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Face taping means sticking strips of skin tape on your forehead, between your brows or around your eyes, usually overnight, to hold the skin flat and stop it creasing. It can make lines look a little smoother when you take the tape off, but that effect is temporary, the evidence is only anecdotal, and the adhesive can irritate your skin. Below you’ll find how face taping is done, what it can and can’t do, the skin risks, and gentler habits for expression lines.
The short answer on face taping
Face taping limits movement and creasing while the tape is on, and that’s all it reliably does. The smoother look in viral face taping before and after clips is real, but it fades once your face starts moving again. There are no good-quality clinical trials showing lasting results, and adhesive on the face night after night can irritate the skin.
Cleveland Clinic describes face tape as a temporary fix at best, noting that wrinkles come back once the tape is removed and that taping can irritate skin, cause blisters or trigger an allergic reaction (Cleveland Clinic, face tape).
How face taping is done
The idea is simple: smooth the skin with your fingers, then stick tape across it so it can’t fold. Most people do it before bed and peel it off in the morning.
Common placements
- Forehead: horizontal strips across the forehead lines, or an X shape, for face taping forehead wrinkles.
- Between the brows: a small strip or X over the vertical 11 lines, where people often frown without noticing.
- Around the eyes: small pieces at the outer corners over crow’s feet. The skin here is thin, so this is the riskiest spot.
- Lower face: some people tape the jaw for face taping for jowls, but jowls come from deeper changes in skin, fat and support tissue.
What tape people use
People usually choose tape sold for skin: kinesiology-style tape or strips marketed for face taping. Cleveland Clinic’s advice is that if you try it, you should use tape made specifically for the face (Cleveland Clinic). Avoid household tapes such as packing, duct or office tape, which aren’t designed for skin.
What face taping can and cannot do
Tape works mechanically: it holds the skin still, so it can’t fold while the tape is on. That’s why the effect is real but short-lived.
What it can do
- Remind you not to frown. Many forehead and brow lines start as habits, like raising your eyebrows at a screen. Tape gives you instant feedback when you move.
- Reduce sleep creasing for the night. If you sleep on your side and wake up with lines pressed into your face, tape may limit some of that folding while you sleep.
What it cannot do
- Change the skin itself. Lines that stay visible when your face is at rest reflect years of movement, sun exposure and changes in collagen and elasticity. Holding the skin flat for a night doesn’t rebuild any of that.
- Give lasting results. There are no good-quality clinical trials showing that face taping for wrinkles makes a lasting difference. Treat any before and after photo as a snapshot of the morning, not evidence of change.
Taping is also not a form of face yoga. Face yoga works the muscles; taping does the opposite by holding them still. For a look at a different online trend, see our honest guide on whether mewing works.
Risks of face taping
The main risk of face taping is skin irritation, because you’re leaving adhesive on your face for hours and then pulling it off. Face taping at night, every night, repeats that stress on the same patch of skin.
Irritation and contact dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is a rash caused by something touching the skin. It can be irritant (the substance damages the skin) or allergic (your immune system reacts to it), and allergic reactions can take hours or days to appear (AAD, contact dermatitis). Signs include itching, redness, burning or stinging, dry or cracked skin and blisters, usually only where the trigger touched (Cleveland Clinic, contact dermatitis). A square of redness or itch exactly where the tape sat is the classic clue.
Damage on removal
Pulling tape off can strip away part of the outer layer of skin. Cleveland Clinic notes that face tape can take off the stratum corneum, the skin’s protective top layer, and can lead to blisters (Cleveland Clinic). The thin skin around the eyes is especially easy to irritate.
When not to tape
- On broken, sunburned, peeling or freshly exfoliated skin.
- Over active acne, a rash, eczema or rosacea flares.
- Soon after a facial procedure, injectables or surgery, unless your clinician says it’s fine.
If you choose to try it: a safer approach
If you still want to try face taping, keep it gentle and short, and treat any reaction as a reason to stop. These steps lower the risk but don’t remove it.
1. Patch test first
The AAD recommends testing new skin products on a small, hidden patch of skin before using them on your face, for example inside the elbow, twice a day for 7 to 10 days (AAD, how to test skin care products). Tape isn’t a skincare product, but the same idea applies: wear a small piece on your inner arm for as long as you’d wear it on your face, on several days, before it goes near your face. Redness, itching or bumps mean that tape isn’t for you.
2. Start small and skip nights
Try one small strip on one area, a couple of nights a week, rather than covering your face every night.
3. Remove it slowly
Peel the tape low and slow while supporting the skin with your other hand. Loosening the edges with a little water or oil first helps. Never rip it off.
