Road test: the magic face massage that treats teeth grinding, stress, inflammation and toxins

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16th Jul 2019

“You are not at a beauty parlour and I am not a beautician,” Valli Shubere tells me at my first consultation. “I’m a natural therapy practitioner.”

“The first 15 minutes are going to be ‘Oh my god’,” she says of her face, neck and shoulder ‘workout’. “And then you will flop and relax.” Phew.

Italian-born Shubere is the owner of Herbario, a clinic she founded with her partner Vitto Cozza in 1977. On the first floor of an unassuming terrace sandwiched between the pawn shops of Melbourne’s Chapel Street, Shubere bestows her cult-followed treatments onto the faces of her loyal devotees. On the ground floor, Cozza, an herbalist, or “herbal craft master” as they call him, runs the dispensary and shop, selling his formulated herbs and skincare. The Australian-grown organic herbs are so high grade they can be both ingested and used topically, and are eco-friendly and cruelty-free too.

I booked an appointment with Shubere on the advice of a colleague, who had heard about her legendary facial work. I was told this woman had magic fingers that could massage out every skerrick of tension in my face. As a teeth grinder—the type who’s had major dental work as a result—I didn’t hesitate to go ahead, even though I was also told it would be painful (it was) and there would be ‘slapping’ (there was—but it is better described as a dynamic tapping).

Spoiler alert: I left the face treatment feeling, and looking, like an entirely new person—younger, radiant and restored. So how does Shubere do it with nothing more than her signature massage technique and homemade herbal products? “It took me five years to put the treatment together and then 25 years to enjoy it!” she proclaims.

The concept for her treatment is rooted in medicine—it’s about taking care of the physiology of the face. The first stage of the treatment is cleansing, using an herbal cleansing oil followed by hot compresses to soften the stiff muscles and connective tissues in the face. The second stage is where Shubere’s hands do their magical movements—her trade mark technique. And the third and final stage is a mask.

After a holistic skin diagnosis, for which she gave a very honest and accurate appraisal just by looking at me, she was off. I was asked to breathe through each side of my nose to reveal what was going on in my sinuses. One side was definitely blocked so she knew to “work on it”. She “pumped” the fluid out of the sinuses, which she told me were already inflamed, and I could instantly feel a post-nasal drip develop.

Shubere guided my breath—“in… and out”—while she worked her fingers deep into my tense facial muscles. As I inhaled and exhaled through the pain, I could feel and hear the fascia releasing. It was the best kind of pain—similar to the kind you feel during Pilates when your peach burns but you know it’s going to deliver results.

Her hands work across the face, neck and shoulders, deep into every curve and contour. It was uncomfortable for the first few minutes as she worked through all the areas that are tense and inflamed. In and around the jaw, she ‘shifts’ the muscles until they soften. “Bear with me as it’s all jammed in here. If you can’t take it, let me know.”

During my second treatment, one month after the first, Shubere’s (gloved) hands went inside my mouth for the TMJ adjustment. It was by far the most discomfort I had felt in her care, to the point where my eyes were watering from the pain. Luckily, it didn’t last all that long, and I could feel the tension diffuse almost immediately.

Shubere explains her face treatment as holistic dermal therapy with the same philosophy as internal medicine: treat the cause, not the symptom. (She is, after all, a qualified nutritionist.) In her decades of experience, she has been able to see and feel where the skin is afflicted by neurotoxin overload, chemical pollution, physical and emotional stress, bacterial, viral and pathogenic overload, sinus congestion and inflammatory conditions that distort the symmetry of the face, such as TMJ.

These stressors are what cause the facial muscles to contract, resulting in a lack of oxygen, sluggish metabolism and premature ageing. Her treatments target these deep layers of connective tissue under the skin to free them from “transdermal toxicity”, thereby “activating dermal healing processes” and flushing out toxins, while Cozza’s wild-crafted botanical skincare products are designed to complement this detoxification.

At the end of my first treatment, Shubere tells me that some symmetry has been restored to my face. “You were really poking out on one side. I hated that,” she says. “If I could have you for more treatments, I think I would send you home brand new.” I oblige and rebook for monthly sessions. She really was magic—I could feel it and I could most certainly see it.

Value for money: Valli’s Signature Treatment is $480 for 120 minutes, which sits at the highest end of the price spectrum. She offers other face and body treatments at varying lengths, down to a 45-minute Face De-Stress Massage Treatment for $135. It’s certainly a splurge but Shubere is a unicorn in the beauty and health industry, and there’s nothing else that comes close to being like it.

Good for: TMJ dysfunction, dermal stress, inflammation, toxicity, adrenal fatigue, thyroid dysfunction, lymphatic congestion.

Where to get it: Herbario in Melbourne. 

This is an independently written road test which was not commissioned or paid for by the brand. However, the treatment was provided to the writer at the brand’s discretion.

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