I love drinking green tea. It’s healthy and positively influences condition of my skin. Recently I’ve found out that it can be also applied directly to face. Therefore, today I’m going to tell you how to create and how to apply green tea face toner. I’ll also tell you why it’s worth having green tea on hand 🙂

Everybody knows green tea. Of course there are people who aren’t fans of its taste, but today I’m not going to analyse green tea in terms of dietary benefits. Instead, I’ll focus on its beautifying properties. I’d like to begin with defining types of green tea – after all this is where the differences in nutrient percentage come from.

Types of green tea

From the very beginning of green tea existence (beloved especially in China and Japan) there have been many types of it developed. Here are the main types of green tea that can be used in hair and body care – I’ve chosen the finest ones only.

• Matcha, drunk during the Japanese tea ceremony. It has a form of green powder and is a rich source of anti-oxidants (e.g. catechin). It restores harmony to skin, sweeps off free radicals and displays potent rejuvenating properties. Matcha is also good at removing toxins from an organism.
• Gyokuro, also known as ‘jewel dew’. Owing to a special cultivation method (in 3 weeks prior to harvesting the tea shrubs are covered to make them grow in a shadow) this type of green tea contains plenty of tannin. It’s recognized as natural tranquilizer. When it comes to beauty, gyokuro protects skin against oxidative stress.
• Sencha is a delicate and fresh green tea which leaves are infused before drying to prevent fermentation process. It contains caffeine so it boosts blood flow. Also, sencha displays strong anti-oxidative properties due to which is slows down skin aging. Furthermore, this type of green tea contains precious vitamins A, C and E.

FUN FACT: when mashed into pulp, pressed, dried and cut into tiny pieces, sencha leaves are combined with rice flour to obtain kokeicha, which is yet another type of green tea.

• Bancha is the Asian’s favorite kind of green tea that they drink every day. It has slightly sweet taste. It improves immunity system, works anti-oxidative and reduces skin’s pH acidity. Bancha contains calcium, vitamin A, niacin and iron.

There are also other types of green tea such as chun mee, longjing, hojicha (green tea roasted over charcoal) and tamaryokucha. I don’t want to make my entry longer than it should be that’s why I focused on the most important four types of green tea.

Properties of green tea

The main reason for drinking green tea is to cleanse the body, improve immune system, reduce the risk of coming down with some diseases, put into good mood and help keep fit.

Frequently, its beautifying properties are skipped, however, they are really interesting. It appears that green tea – no matter if drunk or applied externally – positively influences the state of our skin, hair and fingernails. It’s owed to the tea’s antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties.

How does green tea boost beauty products?

• Reduces acne by counteracting bacteria multiplication.
• Deals with and soothes various types of skin irritations.
• Combats blackheads and reduces visibility of skin pores.
• Is known for limiting uncontrolled face shine (controls sebum production).
• Counteracts first signs of skin ageing.
• Highlights and evens skin tone.
• Is good at cleansing, detoxifying and freshening up skin.

Green tea face toner – The best for skin

Obviously, you can just buy cosmetics with green tea extracts (I can see that there is more and more of them) but in my opinion the simplest solution is the most effective. Instead of creams with just trace amounts of matcha or other type of green tea, it’s better to create your own homemade face toner. I tested it, I fell in love with it, and now I’m sharing it with you!

Recipe for green tea face toner

How to prepare a homemade toner for green tea? It’s simple! Infuse 1 or 2 (for more intensified effect) teaspoons of green tea in 120 ml of water. Let it cool down, pour into a bottle to wipe your face with it regularly.

And below let me give you a few pieces of advice 🙂

Don’t use boiling water because you’ll lose the most precious properties of green tea. Use tea leaves that come for a trusted source because the infusion made of tea bags is low in quality. And of course don’t prepare too much of the toner because it will spoil pretty fast. It’s definitely better to prepare fresh infusion more frequently. Keep the green tea face toner in a fridge. Thanks to this your homemade face toner won’t only stay fresh for longer but also it will cool your face down in a really pleasant way.