Facial Exercises by Area: A Map From Forehead to Neck

Facial exercises work best when you pick them by area: forehead and brows, eyes, cheeks, mouth and lips, chin and jawline, and neck each have their own muscles, their own realistic goals and their own simple moves. This guide is a map. For each area you’ll find what exercise can and can’t do, one or two starter moves you can try right now, and the deeper guide to read next. Keep your expectations honest: facial exercises are a gentle, relaxing habit with limited research behind them, not a way to remove lines or reshape your face.

Not sure which area to start with? Gluvy’s AI face analysis gives you a starting-point analysis that suggests focus areas for your first plan. It isn’t a diagnosis, just a way to choose where to begin.

How to use this guide

Start with the area or concern you care about most, try its starter move for a few days, then follow the link to the detailed guide. Each section below opens with what facial exercises can realistically offer there, gives one or two moves with suggested timings, and points you to the next read. You don’t need to work every area at once.

If you’d rather have a single list of moves for the whole face, our 12 face yoga exercises for every area puts two moves per area into a 10-minute workout. This page is the map; that one is the workout.

Area	Main muscles involved	Starter move	Go deeper
Forehead and brows	Frontalis, corrugator	Frown release	(inline below)
Eyes	Orbicularis oculi	Temple Lift	(inline below)
Cheeks and midface	Zygomaticus, levator muscles	Supported cheek smile	Smile lines
Mouth and lips	Orbicularis oris, depressor muscles	Pucker and smile	(inline below)
Chin, jawline and jowls	Mentalis, masseter, platysma	Side Jaw Stretch	Jawline, jowls
Neck	Platysma, deep neck muscles	Chin tuck	(inline below)

The muscles behind facial exercises

Your face has two broad groups of muscles, and facial muscle exercises mostly work the first. The face has around 30 muscles on each side: most are muscles of facial expression, supplied by the facial nerve, and a few are chewing muscles that move the jaw (StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf).

• Expression muscles raise your brows, close your eyes, lift the corners of your mouth and purse your lips. Many attach directly to the skin, which is why repeated hard frowning or squinting folds the skin in the same place.
• Chewing muscles (the masseter and temporalis) move the jaw. They are strong and easily overworked, so jaw moves stay gentle, with no clenching.
• The platysma is a thin sheet of muscle running from the jaw over the front of the neck, which is why many jaw moves also stretch the neck.

The same principles apply to face exercises for women and men: the muscles are the same, so the moves and safety rules are too.

Forehead and brows

The forehead is mostly about relaxing, not strengthening. The frontalis raises your brows and the corrugator draws them together into a frown, and many people hold both tense while they read or concentrate. Exercises can help you notice and release that tension, but no exercise has been shown to smooth forehead lines, and they won’t change the position of heavy or low brows in a predictable way.

Starter move: frown release (about 40 seconds)

1. Place the pads of your index and middle fingers between your brows.
2. Glide them slowly outward along the brows toward the temples, with light, even pressure.
3. Lift off, return to the centre and repeat 6 to 8 times, breathing slowly.

You should feel the area between your brows soften. If you prefer a muscle move, the forehead smooth-down and palm-supported brow raise in our face yoga exercises guide work the same area.

Common forehead concerns

• Forehead lines. These come from years of raising the brows plus sun exposure and ageing. Daily sunscreen does more than any exercise; use exercise to notice the brow-lifting habit. More in our guide to preventing forehead wrinkles.
• Frown lines between the brows. Repeat the frown release whenever you catch yourself frowning. Our guide to the 11 lines between your eyebrows covers the habits behind them.
• Heavy or hooded brows. Brow position depends largely on bone, skin and age. See a doctor if a heavy lid affects your vision. Our guide to face yoga for hooded eyes goes into detail. For gentle brow-area moves and gua sha, see our brow exercises guide.

Eyes

The eye area needs the lightest touch on your face. The orbicularis oculi is a ring of muscle around each eye, and the skin over it is the thinnest you have. Gentle moves here are mainly about relaxation and comfort after screen time. They won’t remove crow’s feet or under-eye bags, and squinting hard on purpose isn’t a good exercise.

