I have seen a lot of dermatologists for my acne. However, it was the last 2 that I learned something from. Something that would help cure my acne. And no, it was not some secret they shared with me.
Both of them stood out as they had the most amazing looking skin. It was smooth, clear and not a pore was visible. While the people in their waiting rooms did not have the best of skin, I was pretty sure these 2 were doing something they were not sharing with their patients.
The one thing that was common between these 2 doctors, besides their porcelain like skin, is that they both had a packet of green tea on their desks. I asked one of them if I should have green tea. Her reply was “You’ll be fine”. I’m not sure if that was a yes or a no, but what I still remember to this day is how annoyed I was by her answer.
I’m pretty sure she was doing all she was taught, as part of her medical training, to cure my acne. I have no doubts about that. However, I had acne for all through my teens and all of my adult life till then. I was desperate for a cure. I think I expected her to go outside her medical training and give me at least one secret to her flawless skin.
Well not to worry, I got one of her secrets. While she never said so, I knew that she had at least 3 cups of green tea a day. How do I know this? I asked one of the support staff at the clinic. Yes, I was that desperate. I was going around snooping into my doctor’s diet. Can you blame me?
I knew green tea was something I had to add to my diet as well. So I started with a cup everyday. Now I must day that green tea is not something I savoured. I enjoyed my cup of regular black tea with milk way way more. Green tea not so much.
I brewed a cup of green tea, added a couple of ice cubes to cool it down immediately and gulped it down like I would medicine. That’s what it was to me. Medicine for my skin.
I woke up the next day pretty much expecting dramatic results. My skin would be clear as crystal. Unfortunately for me nothing like that happened. My skin looked exactly the same. As I have learnt, you have to have patience when it comes to acne. No remedy works overnight.
If someone tells you that something works overnight, you can be assured that it will be a drastic measure and your body and skin do not appreciate those.
Before you get disheartened and stop reading, let me tell you what happened after 2 weeks of drinking green tea everyday. No, not crystal clear skin yet! But my skin had definitely calmed down. It looked less red and angry. It took another week before I saw my acne healing and my skin looking much better.
The takeaway from this is that when it comes to treating acne, it is always better to look at long term benefits. Acne is on your skin and your skin should ALWAYS be treated gently. Antibiotics and Accutane make you feel sick and benzoyl peroxide makes your skin dry and irritated.
Green tea never made me feel sick, unless of course if you count the fact that I did not like its taste. Besides forcing it down my throat, I had zero side effects. 4 weeks later my skin looked much better.
Green tea is something you could start drinking today. I will tell you how you can use green tea for acne.
First, I did a little research into how exactly green tea works to help your acne and give you clearer and better looking skin. I will also tell you how to use green tea for acne and how to use green tea topically.
Let’s start by seeing how exactly green tea helps acne.
Green tea is from the same plant as normal black tea but has not undergone the withering and oxidation process that makes your black tea. Source : Wikipedia
Green tea contains polyphenols, which are found naturally in foods and they are essentially antioxidants. The main polyphenol found in green tea in is Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). It is a big name but all you need, is to know what is does to help your acne.
So here are 3 things that it does.
It Balances Your Hormones
First of all, this is great news for you if your acne is hormonal. A hormonal imbalance makes your sebaceous skin secrete excess sebum and make the dead skin cells block your pores leading to acne. If your hormones are balanced your skin will be much less oily and your acne will reduce.
It Decreases Inflammation in Your Body
If you have acne your inflammation levels are high. ECGC lowers the levels of inflammation in your body. Decreased inflammation levels means less redness in your skin which means less angry looking skin and less acne. Acne will also heal faster.
It Decreases Your Blood Sugar Levels
Excess blood sugar leads to excessive oiliness, blocked pores, inflammation, redness and swelling. Green tea helps reduce these levels thereby reducing your acne.
Now that we have seen how green tea can help reduce your acne, here is how you can start to use it.
How To Use Green Tea For Acne
Any brand of green tea is perfectly fine to use. Boil water and pour it into your cup. Place a green tea bag into it. Let it steep for 3-5 minutes. Place the green tea bag in a bowl to cool ( I will tell you later what to do with this tea bag ). You can add a little honey, mint leaves, lemon juice, fresh orange juice to make it palatable.
What I like to do is add the tea bag to just half a cup of boiling water. Once steeped I keep the bag aside and add 4-5 ice cubes or top the cup with cold water and just drink it up quickly. If you’re curious as to why I don’t let the tea just cool down to room temperature, it is because green tea is always most effective when fresh.
Start with a cup a day and you can go up to 3 cups a day. Please do not overdo the green tea. Remember green tea still has caffeine, although much less than black tea and coffee, which in large amounts is not good for you.
As I said before you need to have patience and let the green tea do its good work slowly. You will see results in 2-3 weeks.
Please remember that drinking green tea is not a free pass for you to eat a bad diet otherwise. Make sure your diet is healthy as well and free of excess sugar. You can drink all the green tea in the world, but if your diet is bad do not expect much for all your effort. When it comes to acne your body needs all the help it can get.
How to Use Green Tea in Your Skin Care
Remember the green tea bag I asked you to save. Well, here is what you can do with it. Once cool you can dab it all over your face. This calms your skin down, reduces redness and excess oiliness on your skin.
You can also use a little of the green tea which you are going to drink as a toner. So if you have green tea for breakfast, save a tiny amount which you can apply to your face with a cotton ball. Do this after washing your face. You can apply moisturiser when it dries off. This way the green tea has all day to work its magic on your skin.
Here is a green tea mask for acne.
- One green tea bag
- One tablespoon raw, organic honey
- One teaspoon ground oats (optional)
- A pinch of turmeric powder
Mix all and apply to your face. Leave it on for half an hour to one hour. Wash off with cool to warm water. Leftovers of the mask can be saved in the refrigerator to be used the next day.
Use this mask 3-4 times a week, though preferably everyday would be better.
So there you have it, the secret I got from my doctors has now been shared with you. Make sure you follow what I have told you. I promise you, you won’t regret it.
If this post has not convinced you, you can read about other people’s results with green tea here. Hope it helps. 🙂
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