly off because I was not willing to keep going each time. Every time, when I first picked up the facial exercises, people would say I looked better, but then after a while, the effect would fade and I'd look worse. What I didn't understand at the time was the Facercise tones the muscles, but does not build them very much. Plus, the little bit of build that I was getting was in the mouth area, giving that chimpy look. What I know now is that exercising the cheek muscles as in Facercise was not going to bring me the build I needed to restore my face; however, it did make my face more toned. So What made my face look both good and bad at the same time was the tone without the volume. So my face had this strange young-old look to it, if you can imagine that. FWIW, I think part of the slightly strange tight look on Carol Maggio's face is from having fantastic tone, but not a lot of volume.

This continued until I was 28. I became very desperate again to find a solution. I ended up buying a couple more facial exercise programs at this point, including one specifically for the cheeks. It did not work; the exercises were still of the toning-variety, and the importance of resistance-training in facial exercise still hadn't dawned on me.

Then in Spring 2008, when I was 28, I decided once more to try to look at the different facial exercise programs out there. I looked at Carolyn's, FlexEffect's, Reinhold Benz's, Judith Olivia's, etc., etc. I looked at the before and afters, read all the information on all the webpages, etc., etc. For CFF, I loved the youthful look that Carolyn had in her cheeks and loved the fact that she developed her program based on studying a lot of different programs and I liked that she had befores and afters after a long time, but I did come across a few negative reviews of it. For Judith Olivia and Reinhold Benz, I thought their faces just looked oh-so-beautiful, but I had the impression that they were still rather young, unlike Deb and Carolyn, plus they didn't have much information available to read through. And for FlexEffect, I loved the "FlexEffect eyes" (I thought FlexEffect had the most beautiful results in the eye area, absolutely stunning) and that some of the Befores and Afters were after many months, not just days or weeks. I was also floored by Loulou's transformation and in awe of Denise's and Kay's transformations. As a bodybuilder, I also liked Deb's philosophy on facial exercise: that to replace the lost volume of youth, we need to not only tone muscle, but to build it, and that in the building of muscle, we also will restore some of the lost fat. I had a mini-aha moment then, because I figured that I was unlike most people who come to facial exercise: I had no slack on my face and no wrinkles, but I also had no volume, so I wasn't going to see much improvement from toning, I would need to do muscle-building...so no wonder why the toning exercises, which were so great for other people whose main issues were wrinkles and sagging, did not do so much for me. But I did see a couple negative reviews of FlexEffect, including one from a woman who switched to CFF. I was about to purchase CFF or Judith Olivia's program, especially because of the price ($75 seemed like a lot), but at the last minute, something made me change my mind...

So I purchased FlexEffect instead. I dove right into the forum, and like Vangirl, started reading a lot. One of the things I first read about was the 3-minute massage test: pick the weakest area on your face, and massage it for 3 minutes a day, 1-2x a day. I was not afraid to massage my face aggressively because I had learned a couple years earlier of a woman who had been doing aggressive body massage all over her and clients' bodies. She had such phenomenal results, and her clients looked much so younger that she was filmed for the Discovery channel--so not only did I KNOW that aggressive massage worked, I already knew that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life before even coming across FlexEffect. Carol Maggio's No Lipo Lipo is also based on the principle of aggressive massage, but using it to target cellulite (I have that too and love it!). FWIW, the theory a doctor came up for why massage works at beautifying the skin not only stimulates circulation, but that moderate skin stretching induces the production of new collagen and skin cells. When my FlexEffect program finally came, I did the recommended touch test--this is where you feel the thickness of all your tissues. I did this, and was shocked at how thin my eye tissue and cheek tissue was. In fact, I felt a huge drop in tissue thickness in palpitating from my cheek to eye area. So I started by doing the 3-minute massage test. Within one week, my under-eye tissue doubled in thickness! It was really great. I never needed any convincing about the effectiveness of the massage, but wow, did this help with my under-eye circles.

I put in a lot of time (A LOT!) in the early stages on the FlexEffect forum, and I don't think I would have gotten where I am today without that large upfront invest of time. The reason why is that it allowed me to be aware of pitfalls, manage my expectations better (i.e., delays expectations to more realistic levels), and optimize my routine. Here are some examples:
(1) The mouth muscle tends to build fast on many people, so be careful not to let it overbuild else you'll get a chimpy look;
(2) The jaw muscle tends to build fast on people, so be careful else you'll get a masculine looking jaw. I personally think that a stronger jaw look very elegant on a woman, but I find that it *only* works if you have big cheeks. Otherwise, a strong jaw looks masculine. On the contrary, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a weak or thin jawline looks aging to me, which is something that I don't think a lot of people realize when they purposefully neglect exercising the jaw. So I think the key is not let your jawline build too fast relative to your cheeks.
(3) That the eye area is sensitive and shows signs of stress very easily, so not to go at it aggressively.
(4) That there can be awkward stages since muscles build at different rates, especially the buccinator (side of cheek), which gives a gaunt or sucked in look before it starts building out. Fortunately, I didn't have that problem, as I started off in an awkward phase and spent most of the last 5 years in an awkward phase Sad

