| Author | Message | ||
     Terri F |
Hi Tom, I do facial resistance muscle training. I found your site today when someone on the FlexEffect Facial Resistance training board asked where the Occipitalis was. We do an exercise that concentrates on the occipitalis & frontalis to lift droopy eyebrows & decrease forehead lines. I was wondering if you do this one: Fan 4 fingers of ea. hand. Place them just above your ears. Firmly push scalp up with fanned fingers and hold. Raise eyebrows and concentrate on the occipitalis. Hold contraction for count of 6. How many exercises do you have for this area & where can I find them. Although I don't have baldness, pulling the ears back helps improve facial appearance and that's what Im after. Thanks for response. | ||
| Anonymous |
terri f what is facial resistance muscle training if ya don't mind me asking and where can i learn more about it? and in your opinion do you think that it's benefitial to the hair and might help it remain strong and healthy? cheers mate | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Terri F and Anonymous: Click here - Flex Effect and you'll find some good information about facial exercises. The exercise that you described for the frontalis and occipitalis muscles, Terri, is a passive exercise. It can be done immediately. The scalp exercise that I do is more rigorous. The down side is that it takes some time to gain control of the stubborn occipitalis muscles so that you can do it correctly. It is effective, though, in toning up the whole upper face, and pulling it up and back, which I'm sure is a look you want. Read My Approach for a description of how to do the scalp exercise. You'll have to read it more than once because it's rather complex, at least that's what people tell me. | ||
| Terri F |
Tom I read your Approach several times, and started to experiment. If the answer to this question is no, then I'll know exactly how to do this 2-part exercise: Do the eyebrows move upward at any time? When a person first starts to practice your exercise, the occipitals and the 3 muscle above & behind the ears are probably too weak to visibly detect ear movement. Perhaps there is slight movement but its so small a person would think they're just imagining it. Even without visible evidence of the ears moving; if the exercise is continually practiced, the muscles will become stronger and ear movement will positively be confirmed by a mirror. I have a book, Tom, that was written when you were about 4 years old. The author attempts to explain how to move the ears while in front of a mirror. The book, Eternal Youth, is a facial exercise book. Who'd have though people were interested in that topic so long age :-) Anyway, in the long run, she never really does explain how it happens; but she does give one suggestion that I believe is noteworthy to try it you want to get confirmation that your ears are moving. For women, she suggests wearing dangling earrings. Watch them in the mirror while you attempt the ear movement. Just the slightest movement will cause the earrings to sway, and you'll know your on the right track. I took long, narrow strips cut from a post-it notepad, attached it to ea. earlobe and tried to see movement while performing the exercise. It worked just as well as wearing earrings. Although it doesn't sway, you'll detect the paper's movement more noticably than if you performed the exercise without the stips. Tom, I'd tell your men to wear post-it note strips when they first begin to practice because generally they don't wear dangling earrings; although in this day and age, it is a more likely possibility that they do!!!!!!!!! Terri | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Terri F: The eyebrows do move up and down when you're doing the exercise correctly. When you contract the frontalis muscles at the front of the head, your eyebrows go up; when you contract the occipitalis muscles at the back of your head, the forehead smooths out and your ears move backward. Sorry about that. I wonder who wrote Eternal Youth. Was her book published by Bernard McFadden? Were books actually being written when I was four? But what a good idea to confirm that the occipitalis muscles are contracting. The dangling earrings are a form of biofeedback. It's the best idea I've heard of for gaining control of the occipitalis muscles. Thank you for giving us this bit of information. | ||
| Terri F |
