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You might be sipping green tea every morning to shed some kilos. But do you know that you can use it for skin care too? Green tea is sourced from a tea plant known as Camellia sinensis. The leaves and buds of this plant have many beneficial properties. Green tea consists of tannins and caffeine. It is also rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidants. If you are wondering – does green tea improve your skin, be rest assured. It actually does!
Read along to know more about green tea benefits for skin and unlock the potential of this plant with varied qualities.
10 Green Tea Benefits for Skin
Green tea is an active and very popular ingredient in skin care products. Packed with anti-oxidants and useful vitamins, it comes with many benefits. Apart from your skin, green tea can also improve the condition of your hair and its overall health.
However, here are some of the main green tea benefits for skin:
1. Helps in Skin Brightening
The catechins present in green tea are very effective for skin brightening. It removes the toxic elements from your skin, reduces dullness, and makes your skin look fairer. Are you thinking about how to use green tea for skin brightening? At first, mix green tea with rose water and raw milk. Next, apply the mixture on your face and massage gently. That’s all you need to do to vanish dark spots and get glowing skin.
2. Treats Acne
Are you tired of pimples and acnes that pop out just before a big event? Don’t worry, we all are. But green tea is to the rescue! It acts as a natural treatment for acne. The polyphenols in green tea help to reduce inflammation. It curbs swelling and kills acne-causing bacteria. So, when you apply green tea to your skin, it controls the sebum secretion. The ECGC compound in green tea also fights against skin infections.
3. Acts as a Gentle Exfoliator
You can easily use green tea as an important ingredient in your regular face scrubs. Powdered green tea is very helpful in removing all the impurities and dirt from your skin. The grainy texture of the antioxidants exfoliates your skin and shed away all the dead skin cells. So, whenever your skin feels oily, grab a homemade green tea mask and apply it to your skin. You are bound to experience soft, supple, and rejuvenated skin.
4. Reduces Ageing Signs
Ageing is a natural process. But one should age gracefully. Do you know that the ECGC present in green tea can make your skin look fresh and younger? This property can regenerate the dying skin cells helping you to look youthful. It maintains the collagen levels of the skin. Not only that. It improves the structure of your skin, making it tighter and firmer. Vitamin B2 is another important compound in green tea. It also has anti-ageing properties.
5. Fights Against Skin Cancer
One can list down a number of green tea benefits for skin. One of the main benefits is that it can help protect you from skin cancer. Green tea contains polyphenols, catechins, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and epicatechin gallate (ECG). These are very rich in antioxidant properties. All of them are able to fight free radicals within your body. Research has also found that the compound EGCG can restore DNA damage caused due to harmful sun rays.
6. Treat for Puffy Eyes
Let’s face it! Most of us suffer from puffy eyes for staying up till late at night and binge-watching. Or for working throughout the night, staring at our laptop screens. Whatever the cause may be, green tea can be your true saviour. All you need to do is wash your eye area with cold water. Then, put two tea bags around your eyes. The caffeine and antioxidants reduce inflammation and give you bright and beautiful eyes instantly!
7. Reduces Pigmentation
Pigmentation mainly stands for skin colouration that depends on the melanin content of your skin. Green tea for skin pigmentation is helpful as the tea extract might contain a depigmenting effect. If you wish to get rid of your dark spots, you need to follow a very simple process. You can just apply green tea bags only on the pigmented or dark spots on your face. You can do it twice a day to get the best results.
8. Opens Clogged Pores
Having clogged pores can be really uncomfortable. Your pores get clogged as dead and dry skin cells get trapped in the skin. Whenever this happens, all the oil, sweat, and dirt remain in your skin and do not get released. This leads to most skin problems including blackheads and whiteheads. When you apply green tea regularly on your face, it unclogs your pores and detoxifies your skin. Thus, you get healthy and happy skin.
9. Reduces Skin Inflammation
Our skin is not perfect. We often go through different kinds of skin irritation. This might include itchiness, redness, swelling, etc. When your skin feels very tired, all it needs is the cooling and healing power of green tea. The anti-inflammation and anti-bacterial properties in green tea are highly beneficial. These soothe your skin and reduce redness, swelling, itchiness, etc. If you have a minor cut, you can apply green tea instantly to get the best results.
10. Keeps Skin Moisturised
Green tea can work as a very good natural moisturiser for your skin. It consists of a range of vitamins. This also includes Vitamin E which has the power to nourish your skin and keep it hydrated. The vitamins in green tea work wonders and are really helpful in reducing skin roughness. They retain the moisture in the skin so that you can get the smooth and supple skin that you have always dreamt of!
Adding Green Tea to Your Regular Skin Care Regime
There are multiple green tea benefits for skin. Rich in polyphenols, it also contains anti-cancer compounds. If you are not sure which green tea is best for skin, check the following table. Find what suits you and then, go ahead with it.
There are many products in the market that claim to contain green tea extracts. But guess what? You can make some easy homemade products on your own! Here are some recipes to help you out:
1. Green Tea Face Mask
Ingredients:
- Rice flour – 2tbsp.
- Green tea – 1 tbsp.
- Lemon juice – 1 tbsp.
How to use?
- Take a small bowl.
- Mix rice flour and green tea.
- Make a paste.
- Once done, add the lemon juice.
- Mix well until smooth.
- Apply the mixture to your face.
- You can use your fingertips or a make-up brush.
- Wait for the mask to dry up completely.
- Rinse off with warm water.
2. Green Tea Scrub
Ingredients:
- Green tea leaves – A handful
- Granulated sugar – 1tsp.
- Coconut oil – ½ tsp.
- Matcha powder (finely ground) – 1 tsp.
How to use?
- Take a medium-sized container.
- Pour in all the ingredients.
- Mix well till there is a smooth paste.
- Now, apply this mixture to your entire face.
- Wait for half an hour for the scrub to dry up.
- Next, use normal water to rinse off.
If you don’t know how to apply green tea on face overnight, you can use this green tea mask recipe instead:
3. Green Tea Overnight Face Mask
Ingredients:
- Green tea bag -1
- Potato (washed, peeled, and grated) – 1
How to use?
- Brew the green tea bag for 10 minutes.
- Allow it to cool down completely.
- Take 2 tbsp. and pour it into a small bowl.
- Extract the potato juice into a fine linen cloth.
- Add the juice to the bowl and mix it well.
- Wash your face with room temperature water.
- Before going to bed, apply this pack to your face.
- Since this is an overnight pack, you don’t need to wash it off.
- Rinse the pack only when you wake up in the morning.
4. Drinking Green Tea
There’s no hard and fast rule about how many cups of green tea you can have in a day. Generally, drinking around three to five cups per day should be fine. If you are thinking – what happens if I drink green tea everyday, simply check out this list:
- Helps in weight loss
- Increases immunity
- May fight against cancer
- Might prevent diabetes (Type 2)
- Promotes heart health
- Prevents bone loss
Want to achieve clear, radiant, and glowing skin? Check out the 6 Drinks to Help You Achieve Glowing and Radiant Skin.
Conclusion
When the market is flooded with chemical products, why not go for something natural? Add green tea into your skin care routine and get green tea benefits for skin instantly!
Some people might ask, “Can we apply green tea directly on face?” The answer is “Yes! Absolutely.” You can apply green tea as a face mask, face scrub, or face moisturiser.
But do a quick patch test before applying it on your entire face. Generally, there are no side effects of applying green tea to the face. But if you feel any irritation, contact an expert dermatologist as soon as possible.