(5) That while following the full FlexEffect program was frequently recommended IF a person was willing to devote the time, that you can tailor the program...which I did starting in small ways in the beginning. For example, I knew my biggest challenge was going to be my cheeks, so from virtually the start, I exercised all 6 cheeks muscles every day, except on my one day a week rest day.
(6) That much more time is needed to get through the repair stage, than once you are in maintenance stage. This is no different from body exercise/weightlighting. Repair/building is hard, maintenance is easy.
(7) That sometimes results take a long, long time. For example, I recall that Loli said it took her three years to finally get her jawline to build out (in a nice feminine way, of course).
(8.) That spot-training can get you into trouble. See Claudia's previous link in this thread.

For the first 6 months, I exercised about 5-6 days a week for only 15-20 minutes, as that was all I felt I could afford time-wise. I did most of the exercises from the FlexEffect sample routine on the DVD plus added exercises for the cheek muscles not targeted on the DVD, so that I was hitting all 6 cheek muscles. I put more emphasis on my cheek exercises, but I made sure not to spot train, so I ensured I hit each area of my face a couple times each week. After initially learning about 15-20 exercises, I very slowly built up my repertoire of FlexEffect exercises, otherwise it would have been overwhelming and unmanageable for me.

In the first 4 months, aside from a modest increase in skin thickness and a small improvement in my undereye area, mostly from the massage I think, I saw no significant changes/build in my facial muscles. NONE. I do believe that we are all different, but I am always surprised when people get results so fast and saddened when people give up so early. Of course, I do understand that people see results on very different time scales based on their issues/problems (wrinkles, lack of tone, lack of volume, muscle imbalance, etc.) and on their background (age, overall health, previous facial exercise experience, etc.) Smile

Anyways, at 4.5 months, my skin made a huge leap forward; I had much less acne on my face (I did not have much to begin with, but I could still see the difference), and my face seemed just less sensitive to external and internal influences in a positive way. My skin also had much better circulation and vitality.

Around the 5 month mark, I started to see the first signs of build in my upper cheeks. Over each succeeding month for the next several months, I noticed more and more build in my upper cheeks. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble with my lower face during this time. While I have pretty good mind-muscle connection or was able to establish this quickly with almost all the muscles in my face, my buccinators and risorius (lower cheek) where incredibly resistant (and my zymogaticus muscles to some degree also). As a result, I was making not much progress in my lower face, and it was still looking awful. I want to be very honest about my experiences, so that I can help others. It was HARD for me to keep up my morale--though it's much harder when you are consumed constantly in looking and hoping for changes--and often it felt like I was on a rollercoaster ride. It's really hard to feel bad about the condition of one's face and that invest all that into a hope that you are not sure will work. But it was about a month after my darkest hours of doubt that I really started to make progress. I think I hit the darkest point before I really started to make progress because I knew I was working the muscles well so that progress should be coming, but it didn't...or at least, not as quickly as I had hoped.

After 6 months, I started to see the tiniest little bit of my lower gaunt cheek (the buccinators area) slowly start to fill in. Over months 6-9, I could see small progress month to month. Around month 8-9, I had made enough progress in my upper cheeks that I started to look much, much better, even with the sunken in lower cheeks, as the fullness in my upper cheeks distracted the eye from my cheek hollows. That was when I felt "the turning point", so to speak.

In month 11-12, my platsyma has really started to fill out in a beautiful and soft way especially around my jawline in a way similar to Loli. The narrow, thin jawline was aging me and not helping with the hollows. I can see know that my buccinators (the hollow part) seems to have been reduced from the edges inwards, if this makes sense. So the hollows are smaller but also shallower.

Very recently, I have just past the 1 year mark. I'm very, very happy with my progress on FlexEffect, but mind you, I have not reached my goals. To be honest, I naively thought that I would be able to reach my goals within 6 months, but now I understand what it takes. So I get it now, if that makes sense. I get why it is not easy, why awkward stages happen (it's not easy to build muscles in perfect balance, though it gets easier with accumulated experience). I still have more volume to build in my cheeks, and to be honest, some days, I love my cheeks, and other days, the end goal still feels far away. But ultimately, I feel so much better about myself--it's just a relief that I don't look gaunt anywhere. I feel so much more empowered. And I do notice that people look at me now as if I'm more attractive...in fact, I'd almost forgot what that's like, enough so that it surprises me when it happens.

