Tuning fork facial: A new ‘holistic’ and (expensive) beauty trend
I genuinely love a good facial — the ritual of it, the permission to lie still for 90 minutes, the way my skin looks afterward. I’m the person who books facials on vacation, who will try whatever’s trending this month, who drives to San Gabriel for a treatment a TikToker described as “gua sha on steroids.” So, yes, I was willing to pay $430 to have someone’s fingers in my mouth if it meant potential jaw realignment. Even if it meant a tuning fork was somehow involved.
The service is offered in a cozy Beverly Hills storefront by Sonia Vargas, the aesthetician and owner of Sonia Vargas Skin. While I dubbed it the tuning fork facial in my brain, Vargas bills it as the “Restructuring & Rebalancing Facial.” The 90-minute, $430 treatment promises to physically restructure your face.
Vargas said that she left fashion design eight years ago for facial massage training in techniques like craniosacral work (gentle manipulation of the skull and spine), manual lymphatic work and TMJ release. She told me the treatment has become popular with different types of clients. “It just depends on the face, the person, what they need and their budget,” Vargas said.
Some come weekly when dealing with acute TMJ issues, while others book quarterly maintenance appointments or schedule sessions before weddings when they want what Vargas calls a “natural lift.” She’s had clients come after jaw surgery who get treatments twice a week for months, others dealing with bad filler or Botox who needed intensive work to break down adhesions.
Sonia Vargas performs a lymphatic drainage massage.
The room was like many I’d been in for facials, dim, with low music playing and a bed taking up much of the space. But this one had a special addition of LED lights and ‘chakra-aligning’ gemstones that Vargas claimed pulsed at 4 hertz — a frequency she said that’s meant to help the immune system.
First came the familiar parts. The tingle of glycolic acid, the pain of extractions, the warm towels heating my skin. Then Vargas performed myofascial release methods with the precision of someone who knows exactly what she’s doing. Her fingers moved across my face like a pianist working through complicated scales as she tackled lymphatic drainage and the loosening of my jaw — a pleasurable experience that wasn’t uncomfortable even once.
As she continued working, the gradual lifting of my facial muscles began to accumulate into something noticeable. My face felt suspended in what seemed like a permanent knowing smile, as if I’d heard a particularly good joke no one else got.
After examining my jaw, Vargas suggested I add the TMJ release, a $90 addition to the base treatment. What followed was surprisingly gentle intraoral work, also known as buccal massage. I’d seen aggressive videos online, where aestheticians appear to be trying to extract someone’s skeleton through their mouth, but this was very peaceful in comparison. Her gloved fingers worked along my jawline from inside my mouth, breaking the silence to note my left side was significantly tighter, working more slowly there. I hadn’t mentioned the growing asymmetry I’d been noticing in photos or that I’d been meaning to ask my dentist about it.
1. Sonia Vargas wraps a warm towel around Jackie Snow’s face. 2. Sonia Vargas applies a cleanser. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The tuning fork came last, with Vargas pressing it against various points on my face. It was supposedly vibrating at something called Schumann resonance, 93.96 hertz, she later explained, a frequency that allegedly helps with immune function and chronic pain. It mostly felt like what it was: a cold piece of metal against my skin, vibrating. Unlike the dramatic muscle work that had come before, this was neutral, a bit anticlimactic.
The treatment incorporates elements that straddle the line between established practice and less proven ideas. The lymphatic drainage component has solid scientific backing, according to Dr. Ivy Lee, a board-certified dermatologist at the Comprehensive Dermatology Center of Pasadena. “The scientific evidence really comes from the breast cancer literature,” Lee said, referring to post-surgical lymphedema treatment. For healthy clients seeking wellness treatments, the benefits are mostly limited to temporary swelling reduction.
Sonia Vargas places a vibrating tuning fork on Jackie Snow’s face.
The vibrational therapy occupies murkier territory. Lee pointed to small studies suggesting vibration might improve microcirculation and skin temperature temporarily. But research that exists varies wildly in frequency, duration and methodology. “We don’t know the optimal dosing of this,” she said. “We don’t have an optimal protocol of what vibration frequency, where you apply it and then how long you apply it.”
The traditional elements of the facial have clear benefits, Lee confirmed. As for the rest, she saw no potential for harm, and in our high-stress world, that might be what matters most.
“Anything that can help us have that little moment where we can center ourselves does help,” she said. “Chronic elevated levels of cortisol are not good for us.”
When it comes to the claims about restructuring and facial rebalancing, the medical community is skeptical. “There is no evidence-based medicine to support any of the claims,” said Dr. Lisa Chipps, a Beverly Hills dermatologist who reviewed the treatment details. While she acknowledged that practitioners might be able to feel differences in muscle tension — as Vargas did with my jaw — changing or correcting those imbalances is another matter entirely.
Still, Chipps noted what both dermatologists emphasized: There’s no evidence these treatments cause harm. “If it makes people feel good, there’s nothing wrong with it,” she said. For some, she suggested, it might be like actors doing exercises before an audition. If it helps them feel their best, why not?
Vargas views the face as connected to the entire body’s fascia system, which is either revolutionary bodywork or expensive fiction, depending on who you ask. When I mentioned breaking my little toe while surfing three years ago had impacted my back and now maybe all the way up to my jaw, she agreed it was possible. “The back of your neck and your shoulders are so tight,” Vargas told me. “When you get certain injuries, you think it’s only there, but it actually affects everything.”
My skin looked great for days afterward, glowy and lifted. Whether that came from the lymphatic drainage or the fascia work, the tuning fork or just 90 minutes of focused attention, I couldn’t say. In a city where everyone’s stressed and most people’s jaws are clenched without even knowing it, the result felt worth it. And while Vargas clearly believes in the deeper bodywork, she hasn’t lost sight of the basics.
“I’m still an aesthetician,” Vargas said. “I want your skin to look good.”
