These days, it feels like every influencer on TikTok is trying to sell you a product that will chisel your jaw, slim your face, and help you be the hottest you’ve ever been. One of the latest must-have products is a viral chin strap that you wear overnight, which influencers claim will get rid of your double-chin and help you eliminate your snoring.
This is another part of the new nighttime beauty trend that seems to be sweeping the platform. Influencers are wearing more beauty and wellness products to bed than ever, and the overnight chin straps are just one piece of this larger trend.
The more influencers you see advertising this product, and promoting it as a get-pretty-quick-scheme, the more tempted you might be to try it. If this chin strap can really do everything that influencers claim that it’s able to do, then why wouldn’t you want to try them out? However, this product may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
We’ve rounded up everything you need to know about the famous TikTok chin straps: what they are supposed to do, how to use them, and if they actually work.
Are Chin Straps Beneficial?
According to some influencers, these chin straps can do everything from chiseling your jawline to eliminate your snoring. One influencer, Mikealla Wegner (@virtualkayla) whose video has amassed over 1.4 million likes and 9.7 million views on TikTok claims that the chin strap “will help lift your face and prevent snoring” in text that is over-laid on her video. Additionally, she nicknames the chin strap her “five-dollar face lift.”
Wegner isn’t the only influencer recommending the chin straps, if you do a quick TikTok search for “chin strap” you will find countless influencers all recommending chin straps.
There doesn’t seem to be just one brand of chin strap that is most popular to use either, searching for “chin strap” on Amazon yielded hundreds of varieties of chin straps, all making the same claims.
How Do You Use a Chin Strap?
While there does seem to be a bit of variety in how the chin straps look, they all work about the same way. You place the strap underneath your chin, line up any ear-holes that the strap might have with your ears and secure the strap behind your head.
The idea is that you would sleep with the strap fastened behind your head all night, and remove it once you have woken up in the morning.
Do Chin Straps Actually Work?
Kevin Postol, DDS and President of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, told Sleepopolis that, “Unfortunately, research shows chin straps do not slim your face. They are also not a treatment for sleep apnea. Chin straps are intended to keep the mouth closed, which may reduce the sound from snoring, but research has shown that they do not stop snoring.” (1)
Postol goes on to say that “Oftentimes, snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, so it is important before using a chin strap for snoring patients see a physician or an American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) Qualified Dentist to get evaluated for sleep apnea. Also, patients who have problems breathing through their nose should not use a chin strap, as it will make breathing during sleep difficult.”
Alternatives to a Chin Strap?
If your goal is slimming your face or your chin, you’ll probably want to consider plastic surgery or weight loss to achieve your goals. However, if your goal is a reduction in sleep apnea symptoms or eliminating snoring, you’ll want to take another approach entirely.
Postol recommends talking with an AADSM qualified dentist if you’re concerned about snoring or other sleep apnea symptoms. Your provider might be able to fit you with a custom oral appliance that can help alleviate your snoring and sleep apnea symptoms. Postol notes that “Patients who use these custom-fit devices while sleeping often report feeling more rested and refreshed during the day” (1)
Sources
- Postol, Kevin. Personal Interview. July 24, 2024.