Starter move: Temple Lift (about 35 seconds)

1. Close your eyes and rest your fingertips on your temples, just outside the outer corners of the eyes.
2. Glide slowly up and down with feather-light pressure, letting your fingers move with the skin rather than over it.
3. Keep your brows soft and your breathing slow.

Common eye-area concerns

• Crow’s feet and under-eye lines. Sunglasses, sunscreen and moisturiser matter more than exercise. Keep any massage here extremely light. More in our guide to crow’s feet.
• Morning puffiness. Gentle massage may temporarily make the eyes look less puffy. Our guide to lymphatic drainage face massage shows the strokes. Puffiness that is new, one-sided or painful is worth checking with a doctor.

Cheeks and midface

The cheeks are where the research is, such as it is. The only well-known study found that participants were rated as having fuller upper and lower cheeks after 20 weeks of practice (Alam et al., 2018), but it was small and had no control group. Our guide to face exercises for sagging cheeks has a full cheek routine. Face exercises for cheeks work the zygomaticus muscles you smile with and the muscles that raise the upper lip. They can’t change your cheekbones, and exercising the cheeks doesn’t burn fat there: spot reduction isn’t supported by evidence.

Starter move: supported cheek smile (about 40 seconds)

1. Place your fingertips lightly on the tops of your cheekbones.
2. Smile slowly with closed lips, feeling the cheeks rise under your fingers, and hold for about 5 seconds.
3. Relax completely, then repeat 5 times. Keep your eyes soft so you don’t squint.

Common cheek and midface concerns

• Smile lines. The folds from the nose to the mouth are normal anatomy and deepen with age. Our guide to exercises for smile lines explains what forms them and gives a 7-minute routine.
• Flat or sagging cheeks. Midface changes come from shifting fat, bone and skin. Muscle work is one small piece; sun protection and overall skin care are bigger ones.

Mouth and lips

The mouth is surrounded by a ring of muscle, the orbicularis oris, with smaller muscles that pull the corners up, down and sideways. Mouth exercises can make the area feel looser and help you notice habits like pursing or pressing your lips together. They won’t fill lip lines or change the shape of your lips.

Starter move: pucker and smile (about 40 seconds)

1. Push your lips forward into a soft pucker and hold for about 3 seconds.
2. Spread them slowly into a wide, closed-lip smile and hold for about 3 seconds.
3. Repeat 6 to 8 times at a slow pace, keeping your forehead still.

Common mouth-area concerns

• Lip lines. Fine lines above the lip are linked to sun exposure, smoking and repeated pursing. Keep lip moves soft and use an SPF lip balm.
• Marionette lines. The lines running down from the corners of the mouth relate to the same age-related changes as jowls. Lower-face moves and posture work are the gentle place to start; see the jowls guide below.

Chin, jawline and jowls

The lower face is the most popular area for facial exercises, and the one with the most myths. The shape of your jaw comes mostly from bone, genetics, body fat, age and posture. Exercises can ease jaw tension, work the muscles of the chin and front of the neck, and build posture awareness. They can’t change bone structure or target fat under the chin.

Starter move: Side Jaw Stretch (about 35 seconds)

1. Sit tall, then tilt your head up and slightly to the right.
2. Open your jaw gently, only as far as is comfortable, and hold briefly.
3. Close slowly, repeat a few times, then switch sides.

Second move: Tongue Reach (about 40 seconds)

1. Stick your tongue out and reach toward the right corner of your upper lip.
2. Hold for a moment, then draw it back in.
3. Repeat 4 to 5 times, then switch to the left.

Where to go next

• Jawline. Our guide to jawline exercises has a 4-minute, seven-move routine and an honest look at mewing and jaw trainers.
• Jowls. Read face yoga for jowls for why they form, six lower-face moves and how to track progress honestly.
• Double chin. Fat under the chin depends on genetics, overall body fat and age. Exercise doesn’t burn fat in one spot, but chin tucks and better phone posture can change how the area looks in everyday life.

