How-To: Make Your Own Green Tea Face Wash

Green tea’s skin benefits are all over the media these days. It’s been flaunted as a cure for everything ranging from acne to aging skin. Green tea is a tasty and healthy drink, filled with powerful antioxidants. While its skin benefits do work well from the inside out, green tea can also be used topically on your skin.   

I like to use green tea for a refreshing face wash or as an antioxidant-rich addition to my clay face masks.  

However, not all green tea is created equal!  It’s important to use high-quality organic tea and brew it correctly to get the most skin benefits out of your tea.   

 

Selecting Your Tea 

I always try to purchase loose leaf organic tea. Bagged green tea is often lower quality and less fresh, as it’s typically made from loose tea leftovers. Opting for loose tea also allows you to explore and blend different types of tea. While some research has suggested that bagged tea has higher antioxidant levels, I believe the whole tea leaf provides a much better experience. When you drink loose leaf tea, you can taste the freshness, aromas, and flavors of its essential oils. The same applies when you use it topically on your skin. 

Aim to only use green teas without other flavors added. I also like to use white tea, which is very lightly processed green tea and has numerous benefits for the skin.

 

Brewing Your Tea

Brewing tea is all about the water temperature. While we typically bring our water to a boil, fine green tea is actually brewed below boiling at about 170-180 °F. The finer the leaves, the lower the temperature should be. For example, white tea should generally be brewed at about 165 °F. Steeping your tea at a lower temperature helps to maintain the quality of the antioxidants during the brewing process.   

 

Green Tea Face Wash How-To

1. Add 1-2 tablespoons of loose leaf tea into a cup. (For the face wash, I brew a stronger cup of tea than I would normally drink).  
2. Cover the tea with the water and let it steep for 10 minutes. Brewing for 10 minutes appears to be a sweet zone for extracting antioxidants.  
3. When the tea cools to a comfortable and safe temperature, you can use it as a simple face wash. I'll also use this as the liquid component of my clay face masks to add an extra cleansing and antioxidant boost.  

Please Note: While green tea is safe and a food product, it is always best to test on a small area before applying it to your entire face.