While you drink your cup of green tea to boost yourself, have you ever thought if there are any green tea benefits for your skin?
Actually, there are numerous. Green tea is an antioxidant and is also anti-inflammatory.
It can treat acne, protect from skin cancer, rosacea, puffy eyes and much more. Green tea is protective and corrective for your skin.
This article discusses the benefits and side effects it has on your skin. Keep reading to know if you should add it to your skincare routine.
Green Tea Benefits
In order to understand why green tea is a star ingredient for your skin, you need to know its properties.
The main polyphenolic compound EGCG, also known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, has beneficial effects.
It is an antioxidant, which soothes the skin, relieves it and protects it.
Moreover, it also controls oil in your skin, decreases sebum as well as the aging signs like wrinkles and fine lines.
Other than that, it is also anti-inflammatory, and its use can prevent diabetes, heart attack, and atherosclerosis.
Thus, it can treat acne, signs of aging and work to protect the skin.
Protecting Against Skin Cancer
One unique benefit of green tea for the skin is that it can protect you against skin cancer.
It has antioxidant properties that prevent the formation of free radicals. Moreover, the polyphenol fights any DNA damage caused by UV radiation.
The promotes the repair of DNA and is used as a pharmacological agent to prevent any skin disorders caused by solar UVB light.
Hence, in this way, it can prevent melanoma skin cancers or even no melanoma skin cars.
Controls signs of aging
As it repairs the DNA then it also becomes a good anti-aging ingredient. Moreover, it reduces sun damage because of its antioxidant properties which also help to decrease certain aging signs.
Hence, it helps to control the signs of aging as well as of sun damage such as hyperpigmentation, fine lines, rough texture.
If you apply and consume green tea then you will see a change in the elasticity of your skin.
Moreover, it will help soothe any skin damage due to excess sun exposure.
Other Green Tea Benefits on Skin
Treating Acne on Oily Skin
Green tea is also antimicrobial hence it can fight bacteria growth.
Acne forms as a result of excess oil and sebum in the skin clogging the pores. This also encourages bacterial growth in clogged pores.
The polyphenolic compound is also anti-androgenic i.e. it controls the amount of the hormone androgen whose fluctuating levels can increase sebum production.
Hence it can control the level of lipids in the skin. That decreases the excretion of sebum.
It also destroys the bacterial membranes and stops any infection or fights against it if it occurs.
Moreover, due to its anti-inflammatory properties, it prevents any bacterial inflammation due to sebum and acne.
Taking green tea extract regularly for 4 weeks can lead to a significant decrease in acne red bumps and scars.
Treatment For Puffy Eyes
It has anti-inflammatory, soothing and moisturizing properties.
It contains caffeine and tannins which may stain your teeth but aid in shrinking the blood vessels around the eyes.
Hence, it reduces the appearance of puffy eyes and dark circles.
A very powerful product for under the eyes will contain both caffeine and green tea for extra effectiveness to brighten up your under eyes and de-puff them.
One way you can make use of it is by using green teabags as cold compresses.
Dip two green tea bags (any type of tea flavor) in boiling water and let some contents run out as you soak them. Take them out and refrigerate these teabags for 20 minutes. Take the cold teabags out and put them on your eyes for 30 minutes, one on each eye.
The caffeine inside the green tea will work its magic eventually on your puffy eyes and constrict the blood vessels under the eye.
Though that’s not all, keep reading to know more benefits on the skin.
How Else Does It Help Your Skin?
Green tea contains catechins which give it, its anti-inflammatory properties.
They help decrease swelling, irritation and redness in the skin because of inflammation. It can also treat sunburns and cuts.
Because of the presence of polyphenol, it can treat inflammation, relieve the skin and reduce itching plus irritation in certain skin diseases such as rosacea, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, warts, keloids, alopecia and candidiasis.
To add to all of this, it is also moisturizing because it contains Vitamin B2 and Vitamin E.
Vitamin E is a hydrator that gives your skin moisturization, nourishment and softness. Moreover, it also encourages the growth of new skin cells.
Vitamin B2 maintains the levels of collagen in your skin. Collagen gives your skin elasticity, firmness and youthful appearance.
Moreover, the polyphenols in catechins in green tea also stimulate new cell turnover and hair growth in the hair follicles.
Hence, it is not only good for your skin but also beneficial for your hair and for tea drinkers it can result in weight loss.
It is a wonder ingredient in your skincare routine as it has most of the properties you require for good skin.
It can protect your skin because it is an anti-oxidant. Also, it can relieve and soothe it because it is anti-inflammatory. Moreover, it can treat skin because it has anti-microbial properties.
It gives your skin a youthful appearance, protects it from sun damage, heals swelling and redness and also reduces sebum on your face.
Therefore, it is a powerful ingredient that you can use in your treatments, serums or moisturizers.
You can reap other benefits of green tea when you drink it such as:
- increases metabolism
- decreases the chances of cancer of the colon, breast, prostate
- improves the function of the brain and memory
- decreases the chances of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and reduce the risk of stroke
Find out about the use and side effects below!
Use and Side Effects
You will not witness any major side effects of green tea because it is mostly safe to use.
However, you may be allergic to it. Hence be careful especially if you have never come across it before and are trying it for the first time.
Do a patch test before using it on your face or other sensitive areas. Pick some product and apply it on your elbow.
Notice the swelling, itchiness or redness on the elbow. If there is none, the product is safe to use on the face.
You must be wondering…
How to add green tea to your skin regime?
Well, it is actually quite simple. One way to do that is to choose green tea products and add them to your skin routine. The other way is to make an organic mask from green tea extract.
Let’s look at the first way. You do not need to have green tea in all of your products in your skincare routine.
In fact, this may lead to a breakout because excess of everything is wrong. But you can use it daily in your skincare.
Also it may work best with products having similar properties. For example, Vitamin C and green tea serum are a good combination.
Green tea can enhance the antioxidant properties of Vitamin C and it can contain the degradation of polyphenols.
Also, you can use it in tandem with hyaluronic acid. The Vitamin E in it is a hydrator and hyaluronic acid is hydrophilic so a combination helps to provide additional moisture to the skin.
You can use a fermented rice water cleanser with a hyaluronic acid toner and add green tea serum, moisturizer and eye cream.
Consult an expert dermatologist before you experiment with your skin care regimen over what suits your skin best.
Making A Green Tea Face Mask
Your next option is to make a face mask organically. While you have plenty of skincare options available in the market, you may still want to use natural ingredients before going for chemicals.
In order to make a face mask, you will require a tablespoon each of granulated sugar, green tea and lemon juice.
These are the main ingredients but you could require water too as well as your utensils, a bowl and a spoon.
Extract green tea leaves by brewing a cup of green tea and soaking it properly for over an hour.
Take it out, cool it down and then cut it open to extract the leaves.
Put the leaves together with sugar and lemon juice and thoroughly mix it. Add water if you think it looks like a very thick paste.
Next is the application. Thoroughly cleanse your face so that it penetrates the pores in your skin.
Apply it on your face and also accompany that by massaging and it across your face. This removes the dead skin cells and allows for better penetration in pores.
Let it remain for about 10 to 15 minutes. Clean it by rinsing it with lukewarm water to get smoother skin.
You can use this mask thrice a week or less. Moreover, you can switch ingredients and make one by replacing sugar with baking soda and lemon juice with honey.
Conclusion
If you find it hard to extract leaves then simply replace that with green tea powder. Once, you are done you will reap the green tea benefits on your skin with fresh, youthful, toned and smoother-looking and feeling skin.
Either you make a face mask or use skin care products, green tea is an ingredient that should make it to your skincare routine.