Tom, the book was written by Elinor Glyn, The Macaulay Co., l928. She has muscle diagrams of the face & neck and facial/neck resistance exercises. The last 4th of the book is dedicated to her "auricular series of exercises" which teaches you how to raise the ears, then to use them as leverage to lift the face starting l" in front of ears, then further forward until you can pull up the whole face (including under chin area) up & back with your muscles to give yourself a non-surgical facelift. (runon sentence!)) Finally Glyn concludes with a chapter on how to train the frontalis and the occipitalis to move so that when you raise the forehead you won't form wrinkles. She say her exercises "cause the blood to circulate more thoroughly in the hair roots, and by so doing will lessen any tendency there may be towards baldness or greyness". Isn't that interesting. You're not the first to discover this principle. !!!!! Ok, I understand what your saying. I was pulling the frontalis down into a frown causing those vetical lines to show between the brows because I thought it would pull the scalp forward around to the front. My ears were still moving anyway when I contracted the occipitalis. My brows look like they're moving up a fraction on their own when I contract the occipitals and the forehead feels like its expanding outward. Glyn's exercises make a lot more sense to me now. She isn't using alternate contractions of the frontalis and occipitalis. She has you just raise your ears and then use resistance with the fingers on the frontalis, then slowly moving the resistance further back in 4 exercises. The 5th is a combination of the last four, using the base of the palms for resistance instead of the fingers. The 6th, and last ex. is to get the sensation (with your palms placed right above the brow) of the whole skin of the forehead moving back over the top of head when you lift the brows. Once you can achieve this sensation, you can lift the brows without wrinkling the forehead because the front part of the frontalis muscle will no longer push against "a perfectly stiff area of frontalis muscle on the top of the head", she exclaims! I should probably send these instructions to you since Im not good at verbal or written expression. I'm a "Buckeye" too. Not far from the Cleveland Browns, Indians & Rock & Roll Hall of Fame--only 12 miles away. My gosh, you & I are practically neighbors! Well, not really; but close enough. PS Excuse the typo's, either my keyboard isn't working right, or something on your end. The print isn't showing up until a long time after I've typed it. There's a big lag and it throws my thoughts off for some reason. | ||
| Anonymous |
terri, in the book does it say how to move the ears. i've been trying for ages but still can't do. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Terri F: In South Euclid, Ohio where I was raised, the animals around Tellings Creek were all small and friendly. Yesterday I was walking along the Hocking River in Athens and saw a log on the bicycle path that goes to Nelsonville. I was going to kick the "log" off the path when it's mouth opened and a forked tongue shot out. This snake was three feet long and as thick as a salami. Many people ask me about frowning when doing the scalp exercise. The frown muscles have nothing to do with the exercise. There is never a need to frown - unless all your hair falls out. I should have made that clear in my booklet and in the video CD. I'd like to send you my video CD and the booklet in exchange for Elinor Glyn's book. When I'm done with the book I'll send it back to you. Send me an email - Tom. It's depressing to know that I'm not the first one to discover the scalp exercise. Elinor Glyn back in 1928 - Wow! Probably someone in Iraq will discover papers proving that one of Sadam Hussein's ancestors built the first airplane and flew it before the Wright brothers. There's no stability anymore. Even Martha Stewart has failed us. | ||
| terri F |
Tom, I answered you by E-mail. BTW, I told the girls on the Flex Effect board about you. They're all checking in here to learn about the scalp exercise. One gal, Julie, wrote & told me she ordered your material. Do you remember sending it to her just recently? I must be a born salesman!!! :-) Terri | ||
| Terri |
Anonymous, I wrote you a long message on Glyn's suggestions, but somehow it was deleted before it actually posted. Perhaps I should ask Tom first if he minds that I post info from another source, it may be contrary to his advice. I already mentioned to wear dangling earrings which will let you know that the ear is actually moving BEFORE you can even see it moving in a mirror. Even a slight sway means you're on the right path. You can get a cheap pair of dangling clip on kind that women wear who don't have pierced ears. Or you can try my post-it note technique. Maybe even a large paper clip or a spring clothespin--be inventive, stick something on those earlobes for feedback. Here's one quick tip. Although you don't need to clench your teeth to lift the ears, it might help if you did. Glyn recommened it. Once you can see for sure that they move, you'll be able to do it without clenching too. I also read on a site (it was about addition) that if you can stimulate the ear muscles with an electronic stimulator (like the kind women use for facial exercise) as soon as you get the sense of contraction, you will be able to do it without the stimulator. I don't remember the address. Do a search on yahoo for "wiggle ears" or "move ears", can't remember what I used. Maybe you can find the one I read. If you don't have a stimulator, go find a female that has one and borrow it. Maybe in your search you'll even find more tips. I didn't look to long. Terri | ||
