Green Tea’s Endless Beauty Benefits

The benefits of green tea have been touted for years. Not many beverages pack the antioxidant punch found in green tea! It helps boost the immune system, hydrates the body, and may even fight against certain types of cancer.

Green tea does have a distinctive taste. If you’re not so excited about reaping its enormous benefits through consumption, what about incorporating its advantages into your DIY beauty recipes? We compiled some of our favorite green tea beauty recipes for you to experiment with below!

One note about tea: to make these recipes, be sure to use pure tea that contains no additives or flavors. You don’t want to put added rubbish on your face! Find a tea brand that contains 100% tea leaves and is preferably organic. Also, use freshly brewed tea to get the full benefit of all the flavonoids in tea; bottled varieties do not contain as many of these antioxidants.

SEE ALSO How Tea Can Reduce Your Eye Infection!

Green Tea Toner

This toner is super easy to make, and far cheaper than any toner you could pick up in the store. You’ll need one tea bag and a spray bottle. I bought my spray bottle for 99 cents at Home Depot.

Directions:

1. Brew green tea using one tea bag and two cups of water.
2. Let cool, and then put in the spray bottle.
3. Spray on face as needed.

Dermatologist Dr. Alicia Zalka says that a good toner helps cleanse the face and prepares it to absorb other products. However, toner is not for everyone; other dermatologists say that only acne-prone patients need to use it. Do what is right for your skin!

Green Tea Face Mask

This mask is made using green tea, arrowroot powder, and honey.

Directions:

1. Cut open a bag of green tea, and mix it with one teaspoon of arrowroot powder and one teaspoon of honey.
2. Apply to face. Watch out: it’s really sticky, but your face will love all that honey and green tea! Let it sit for twenty to thirty minutes.
3. Rinse off over a sink.

The mask left my face feeling smooth and clean.

SEE ALSO Can Honey Really Minimize Acne?

Green Tea Sugar Scrub

The last facial treatment is made with green tea, coconut oil, and brown sugar.

Directions:

1. Brew a cup of green tea. You’ll only use ¼ cup of it, so drink the rest! Let it cool before you use it, so the sugar doesn’t melt.
2. Mix together ¼ c green tea and ¼ c coconut oil or vegetable oil, and add 1 cup of sugar (brown sugar and white sugar both work).
3. If the mix is too thin, add more sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

Use the sugar scrub on any dry areas, such as your hands, elbows, or heels.

Green Tea Eye Saver

Directions:

1. Steep two bags of green tea in water, and then let cool so the bags are slightly warm. You can cool them in the fridge if you’re pressed for time.
2. Lay over your eyes to reduce puffiness and heal eye infections.
3. Keep the tea bags on your eyes for twenty to thirty minutes.

The tannic acid in tea destroys bacteria, speeding up the healing process.

Green Tea for Shinier Hair

Directions:

1. Steep two bags of green tea in water for ten minutes.
2. Wash your hair as normal in the shower. When you get out, rub the green tea through your hair.
3. Wrap up your hair in a towel, and let soak for 15-20 minutes.

Green tea also helps deal with dandruff.

My favorite is the green tea sugar scrub… sugar scrub saved my skin this past winter!

For more on Beauty, check out our articles here.

Have you experimented with tea in your DIY beauty regimen? Be sure to tell us if you test out any of these recipes!

_{^{All images via Thinkstock}}