Never heard of a face roller before? Neither have some of the customs officers in Canada, it seems.
Japanese Twitter user @MizU_38 posted a photo of his face roller at the airport in Canada, and said he was escorted to another room and questioned over the beauty device because the officers thought it was a martial arts weapon.
このタイプのフェイスローラーは、カナダの手荷物検査で『マーシャルアーツの武器』と認定され、別室に連れて行かれる事をお知らせします。 pic.twitter.com/lCdlivOAvK— 水野裕子 (@MizU_38) September 5, 2015
Face rollers are a lot less often seen in the West, but they've been fairly commonplace in North Asian markets for years. You can typically find them at the beauty section in Japanese and Korean stores, and they've started to become mainstream in other Asian countries as well. They're usually used to massage the face and boost circulation.
There's a broad range of face rollers on the market. They start at the fairly basic plastic ones at US$2, and go up to the ultra-luxe 24-carat gold-plated ones at a hefty US$1,500.
A photo posted by ryo (@ryotankobu5) on Sep 8, 2015 at 6:07pm PDT
Here's a plastic one for 250 Philippine pesos (US$5):
A photo posted by Bea Dizon-Granada (@beayoutiful_shoppe) on Aug 6, 2015 at 11:13pm PDT
Face rollers might become more popular in the West eventually, as Asian makers pour marketing dollars in that direction.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, is the very recognisable face of Japanese roller brand Refa:
A photo posted by Yuki (@yukkoro14) on Aug 28, 2015 at 4:28am PDT
Here's Rihanna in on the roller game:
A photo posted by MTG ReFa (@refa.kz) on Aug 18, 2015 at 9:33am PDT
Even big brands like Yves Saint Laurent aren't shying away from the trend:
A photo posted by 이지은 (@jieun.1117) on Sep 8, 2015 at 6:41am PDT
Oh, and if you're wondering how it turned out for @MizU_38, he was allowed through eventually, and got to keep his roller as well.
フェイスローラーの使用例です。 ※良い子はマネしないでね pic.twitter.com/6IPGORMw2k— 水野裕子 (@MizU_38) September 6, 2015
[H/T Rocketnews]