Green tea, Black tea, Rooibos, and various teas have for awhile now been portrayed as being exceptionally good for the skin - with modern studies confirming this.
Why?
The reasons are a combination of factors and can't be pinned on just one element. Let's go through the main reasons as to why tea is great for the skin!
1. Reduced Oiliness in Skin
The reason why tea can reduce oiliness is that it contains tannins. These are compounds that will reduce subum, which is your natural oil production and help to shrink your pores. Narural oil in your skin is great and without it, your skin will become too dry which can lead to other problems.
If you're producing too much, this will also create problems such as acne, redness and leading to a bit too much of a 'shiny' look.
2. Sun and Sunburn Protection
We could also title this 'anti-infammatory', but we thought we'd go with the more direct effects tea can have on the skin and how it can help against one of the most ravaging components in skin damage around - the sun.
Anti-inflammatory properties within tea will be noticed when taken orally or applied topically after sunburn. Exposure to the sun causes skin irritation + skin damage, and tea helps to negate some of its effects.
3. Acne and Blackhead Protection
If you suffer from acne or blackheads, we'd like you to try a little experiment.
Try applying green tea to your face once in the morning and once at night before bed. Antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties of tea all play a factor here, and may be more effective on some than others - depending on the root cause of your acne.
We'd recommend using hot (not boiling) water that's been steeped in green tea for around 5 minutes and then leaving to dry for 10 minutes. Hot water will open the pores, but cooled green tea is also fine!
Optional - mixing with the well known anti-bacterial properties of Manuka Honey can help to strengthen this formula.
4. Slow Down Skin Degredation
We don't like to use the term 'anti-aging' as it's a bit of an overused term these days. We'd like to say 'slowing skin degredation' instead, which is a bit more accurate. Again, we have antioxidants to thank - and with a catechin named EGCG being the most beneficial which has been shown to help reactive dying (not dead) skin cells and also "EGCG appears to target biochemical and genetic functions unique to cancer cells". So the earlier you start drinking, the better!
The formation of wrinkles will be slowed and the formation of age spots will be lessened over time.
5. Bye Panda Eyes
Last but not least, blood vessel restriction around the eyes can reduce puffy eyes and dark circles. This is probably best applied topically around the eyes as well - but this time it doesn't matter if the tea is hot or cold when applied.
