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Ice baths, Japanese onsens, hot stone massages, cryotherapy... hot and cold treatments are firmly rooted in beauty techniques and traditions around the world. Thanks to their wide range of applications and benefits, temperature functions have been integrated into many of the latest at-home cosmetics devices on the market.
Depending on your personal goals, you can rely on hot or cold treatments to target issues such as skin tightening, detoxification, cell oxygenation, circulation, toning, firming, puffy eyes, and more. Temperature-driven treatments are also highly effective complements to other beauty technologies because they provide excellent healing and calming benefits for irritated or sensitive skin.
Why we chose it:
- Warming treatments stimulate blood flow, delivering fresh oxygen and nutrients to cells
- Cooling functions reduce pore size, firms skin, improves skin elasticity
- When alternated, hot and cool functions promote vascular circulation and product absorption
- Enhances the results of complementary skincare treatments
- Effective after-care solution offering healing, calming and rejuvenation benefits
- Soothes and calms irritated or sensitive skin
- Safe, affordable, non-invasive
Hot vs cold treatments
The first step when it comes to temperature treatments is to choose the best approach for your needs. Suitable for both your body and face, heat treatments are most effective for boosting circulation, opening pores, reducing fine lines and easing muscle tension. For a heat treatment to be effective, the temperature must reach a minimum of 40 degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). At this level, the heat will relax your muscles and expands blood vessels. As circulation improves, fresh blood flows to targeted areas and delivers more oxygen and nutrients for healthier, brighter skin. Likewise, heat treatments are often used to optimise cleansing. Essentially, heat opens your pores, improving the effectiveness of exfoliation and product absorption.
As you might expect, cooling treatments work the opposite way. When a device reaches below -10 degree Celsius, the resulting chill can ‘shock’ the dermis and muscles. This constricts the blood vessels, sending them into powerful ‘wake up’ phase that shrinks pores, tightens skin and reduces inflammation.
That’s why cooling treatments are very popular for the under eye area – by constricting blood vessels, cold treatments can de-puff under-eye bags, brighten skin, and improve the appearance of dark circles.
In terms of body treatments, cryotherapy (meaning “cold therapy”) has become popular amongst celebrities, athletes and laymen alike. During a cryotherapy treatment, you usually sit or stand in a freezing chamber (where temperatures range from -120 to -184 degrees Celsius) for roughly two to four minutes – any longer could be dangerous.
Though not yet proven, preliminary studies and anecdotal results have found that cryotherapy could be effective for slimming, anti-aging, mental focus, joint pain, arthritis, mood disorders, and overall muscle healing. The intense cold is also believed to boost your metabolism, which can potentially support weight loss goals.
Related: Overall of all Anti-aging Beauty Treatments
Find the right combination
Many at-home devices pair heat or cooling settings with other beauty technologies such as sonic vibration, infrared light, EMS or radiofrequency. In addition, many devices offer dual temperature massage functions. The heated function helps muscles relax when used on the body, and promotes product absorption when used on the face by opening pores and enabling serums to seep below the skin’s surface. Cold functions, meanwhile, tighten pores as well as relieve inflammation that often builds up overnight.
Alternating between hot and cold temperatures – a practice that dates to ancient civilisations – provides added benefits. When you go back and forth between an ice bath and a heated sauna, for instance, the shock jump-starts blood flow, detoxes skin and increases energy. When practiced regularly, hot and cold temperature treatments can result in a stronger immune system, increased circulation, cleaner pores, and more radiant skin.
A few more questions
Who are hot and cold temperature-controlled devices for? Cooling devices are ideal for anyone who would like to tighten skin and shrink pores. While heat devices are best for improving blood circulation, opening pores and relaxing muscles.
Does it hurt? Not at all. Both hot and cold treatments are completely noninvasive, not to mention soothing and relaxing.
How long can I use the treatments for? Most at-home temperature devices are gentle enough to be used on a daily basis, but be sure to follow the instructions for best results.
Which treatments are a good complement? Most of the devices using temperature technology also feature other non-invasive treatment capabilities, such as sonic vibration, infrared light, EMS or radiofrequency. Cold treatments, in particular, are effective in soothing irritated skin and jump-starting the healing process.
Any post-care to work about? Nope! There’s no downtime and nothing to worry about in terms of post-treatment care.
Can temperature treatments be used with products? Yes, for sure. To promote absorption, use a heat treatment to open pores and enable serums to penetrate deep into the skin. Then use a cold setting to close pores and lock in moisture.
Try temperature technology at home
Temperature treatments can be found in countless devices and products. Here are a few of our favourites:
Specifically designed for the eyes and face, the Touchbeauty Hot & Cool Device combines sonic vibration with hot and cold massage functions that can shrink pores, increase circulation, tighten skin, improve texture, remove fine lines and rejuvenate tired skin.
Breo Eye Massager allows you to customize your own massage experience. Its ergonomic and portable design makes it a handy tool at home, office or on the road. Now close your eyes, and imagine hearing the sound of nature, the air pressure causing a comfortable relaxing massage around the eyes and a warm sensation relaxing your tired eye muscles.
Another small size but powerful facial tool is the Cozcore Florecer 4-in-1 Facial Device. It warms up to 42 °C in seconds to promote a warm relaxing collagen-boosting treatment as you circle it around your face. This compact size handheld device can vibrate to boost blood circulation. You can also switch on the LED (Red, Blue and Green) to improve skin tone or Electrotherapy mode for the skin lifting and tightening effect.