| Julie |
He sure did...! Nice to see you an a different board, Terri. That book looks really interesting. Seems to be unavailable, at amazon at least. Personally I'm still a little confused with the exercise, but I'm sure I'll get a better grasp of it all once I see the video. And I do feel sure that I have minute movement in the occipitalis, but not much control, so I'm sure I can improve on both with focus. Tom, I forgot if I mentioned to you that I have strong horizontal lines on my forhead and have had since my early 30s. If they start to lessen I'll know for sure that I'm doing the scalp exercise correctly. Cheers, Julie | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Terri and Julie: You can post anything from other sites or anywhere that will be helpful to people. The only messages I delete are ads from companies selling scam products. Julie, those strong horizontal lines will not disappear after you learn how to do the scalp exercise correctly. But they'll become much less noticeable. When you tone up and develop the occipitalis muscles, they will continually pull back on your forehead, smoothing it out. Be sure to use a film of mineral oil on your forehead when doing the exercises. I know this is all counterintuitive. You would think that the more you exercised the scalp muscles, the more wrinkles would form in the overlying skin. It doesn't work that way. I've seen the horizontal and vertical lines become less discernable in three women after only several months on the program. | ||
| Julie |
Hi Tom, Thanks for that information. Yes, I'll be happy if my lines get even a little less prominant. I do agree with you about wrinkles lessening rather than getting worse from doing the exercise, as this has been my experience from the other face exercises I do. I notice your jaw and cheekbones are in great shape. Is that also from the scalp exercise or would you put it down to your own personal face exercise regime that you mentioned elsewhere on this forum? My own jaw area could use a bit of tightening....! Also, the video arrived yesterday, thanks. It was very good to be able to watch it and see what doing it correctly actually looks like. Well, I sure have my work cut out for me! heh heh! when I try it my scalp goes backward, not upward and forward like yours! I'm definitely not using the occipitals at this point, but at times I can get some movement in then, but it will obviously take some practise to get it working properly. I will let you know of my progress once I start to be able to get it happening a bit better. Thanks, Julie | ||
| terri F |
For Julie, The exercise I posted you on F.E. may not be the correct direction of resistance for the scalp ex. She made a mistake on one in the facial exercises, so I don't completely trust her. I can't figure out which direction the resistance should be when you raise the ears, but hopefully Tom will advise once he's had a chance to study the book. Terri | ||
| terri F |
Anonymous: How to Practice Raising the Ears by Elinor Glyn. #l. Sit comfortably in an armchair with the back of your head resting on a cushion. Begin to think about your ears to the exclusion of everything else---EARS, EARS, EARS. Try to imagine that all your concentration & will-power are passing into your ears. When you have been doing this for 5 min., suddenly clench the teeth tightly together, and at the same time as the muscles set in the jaws, make a great effort to draw the ears back & up. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." #2. Sit at a table opposite a mirror and put your elbows on the table. Then place the 3 middle fingers of ea. hand over ea. ear, and clench the teeth together, and as you do this push UP your ears with your fingers. Remain in this position while you count twenty slowly. Then relax and rest a moment and then repeat the exercise over & over again until you begin to feel the muscles in your ears and jaws quite tired and achey. Once you have done this, try and see if you can move them by simply clenching the teeth & making a muscular effort without the help of the hands. One day, quite suddenly perhaps, you will feel that you really can raise your ears up and down, so that you are able to see them doing so in a mirror without any doubt about it. #3. Once you have accomplished a visible movement, practise raising your ears at odd moments during the day. When you feel without any doubt that you can move them, you can greatly increase the power by using a little resistance. Instead of helping the ears up with your fingers, use the fingers to gently press ears DOWNWARD, and draw the ears up with the muscles against the pressure. It is no good whatever doing this in the early stages of the exercise, as your Auricular muscles would be too undeveloped. I leave it to you to feel and know when you are sufficiently advanced to practise slight resistance. Hope these tips help. She says it may take a month or more before you achieve results, so you must be patient with yourself. Terri | ||
