Ava Lee is telling me I have really soft ears. She certainly would know; she’s just applied lymphatic ear seeds to them after 10 minutes of massaging my lobe, the shell-shaped auricle, and helix (the curved part at the top).
“In traditional Chinese medicine, there is an ear reflexology map where your ear literally reflects every system and organ of your body,” Lee, founder of K-beauty brand By Ava, explains to me over ginger-carrot juice and gluten-free zucchini bread at Maman in New York. Acupressure has been used across different cultures for thousands of years. As of late, it’s included small stickers with a bead—the ear seed—that applies targeted pressure with a desired result. “You have all of these different pressure points you can target with acupuncture or ear seeds to stimulate them.”
But Lee’s version of ear seeds, the viral V-Line Ear Seeding Kit, is a future-facing take of the ancient practice. Each of the nude-colored stickers inside the V-Line kit has either five or 10 “seeds” carefully spaced out. But the seeds aren’t just there to apply pressure. “Instead of being made of plastic, like normal ear seeds, these are made of 10 different Chinese herbs that help to detox your body,” Lee says. She claims that targeted placement (for example, inside the middle of the concha or edge of the helix) can result in a lymphatic lift of the face. Cortisol face, be damned. “You have really flexible, soft ears,” Lee adds. A compliment! “Some people are so tense, even their ears are tight.”
The ear seeds are placed in areas along the face that connect to puffiness, tension, and the dreaded cortisol face—and while cortisol face is not an official medical condition, per se, it’s a social media phenomenon and considerable concern for overstressed people. Have unbalanced and excessive cortisol? Consequences can include weight gain, insomnia, mood swings, digestive problems…and the manifestation of inflammation on the face, which can in turn cause sagging and visible aging.
“Ear seeding isn’t Botox,” Lee says. “It cannot change the muscle or shape of the face. But it can help with blood flow and relaxation.”
Speaking of blood flow: The moment the application is complete, I swear…I start to feel it. Visually (and sort of physically) I’d compare the result to the Skims Face Wrap but for your ears. Also, my ears feel warm. Second, I start to feel drainage going down the back of my throat, all while we sit there. By the time I leave my meeting with Lee, I have started sweating—one of the signs that my lymphatic system is working.
“Whenever you’re stressed, there will be a shift in fluid in the body because stress hormones impact your overall circulation,” says board-certified integrative-medicine physician and author of The Hormone Shift Taz Bhatia, MD. Enter cortisol face. “Ear seeding and acupressure are gentle ways to restore balance in the body.”
Lee instructs me to continue to massage my ears throughout the day. “Rubbing the ear seeds activates both the herbs and pressure points,” she says. The sweating and back-of-throat drainage eventually stopped, and I noticed my shoulders and jaw felt less tense. Sleeping with the ear seeds in feels like a fresh piercing—at times, it was a bit tender—and I found myself most comfortable sleeping on my back, which is better for my facial symmetry, anyway.
I make it 48 hours before the ear sensitivity got the best of me. (Lee said most people can’t endure the three days that the sticker is meant to stay on.) And while I can’t speak to whether my ears are even softer than before, I certainly feel less tense.
