Green Tea: My Best Friend + 3 DIY Skincare Remedies

Best friends. I've had many "best friends" through out the years. Many great loyal ones that are always there to help me out and provide me with a much needed pick-me-up! Wait, hold on, I just described green tea? 

Green Tea! The sacred tea used since ancient times by the chinese to maintain good health and beautiful skin! Let's admit it folks, the chinese are very shallow people. To them beauty is everything. How do I know this? Well, I'm chinese and I can't tell you how often I have been criticized about my skin by my own mother. Can I hate her for it? Yea, I can, but you sorta get use to it and you realize how anal asian people are about flawless and glowy skin! 

Green Tea is a quick fix for cleansing your body and skin of impurities and I promise you will notice a world of difference by just drinking 2 cups of green tea per day, and by the time you are gradually increasing your intake, you will be noticing that your skin is clearer, firmer, and brighter than it had ever been! You'll notice many outrageously priced skincare products on the shelf of your favorite department store uses green tea as a main healing ingredient. F*** them that! Green tea is meant to be a raw natural ingredient and that is how it should be used! 

I am now going to proceed to throw a bunch of intelligent scientific terms just to confuse you and therefore prove how legit the benefits of green tea are! 

Green Tea contains high levels of catechin polyphenols which is known to contain very powerful antioxidants, anti-carcinogenic, anti-tumorigenic and anti-biotic properties! The rich antioxidants helps protect your body from free radicals! The antioxidants in green tea alone have more healing properties than  the combined efforts if vitamin A, C and E! 

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To summarize: Its good for you. That really is all you need to know. Its good for you. So use it to your advantage!

The scientific explanation was really just for those keens, paranoid (I kid, I kid), who are in disbelief.

How to use Green Tea:

The simplest method is to just drink the tea! Replace your tea with water and maybe add a few drops of lemon for extra flavor, and you'll be left with the most antioxidants that one could wish for in a single glass! 

For those that don't like the taste of green tea, here are a few simple skincare recipes that use green tea as its main ingredient! 

Green Tea Ice Facial:

Ingredients: 

• Ice Tray
• Brewed Green Tea
• Lemon Juice

Instructions:

1. Brew about 2 cups of green tea, or whatever volume your ice tray will be able to contain.
2. Pour the brewed green tea 3/4 way into each of the individual slots of the ice tray. 
3. Fill the remaining 1/4 of the slot with lemon juice.
4. Place in the freezer and freeze overnight of until fully frozen (4 hours). 
5. Gently glide the green tea/lemon ice cube on your skin until the ice was been melted, let your skin absorb the water containing all of those great skin nutrients. 

Green Tea Mask for Dehydrated Skin:

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP of brewed green tea
• 1 1/2 TSP of natural honey
• 1/2 TSP of your choice of natural oils (argan, jojoba, extra virgin olive oil etc.)

Instructions:

1. Mix the brewed green tea, honey, and natural oil together until it forms a paste.
2. Apply the paste to a freshly cleansed and toned face.
3. Kick back and relax for 10min.
4. Fully rinse your skin to reveal a softer, brighter complexion!

Green Tea Toner:

Ingredients:

• Brewed Green Tea
• Apple Cider Vinegar (only substitute with lemon as a last resort!)
• A bottle

Instructions:

1. Fill your bottle 2/3 up with your brewed green tea.
2. Fill the last 1/3 of your bottle with apple cider vinegar. If apple cider vinegar is completely unavailable then you can use lemon, but I find that it is not as effective. 
3. Mix the ingredients. 
4. Apply toner to your skin twice a day with a cotton pad. The toner should be kept in the fridge so that it is always fresh and cooling during application!