What Green Tea Does For Your Skin

When you think of green tea, you probably think, “Oh yeah, that’s that drink healthy people pretend is just like coffee.”

While there isn’t a soul in the world who could make me give up my precious coffee, I’ve been finding out more and more that green tea has more applications than I thought. And, even better, you don’t even have to drink the tea to take advantage of its mystical powers.

Green tea is actually a powerful ingredient in many skin care products, and that’s because it helps your skin in multiple ways at the same time. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Fighting Premature Wrinkles

We all know wrinkles are inevitable at some point, but I’d rather keep them at bay for as long as I can, thank you very much. Green tea can stave off wrinkles in a few ways, actually.

For one, green tea is loaded with vitamin B-2, which helps to maintain higher levels of collagen (an essential skin-firming protein) in your skin. That’s why green tea is such a common ingredient in anti-aging products like the  Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm.

On top of that, green tea contains a specific antioxidant called EGCG. EGCG is known to help repair and restore cells, which means it can make your cells and your skin more youthful.

Packing a Punch Against Pimples

Here’s the thing about acne…it can be caused by several different factors, sometimes all at the same time. Some acne happens because of bacteria, microbes, and other unwanted visitors on the skin. In other cases, acne pops up because the skin has too much sebum, or naturally produced oil, and that sebum clogs the pores.

As luck would have it, green tea fights acne on both of those fronts and more.

For starters, green tea has natural antimicrobial properties. It can battle many of the microbes on your skin can could be creating your acne.

Second, green tea contains these nifty compounds called polyphenols. Polyphenols successfully slow down bacterial growth, which means they can help to keep bacterial acne under control.

Third, those same polyphenols can actually reduce your skin’s sebum production. If your excessive sebum is clogging your pores, the polyphenols in a green tea product like the  Cellex-C Betaplex Clear Complexion Mask could get it back under control.

Last but not least, green tea is a natural anti-inflammatory agent. The inflammation that often comes along with acne doesn’t just make your skin look red and blotchy. It’s also responsible for a type of acne scarring that leaves dark spots on your skin, called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or PIH.

By reducing your acne-induced inflammation, green tea can lower your risk for PIH, which can be difficult to treat if you don’t prevent it in the first place.

Giving Your Skin a Chill Pill

Have you ever looked at your skin in the mirror and thought, “Dang, my skin looks angry today?” That’s just the inflammation you can see. Chances are that there’s far more of it under the surface, causing chaos without you realizing it.

Green tea is the calming, soothing energy you need. It reduces inflammation, redness, and irritation for skin that’s less sensitive and more attractive. Green tea can also help to ease the pain of skin conditions like dermatitis, psoriasis, and rosacea.

Maintaining Your Moisture

Hydration is one of the top concerns people talk about with their skin because dry skin is so common. Not only is the dryness uncomfortable but it can actually make your skin look older too. No thank you!

If you’re looking for your new favorite moisturizer, look for a  moisturizer with green tea. The vitamin E in the green tea, on top of the other hydrating ingredients, helps to lock moisture into your skin to make it smoother and softer.

Protecting You from Skin Cancer

You probably hear about antioxidants and cancer prevention together often, that’s because they’re true besties.

When your body is exposed to sun radiation, that sunlight creates free radicals within your body. Those free radicals are the compounds that damage your cells and eventually cause skin cancer.

Antioxidants, like those in green tea, fight the free radicals within your body so they have less of an opportunity to cause damage. The combination of an  effective sunscreen and antioxidants creates a powerhouse of a team for keeping your skin safe.

So…I Should Just Dab Green Tea on My Face?

As fantastic as green tea can be for your skin, that doesn’t mean you should be grabbing your tea out of the fridge and wiping it onto your skin with a basting brush. Like anything else you put on your skin, you need the right amount of green tea and it needs to be combined with the right ingredients to make it safe and effective.

Unless you happen to be a biochemist, your best bet is to look for professional skin care products that contain green tea. The specialists behind those products have done the research to find the right combination and proportion of ingredients so you can reap the rewards without a high risk of side effects.

Indulging Your Skin with Green Tea

It might never be my replacement for coffee, but no one can deny that green tea is chock full of nutrients and compounds that benefit your body. Fortunately, it also offers many benefits for your skin when you use it correctly. So while you’re sipping your green tea and relaxing after your workout, take it a step further and give your skin a dose of green tea too.