About some of the other programs I've purchased...Of course, around the 5-6 month point, in my darkest hours, I purchased two more facial exercise programs: LL's Ageless and another program. The other program, not CFF, but similar to CFF in that the developer claimed to have purchased every program out there and had developed her own program focused way too much on toning exercises for my liking, most of which I'd seen elsewhere. However, now that I was wiser, I understood why this program worked so well for the developer: she had a very full face and had even claimed that her face was too full for her liking, and her main problem was sag, so of course, a well-thought out toning program could bring her most of the results she wanted, but such a program would be completely useless for me and my volume-loss issues. Regarding the second program, LL's Ageless, I would rate it my second favorite program, but to be honest, it's a distant second to FlexEffect for me. What I love about it is the emphasis on the cheeks, the ease of the program, the emphasis on training hard and resting a bit longer, and its design to try to minimize awkward stages. But honestly, I had learned and started doing some of this just from reading all the posts on the FlexEffect Forum. What I don't like about it is I feel the grips are not nearly as effective as the FlexEffect grips. First, LL is cavalier about the position and other details of the grip, but as a former weightlifter, I find that grip and technique are everything in bodybuilding, so I didn't like that aspect of Ageless. For example, a slight inward rotation in the wrist while doing a bicep curl will get you that desirable upper cut on the bicep, but a slight outward rotation wouldn't. But an even stronger inward rotation will help also build the upper forearm, so exact grip and technique affect not only which fibers in the muscles are used, but also which muscles. The second thing about the grips were that you pinch a chunk of flesh around the muscle being worked and that serves as a weight. For me personally, I tended to find these to be less effective than the FlexEffect exercises for the same muscles (with the exception of the zygomaticus major and minor muscles, for which I find Loulou's exercises to be somewhat more effective than the FE basic version, but must less effective than the FE advanced versions of these same exercises); in general, I find that for me I cannot apply nearly as much resistance or as much control with the Ageless technique, and those are things I value greatly. Finally, I want to mention two things that I have somewhat mixed but more negative than positive feelings on: (1) I both appreciate Ageless's over-emphasis on the cheeks, since that area tends to have the most effect on the face, and be off-put by it, since it purposely neglects and/or downplays other muscle groups (for example, LL recommends that certain muscles, like the forehead, atrophy since they don't contribute as much to the look of the face), which is not a wholistic approach; and (2) while the one-size fits all provides guidance and provides a great starting point, obviously one training program does not fit all, as Sister Sweets has pointed out.

So overall, FlexEffect is my favorite program by far--but that said, I am totally for picking and choosing the best exercises from all programs out there. But it just so happens that of all the other programs I've tried, the only exercises I use from other programs are Carol Maggio's nose shortener exercise (love it!!!!!) and Loulou's lip exercise (#10; also love it!), so I do really find most the FE exercises to be the best at tackling each particular muscle. That qualifier "most" is also in there because for a handful of exercises I've had to make some slight variations to the FlexEffect grips due the physical limitations of my finger strength. But even though I think FlexEffect is the best program out there by far, I still can completely see why some people don't like it or have issues with it. For example, because FlexEffect does not say one size fits all and there are not trainers in every city, the newbie feels so much more on his/her own and it requires more of an investment of time to understand one's own facial exercise needs; this is not a problem for some, but it can be devastating for others, especially if you need help through the awkward stages or are not executing the exercises probably and don't know it. And while the forum is great, it can be a challenge for a newbie working with a person over the forum to try to diagnose the problem without in-person contact or over Skype contact...But if you have serious problems with volume loss, like I do, I don't think any of the other programs deliver on that count as much as FlexEffect does. So for me, the additional initial time investment and uncertainty was sooooooo worth it.

But returning to the spirit of this thread, the bottomline is: with any facial program out there, you should get results! Seriously. All of them should deliver at least some tone and circulation improvements. However, most of them do not deliver significant restoration of age-associated or other induced volume loss; or they are mostly toning exercises with a few building exercises thrown in the mix. And of course, the programs also differ in techniques, rest schedules, philosophy, time commitment, etc. If it were me, I would at least try a few programs, since many of them come highly recommended and it's not obvious at first what is the best...at least, that has been my approach. And the final ingredients you need for success are (1) correctly calibrated expectations (that you should expect to see results in months, not days), and (2) lots and lots of patience and a healthy mental attitude Smile

I sincerely hopes this helps people! Smile

free skin care · Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:11 am

I am also a fan of FE but recently purchased Carole Maggio's dvd which I did not even finish watching I gave it away totally not my thing!! Cynthia Rowland is very similiar to FE in that she uses resistance to build muscle. I really liked her and feel like that would be a good supplement to the FE program for some variation. I am also a person with a thin face and want to create more fullness thanks for your inspiring words. Surprised

free skin care · Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:05 am

cm5597,
I am totally blown away by your insight and your review of the programs. Saying WOW is just not words enough, I think you need to seriously consider being a trainer for FE Very Happy

Toby

free skin care · Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:28 am

Yep, that's an epic post, Cm5597! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort.

free skin care · Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:54 am

cm5597 -

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for your incredibly helpful and educational post. I don't think I have ever read such a useful and detailed history of someone's facial exercise experiences before, and I'm very grateful you took the time to share it! Very Happy

free skin care · Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:07 am

Very generous of you to give such a detailed accounting of your experiences. Thank you.

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