| Julie |
Hi Terri, Thanks for all the details on that. However I can easily move my ears. What I can't do is move the occipitals. That's what I'm now trying to do. Whew, this is going to take time, but I know I can get it if I keep working with it. Cheers Julie | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
When I first started to learn the scalp exericise, I assumed like Elinor Glyn that the muscles involved were the auricular muscles - the three fan-shaped muscles around each ear. These muscles contract when you clench your jaw, but they do not move the scalp back and forth. Perhaps the auricular muscles are passively exercised when you do the scalp exercise properly. I really don't know about this though. I never did think of myself as a hair guru when I built my Web site, but I did think of myself as an expert on the scalp exercise. People on this fourm, though, with their questions and comments have really taught me a lot about the exercise. I think we're all becoming experts now. | ||
| Terri |
Tom, The ear muscle movement is just the preliminary step according to Glyn. The frontalis/occipitalis exercise follows in another chapter. Her theories may be incorrect. You may be disappointed in the book, but Ill send it anyway as promised. She figured out all her exercises on her own through observation of people & study of the muscle; therefore, her method may not be accurate. I think people weren't as concerned as they are today with "face lifts". Apparently, she was. I give her credit for trying. She is on the right track with most of her facial exercises, though she uses incorrect resistance on one. You'll see what I mean. Occipitals move in which direction when the ears are raised? Glyn may have it all backwards. Since I don't sense anything but a pulling inward at the back of head I can't determine which way their suppose to move. With ears raised is it upward, and when the brows are raised do they pull downward? That makes the most sense to me if I think about fluid scalp movement. Or is it the opposite? Is it possible to even move the occipitalis without raising the ears? | ||
| Terri |
Tom, Gosh, I assumed those 3 muscles were moving the ears because every book I every read on the subject said that they were the key to ear movement. What you wrote didn't sink into my thick skull until evening when I started to try the exercise. Now that I found a better view of where the occipitalis are, thanks to Julie, I'll be able to get the sense of them when I place my hands back there. They're much higher than I first thought! You learn something new every day! Im on my way to copy the book. Will try to mail today. | ||
| Julie |
Hi Tom, What I'm finding, when trying to focus on moving the occipitalis muscles, is that there's movement in the front of my neck. Any comments on this? It might have to be this way for awhile until I can get movement in the correct area. While trying to focus on the muscles I don't even think about moving my ears. I had a bit of a tension headache in the back of my neck/base of skull today. Possibly from trying it, (though maybe not) but then, later on, trying it again (still with no real movement there), I eventually noticed that it had improved a lot and it eventually went away. Actually. I get plagued by occasional neck headaches, often on one side of the head/neck, but sometimes moving to the centre of the base of the skull. It's rare I can easily get rid of them. they often like to settle in for a few days, so I was really pleased that my attempts at doing the scalp exercise helped to the degree the headache went away. This can only be good for my health! Cheers Julie | ||
| Julie |
Me again, Tom, I just saw another post on this forum where you say: "If you place you fingers firmly on the crown of your head or even in the occipital area, you will feel no movement of the scalp even though you are flexing your occipitalis muscles with world-class strength. But if you place your fingers toward the front of the head (between the frontal hair line and the crown) you will feel about a 1/4 inch of movement if the occipitalis muscles are really contracting." Now I'm a little confused. I can easily make the scalp area on the top of my head move that much, though it moves backwards, not forwards (like on your video). Does this mean that even though I don't really feel the occipitalis themselves moving, that I might possibly be