4. Stop at the first sign of trouble
Stop if you notice redness that lingers, itching, flaking, stinging or blisters. See a doctor or dermatologist if a rash spreads, blisters or doesn’t settle after you stop.
A related cause: sleep wrinkles
Some lines come not from expressions but from how you sleep, which is one reason face taping at night became popular.
A 2016 review in Aesthetic Surgery Journal described sleep wrinkles as lines formed by compression, stretching and shearing when the face is pressed against a pillow in side or stomach positions (Anson et al., 2016). The authors note that they differ from expression lines in how they form and in where and which way they run, and suggest the most direct way to reduce them is to avoid that distortion of the face during sleep. It’s a review rather than a trial, so it explains a likely mechanism rather than proving a fix.
If you often wake with a crease on the same side of your face, your sleep position is the likelier culprit. Sleeping on your back, if comfortable, keeps pressure off your face and addresses the cause more directly than tape.
Gentler alternatives to face taping
The habits with real support for slowing skin aging work on the causes rather than the surface.
- Sun protection every day. The AAD lists daily broad-spectrum sunscreen and not smoking among the main ways to reduce premature skin aging, and notes that repeating the same facial expressions for years can make lines permanent (AAD, premature skin aging).
- Expression awareness. Notice when you frown or lift your brows at a screen, and let them drop. Our guides to forehead wrinkles and the 11 lines between your eyebrows include simple awareness drills.
- Forehead relaxation. Slow smoothing strokes and a palm rest with steady breathing help a busy forehead let go before sleep. See how to relax your face muscles for more moves.
- A calmer bedtime. A short wind-down can ease the frowning and jaw clenching that tension brings. Try our bedtime face yoga routine.
If you want options that go further than home care, a board-certified dermatologist can talk you through treatments for lines you see at rest. Our comparison of face yoga vs Botox explains how exercise and medical treatment differ.
Wind down instead of taping with Gluvy
If the appeal of face taping is a calmer, less scrunched face at night, Gluvy offers a gentler evening ritual. The face yoga video workouts include Forehead Relaxation Yoga, a follow-along course with a timer on every step, and the guided Sleep Ritual session helps you slow your breathing before bed. Set a night routine with a reminder so it becomes part of your evening, in about 5–10 minutes. Explore all Gluvy features or browse more honest guides in our face yoga hub.
Sources
- Cleveland Clinic. What Is Face Tape & Does It Work?
- American Academy of Dermatology. Contact dermatitis overview.
- Cleveland Clinic. Contact dermatitis.
- American Academy of Dermatology. How to test skin care products.
- Anson G, Kane MAC, Lambros V. Sleep Wrinkles: Facial Aging and Facial Distortion During Sleep. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2016.
- American Academy of Dermatology. 11 ways to reduce premature skin aging.
Frequently asked questions
Does face taping get rid of wrinkles?
No. There is no good evidence that face taping makes a lasting change to wrinkles. Tape can hold the skin flat and limit movement while it is on, so lines may look softer when you peel it off in the morning, but they return as soon as you start moving your face again.
Is it safe to tape your face every night?
Nightly taping raises the chance of irritation, because the adhesive sits on the same skin for hours and is pulled off again each morning. If you choose to try it, use tape made for skin, patch test first, take nights off and peel it away slowly. Stop if your skin turns red, itchy, flaky or blistered, and see a dermatologist if a rash doesn't settle.
What tape do people use for face taping?
Most people use tape sold for skin, such as kinesiology-style tape or strips marketed specifically for face taping. Household tapes like packing, duct or office tape are not made for skin and are more likely to irritate it or pull at it on removal. Even skin tapes can cause reactions, so a patch test is still worth doing.
Does face taping work for jowls?
There is no good evidence that taping changes jowls. Jowls come from changes in skin, fat and the deeper support structures of the lower face over time, and holding the skin still overnight doesn't alter those. Any lifted look from tape lasts only while the tape is on.
What is a better long-term habit than face taping?
Daily sunscreen and not smoking have far better support for slowing skin aging than taping. Noticing when you frown or raise your brows, and relaxing your face before bed, helps with the expression side of lines. A sleep position that keeps pressure off your face may reduce sleep creases.
Practise this with Gluvy. Follow-along videos with a timer for every step. See everything in the Gluvy app.
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The team that builds Gluvy writes these guides from the app's own face yoga, gua sha and skincare courses. We are not doctors or dermatologists: articles are general wellness information, and we link to the research where it exists.
This article is general wellness information, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or dermatologist if you have a skin, jaw or other medical condition.
