It’s clear to see the world of beauty-focused gadgets is booming: ask any skincare fanatic, and they’ll tell you enthusiastically about the benefits of LED light therapy, microcurrent, or microneedling - all of which can now be performed outside of an aesthetician's office.
If we were interested in at-home skin treatments before, the arrival of the first lockdown pushed demand into overdrive, as the shuttering of clinics – combined with, for many, a lot of extra time at home – led us to invest in skin tech that promised a similar outcome to our favourite professional treatments. Now, such techy devices are a common part of beauty enthusiasts' at-home regimes, with devices even making it into pop-culture lore (you've likely seen the LED mask scene in Sex Education, or Cassie Howard's laborious routine in Euphoria).
With demand comes options and, of course, innovation. There are now plenty of buzzy devices out there to satisfy your every beauty demand – but one unlikely brand is pushing the category further than most.
Therabody is a brand you’ve probably heard of before: perhaps you already own one of its industry-leading massage therapy guns (another category that boomed exponentially during lockdown). Now, the brand is moving firmly into the beauty category with the launch of a tight edit of innovative facial skincare devices.
The Theraface Pro is the world’s first muscle-therapy device for the face – but it actually offers so much more than tension-melting appeal. The satisfyingly ergonomic device is slick and simplistic by design, but offers a remarkable range of treatments, which you can switch between with very little effort thanks to the weighty magnetic attachments.
First, the muscle therapy. The Theraface Pro uses the same ‘percussive therapy’ technology as the body-focused Theragun, precisely tailored to treat tension headaches, jawline knots and the dull ache that comes after a night of teeth-clenching. With three different shaped silicone heads and three intensities (the highest of which is indeed jaw-rattling), you can truly personalise your treatment to suit every whim, from light relaxation to sculpting lymphatic drainage.
So far so impressive, but it’s the range of additional protocols that tip this skin-tech newcomer into sell-out territory. The Theraface Pro also comes with an LED light-therapy ring, which can be used alone or in conjunction with the percussive massage. The red and near-infrared settings work to boost collagen production, while the blue kills the bacteria that contribute to acne, bringing breakouts down in a flash.
The softer-than-most silicone cleansing brush feels particularly welcome after a long day in the city, but perhaps most impressive is the inclusion of a brilliantly thought-out microcurrent head, which works to train the muscles beneath the skin, leading to facial contours that sit visibly higher and tighter. The two spherical probes send a low electrical current through the muscles of the face, training them to tone up both instantly and cumulatively. The probes themselves are perfectly spaced to lift cheekbones and jawlines, while the lightweight device makes it easy to run across your face with ease.
And that's not all: for those who want to take their at-home treatments into serious spa-standard realms, there’s a duo of heat and cryotherapy attachments that can be purchased separately. If you're looking to invest seriously in your skin health – or perhaps you can't choose between the brightening potential of LED and the sculpting powers of microcurrent – this may well be the do-it-all tool to indulge in.
"I actually think it's the coolest thing ever" - Maude Apatow
But don't only take our word for it; bypassing any endorsem*nt deals, numerous A-listers count the Theraface Pro as a must-have in their personal regimes. Recently, the likes of Karlie Kloss, Maude Apatow and Sydney Sweeney (the actress behind aforementioned fictional beauty junkie Cassie Howard) have all told Harper's Bazaar how they use theirs. In videos for our 'Inside my beauty bag' series, Kloss says she uses it to "massage and drain"; Apatow – who describes it as "the coolest thing ever" – explains she uses it to calm breakouts and "de-puff"; while Sweeney recommends it for "sculpting", adding that it's "perfect for travelling".
Last month, the brand unveiled its second beauty device, which doubles down on one technology in particular. The Theraface Mask is the brand's take on the ubiquitous LED face mask. The advantage of launching a device into an already established category is the ability to iron out the kinks in the existing options, pushing the technology to new heights – and that's exactly what Therabody has done here.
The Theraface Mask contains 648 diodes (significantly more than the most well-known alternatives) that allow for a full-face treatment of either red, blue, or near-infrared light. More powerful than most, the results are indeed remarkable, whether you're hoping to boost radiance or tackle persistent breakouts. And of course, it wouldn't be a Therabody device without a little of that signature massage: here, you'll find vibrating panels at the pressure points on your head and temples. That's the performance and the pampering boxes ticked, then.
