why-green-tea-extract-is-one-of-the-best-ingredients-for-skin-care

In the world of trending skincare there always seems to be something new for you to try. Each new ingredient or technique is boasted as a miracle cure for all your skin concerns. Unfortunately, that is a tall order for a single element of your skincare routine and you shouldn’t pin all your hopes for radiant skin to just one practice or product. However, knowing and understanding how each of these techniques or ingredients can contribute to your skin goals is the first step in putting together a regimen that will help you find the beautiful skin you deserve.
One skincare ingredient that is quickly increasing in popularity is green tea extract. You have probably heard of green tea touted in the world of superfoods as it has received a lot of attention for being a healthful beverage, and rightfully so. As a drink, it is packed with powerful antioxidants and other nutrients that provide powerful benefits for your overall health. One of these antioxidants, known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), has been studied by the scientific and medical communities extensively and offers many promising applications. Some of these recent studies have even indicated that green tea may help protect against cancer [1], heart disease [2], and osteoporosis [3], in addition to aiding in weight loss [4]. But is green tea good for your skin?
Generally speaking, there are a number of benefits of green tea for skin, which is why you have seen it being listed on more and more of your skin care products. Specifically, you will see green tea extract in skin care. So if you are imagining rubbing tea leaves all over your face, that won’t be necessary, though it is always an option. And as a result, you can easily harness the power of green tea to give you better skin from the inside and out!
Green Tea Extract For Skin
The green tea that most of us think of is the kind that is brewed with hot water to make an ingestible drink. In this case, the leaves and buds of the Camellia sinensis plant are dried and then steeped in the hot water to produce an infused liquid. And while consistently drinking green tea has been shown to have tremendous skin health benefits as well, it’s preparation can be inconsistent with variations in water temperature, time steeping, the amount of tea used, and even the brand you choose to prepare. Although this does not seem to have a drastic effect on the efficacy of tea drinking.
Green tea extract, on the other hand, is made by soaking the tea leaves in an alcohol solution to extract components from the tea in a more concentrated form that can be packaged and used. These extracts may be sold as standalone supplements such as liquids, powders, capsules, or tablets with decaffeinated versions also available. Or they may be incorporated into other products such as skin care or cosmetics. Green tea extract typically contains antioxidant properties and compounds, including flavonoids, vitamins, and polyphenols such as EGCG.
Benefits of Green Tea
There is a wide breadth of research regarding green tea and its benefits for the body. But when it comes to the effects seen on the skin specifically, clinical studies are a little more limited. However, the published outcomes of several experiments suggest that the anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic potential, as well as other properties, possessed by green tea could be utilized to help address a variety of skin disorders and provide a number of other benefits [5].
Green Tea Skincare Products
With its increasing popularity, green tea skin care products can be found nearly everywhere and in every variation including cleansers, toners, serums, and moisturizers. The trick is to find the best product for you and your skin concerns while also looking for a high-quality product that will actually deliver the benefits of green tea, rather than just tout it as a marketing technique. A good tip to find products with higher concentrations of green tea is to look at the ingredient list; the higher green tea appears on the list, the more concentrated it is in the product.
Most people do not experience any side effects when using green tea making it a safe choice for those with skin sensitivities. However, you should always spot test a new product to see if your skin becomes irritated and to follow the instructions for use on the label. This is especially true for products with higher concentrations of green tea as extended exposure to pure green tea in a single use may result in an adverse skin reaction.
At-Home Treatments
If your bathroom counter is already cluttered with products and you happen to have green tea bags lying around your house, there are a number of at-home tricks you can use to instantly see some of these benefits without buying anything new.
Sources:
- https://www.nature.com/articles/42381
- https://www.bmj.com/content/310/6981/693.full.pdf+html
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00198-007-0527-5
- https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo2009135 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/190508
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23742288
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286306001902 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/6/1/2