Stop any jaw move that causes pain, clicking or locking, and check with a dentist or doctor first if you have jaw joint (TMJ) problems.

Neck

Face and neck exercises belong together, because the platysma links the jaw to the neck and posture shapes both. Neck moves can ease stiffness and remind you where you hold your head. They can’t tighten loose neck skin in a predictable way.

Starter move: chin tuck (about 40 seconds)

1. Sit or stand tall, looking straight ahead.
2. Without tipping your head down, glide your chin straight back.
3. Hold for about 5 seconds, release slowly and repeat 5 to 6 times.

Second move: Neck Circle (about 35 seconds)

1. Drop your right ear gently toward your right shoulder.
2. Roll slowly through chin-to-chest to the left side, keeping the circle small and comfortable.
3. Switch direction halfway through. Skip the backward part of the circle if it strains your neck.

Common neck concerns

• Loose skin and neck lines. These are mostly about skin, genetics and age. Sunscreen on the neck, not just the face, is the most useful habit. For more on horizontal neck lines specifically, see our neck lines guide. Our guide to turkey neck exercises explains what neck moves can and can’t change.
• Tech neck. Looking down at a phone for hours strains the neck. Raise your screen, add chin tucks and posture breaks, and see a physiotherapist for ongoing pain.

Add gua sha and facial massage by area

Massage is a natural partner to facial exercises in every area. A gua sha stone glided outward with light pressure can feel relaxing and may make the face look less puffy for a while. Our gua sha routine gives the strokes area by area, the complete guide to gua sha covers technique and safety, and face yoga vs gua sha helps you choose where to start.

How to build a routine across areas

A routine of about 5 to 10 minutes is enough. A simple way to build one:

1. Warm up with 30 seconds of light fingertip taps across the face.
2. Spend most of your time on one or two focus areas, using the starter moves above.
3. Finish with a relaxing move, such as the frown release or a few slow breaths with your eyes closed.

Change focus areas every few weeks if you like. If you want a ready-made full-face sequence, our 5-minute face yoga routine for beginners covers forehead to neck in eight moves.

What to expect from facial exercises

Research on facial exercises is limited, so expect a pleasant habit rather than guaranteed results. A 2014 systematic review found nine reports on facial exercise for rejuvenation, none with a randomised control group, and concluded the evidence was insufficient to judge whether it works (Van Borsel et al., 2014). The best-known later study, a 2018 pilot in JAMA Dermatology, enrolled 27 women aged 40 to 65, of whom 16 completed 20 weeks of exercises (30 minutes a day for 8 weeks, then every other day); dermatologists rating standardised photos saw fuller upper and lower cheeks, and the average estimated age fell from 50.8 to 48.1 years (Alam et al., 2018). It had no control group and used much longer sessions than most people keep up, so larger controlled studies are needed. For the full picture, read does face yoga work, and if you want to track your own practice, our guide to face yoga before and after photos shows how to take consistent ones.

Safety basics for every area

• Light effort, teeth apart. Feel a gentle stretch or mild muscle work, never pain, and don’t clench.
• Clean hands, a little oil for moves that glide over the skin.
• Know when to check first. Talk to a doctor, dentist or physiotherapist before starting if you have jaw joint (TMJ) problems, a neck condition, an active skin condition, or recent facial surgery, dental work or injectables. Stop any move that hurts, clicks or makes you dizzy.

Explore facial exercises with Gluvy

If you’d rather follow along than read, Gluvy’s face yoga video workouts cover every area on this map, with 229 guided video exercises for the forehead, eyes, nose, lips and mouth, cheeks, chin and jawline, neck and full face. You choose a focus area, and the app builds a 3-week plan of about 5–10 minutes a day with a timer on every step. For the lower face, there’s a dedicated chin and jawline plan. Ready to start? Download Gluvy on iPhone. For the bigger picture, read our complete guide to face yoga.

Sources

• “Anatomy, Head and Neck: Facial Muscles.” StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf.
• Van Borsel J, et al. The effectiveness of facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: a systematic review. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2014.
• Alam M, et al. Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatology, 2018.