The glabellar muscles are a group of small muscles between and above your eyebrows responsible for frowning, squinting, and pulling your brows downward. Relaxing them involves breaking the habit of unconscious tension through targeted exercises, mechanical aids, topical products, and in some cases, professional treatments. Most people searching for this are dealing with either persistent tension (often stress-related) or the vertical “eleven lines” that form from years of repetitive frowning.
What the Glabellar Muscles Actually Do
The glabella isn’t controlled by a single muscle. It’s a complex of several muscles working together: the procerus (a small pyramid-shaped muscle running down the bridge of your nose), the corrugator supercilii (the pair that pulls your eyebrows inward and down), the depressor supercilii, and portions of the frontalis and orbicularis oculi. When you squint at a screen, concentrate hard, or feel stressed, these muscles fire together to pull your brows down and inward, creating the horizontal lines across the nose bridge and vertical furrows between the brows.
Because these muscles respond to both voluntary expression and unconscious emotion, many people tense them throughout the day without realizing it. That chronic low-level contraction is what makes them feel “stuck” and eventually etches lines into the skin.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation for the Face
The most accessible technique for learning to release glabellar tension is progressive muscle relaxation, or PMR. The principle is simple: you deliberately tense a muscle group, hold it, then release it completely. By cycling through tension and relaxation, you train your brain to recognize what a relaxed state actually feels like in that area, which is surprisingly difficult when you’ve been unknowingly clenching for years.
To target the glabella specifically, wrinkle your forehead into a deep frown and hold for five seconds while breathing in. Then release all at once as you exhale. Pay close attention to the sensation of the muscles letting go. Repeat this two more times, using progressively less tension each round. The decreasing intensity helps you detect subtler levels of contraction you might otherwise miss. You can pair this with the word “relax” spoken aloud or silently each time you release, which over time creates a mental cue that triggers relaxation on its own.
Breathe steadily throughout. Holding your breath while tensing actually increases stress in the body and works against the relaxation response. Inhale as you create tension, exhale as you let it go. With daily practice, you can learn to catch and release glabellar tension at the first sign of tightening, before it becomes the sustained clench that causes discomfort or deepens lines.
Facial Exercises to Counteract Frowning
Face yoga exercises work by strengthening the muscles that oppose the frown pattern and by stretching the glabellar muscles out of their contracted position. One effective exercise targets the brow area directly: place three fingertips under each eyebrow and press gently upward. Then smile while pushing your eyebrows down against your fingers, creating resistance. Close your eyes and roll your eyeballs upward. Hold for 20 seconds, release, and repeat three times.
This exercise works because it forces the corrugator and procerus muscles to lengthen against resistance, counteracting their habitual shortening. One study found measurable results after participants performed a set of 32 facial exercises (about one minute each) daily for eight weeks, then every other day for an additional 12 weeks. Consistency matters more than intensity here. Setting aside even 15 to 30 minutes daily to work through a facial exercise routine builds the kind of repetition that changes resting muscle tone over time.
Adhesive Patches as Overnight Splints
Adhesive facial patches, like the brand Frownies, work as a physical splint for the glabellar area. You apply them to the skin between your brows before bed, and they hold the skin flat, preventing the muscles underneath from contracting into a frown while you sleep. Many people unconsciously furrow their brows during sleep, especially during stress or intense dreaming, and these patches interrupt that pattern.
The mechanism is straightforward: by physically restricting the skin’s ability to fold, the patch limits the range of motion for the underlying muscles. Over time, this can retrain the muscles toward a more relaxed resting position. Most manufacturers recommend using them for a minimum of 30 consecutive nights before expecting visible smoothing, then as needed after that. They won’t produce dramatic results on deep-set lines, but they’re a low-cost, non-invasive way to reduce nighttime tension that you’d otherwise have no control over.
Topical Peptide Products
Certain skincare ingredients target muscle contraction at the surface level. The most studied is acetyl hexapeptide-8 (marketed as Argireline), a peptide that interferes with the signals telling muscles to contract. It works on a similar principle to injectable neurotoxins but is applied topically and produces much milder effects.
Clinical results vary, but the numbers are encouraging for a topical product. In one study, a cream containing 10% acetyl hexapeptide-8 reduced wrinkle depth by 30% after 30 days of daily use. A separate study using the same concentration found a 49% reduction in wrinkle depth after four weeks. These results reflect both the relaxation of underlying muscle activity and improved skin texture from the formulation itself. Peptide creams won’t replicate the effect of professional treatments, but they offer a meaningful reduction in fine lines for people looking for a daily, at-home option.
Neurotoxin Injections
When non-invasive approaches aren’t enough, neurotoxin injections remain the most effective way to relax glabellar muscles. The standard treatment involves five small injections: one into the procerus muscle and two into each corrugator supercilii muscle, totaling 20 units of onabotulinumtoxinA. The injections temporarily block the nerve signals that tell these muscles to contract, which smooths existing lines and prevents new ones from forming during the treatment period.
Results typically appear within a few days and last three to four months. The muscles gradually regain function as the neurotoxin wears off, so maintenance treatments are needed to sustain the effect. It’s worth knowing that different neurotoxin brands use different unit measurements that are not interchangeable, so “20 units” of one product is not equivalent to 20 units of another. Your provider will dose based on the specific product they use.
For people with deeply ingrained frowning habits, neurotoxin injections can also serve as a retraining tool. During the months when the muscles are relaxed, you lose the habit of unconscious frowning. Some people find that after several treatment cycles, they frown less even as the neurotoxin wears off, because the behavioral pattern has been partially broken.
Building Awareness Throughout the Day
Perhaps the most important long-term strategy is simply noticing when you’re tensing these muscles. Most glabellar tension happens unconsciously, triggered by concentration, bright light, screen use, or emotional stress. Setting periodic reminders on your phone to check in with your forehead can sound trivial, but it’s effective. Each time the reminder goes off, scan the space between your brows. If you feel tightness, consciously soften the area and take one slow breath.
Combining this awareness practice with one or two of the methods above creates a layered approach. PMR teaches your muscles what “relaxed” feels like. Facial exercises build opposing muscle strength. Patches and peptides work passively while you sleep or go about your day. Over weeks, the cumulative effect is a noticeable reduction in both the tension you carry and the lines it leaves behind.