moving them after all without realising? Actually, there IS movement at the back of my head, but it seems higher up than where I thought the occipitalis are. My ears move a little, but it's a different muscle sensation - more from around the scalp/crown region than if I focus just on moving my ears, which is more focussed on the muscles on the sides of the ears. Just trying it again, I realise that I can get the scalp to move forward, but I don't have quite the same degree control or strength over it, and at the moment I seem to be able to only do it after first making the top of head move forward. Does it sound like I'm on the right track, or do you think I'm still using other muscles instead? Maybe it would be good for me to practise trying to move the scalp (on top of head) backward and forward repeatedly for awhile? Thanks, Julie | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Julie: Go to this site - Human body - then click on the icon muscular system. You'll get the front view. Click under the drawing for back view. Now take a look at the occipitalis muscles. They are quite high up. When these muscles contract, you'll feel them bunch up with your fingers. Don't worry about your ears moving. When these muscles bunch up, you're on the right track. From your description I think you are now doing the exercise right. Of course the longer you practice, the more movement you're going to get. | ||
| Anonymous |
This site also shows the occipital muscles. http://www.weirdlinks.com/images/facemuscles.jpg | ||
| Anthony |
In Anonymous's photo/website it shows the occip. muscles about the same height as the ears (but definitely NOT above them). In Tom's suggested website it appears the occip. muscles are ABOVE the ears. So which is it? I think I may be doing the exercises properly but I'm not sure. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anthony: I'm feeling my occipitalis muscles right now as I'm writing this (I have three hands). These muscles are even with the top part of the ear or maybe just a very little above the top part of the ear. | ||
| Anthony |
Ok, That definitely helps. Thanks, Tom. | ||
| Julie |
Hi Tom, I'm definitely able to move my occipitalis, however I notice that when I do the scalp exercise, from watching your video I seem to be doing it differently. Maybe this is just because my occipitalis is not so developed and will need more time. It seems that you first raise your eyebrows and then in the second part of the exercise your scalp moves forward when you contract the occipitalis. My scalp seems to be going in the other direction - backward. When I raise the eyebrows am I supposed to feel the top of the scalp moving backward also? or is it only the top of the face area that moves upward? It's hard to tell from the video, but I assume that since the first part is focussed on the frontalis maybe the top of the scalp might move a little also. When I raise my eyebrows the top of my scalp doesn't move with it. Maybe that needs to develop also? When I move my ears back in the second part of the ex my scalp moves backward. So what I'm now doing is putting a hand on the top of my head and that way, but first moving it back, I can create a movement where it moves backward and forward and the forward movement is not a passive movement. I don't have as much control over the forward movement as I do the backward movement. I assume this might be simply because the occipitalis muscles may not be properly developed. It's much easier for me to make this backward/forward movement with my hand on my head. It might even provide some light resistence which might help also. I will probably continue doing that until the occipitals have developed better. The other thing I do is put a hand on the occipitals at times, just to make sure there is actually movement going on there. And yes, there is. Holding a hand there is also helpful as it helps me focus on that area too. After having my hand in both ways I can definitely feel like I've worked the muscles in ways I don't usually, cos my scalp and head feels great! I can make this backward and forward movement without raising my eyebrows (as long as my hand is on my head). I assume that as long as I can get a forward/backward movement and can feel some kind of workout as a result, that I should continue the way I'm going, but Tom, if you have any comments or suggestions I'd appreciate it. Thanks Julie | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Julie: I wish you'd read this thread on the discussion form - The Scalp Exercises: Observations From Watching Tom's Video. Read carefully the post by Anonymous (Naqi) June 02, 2003. Naqi explains perfectly what I imperfectly try to demonstrate in my video. Read this thread several times, then if you have specific questions post again. I really think this thread will help you. | ||
| Julie |
Thanks Tom, I'll take a look. Julie |
