Green Tea: As Face Wash! 

I know that great tea is an amazing tea that contains tons of health benefits when taken orally. This is no secret, (so let us not discuss this here) and nowadays you can also find green tea in many cosmetic products not only in Korean products like Innisfree's green tea line of skincare, but also in some Western cosmetic brands. But what surprised me and never occured to me is using green tea to wash the face! Waaa! That is new to me!

I learned this accidentally, as I was watching a video blog of a Korean model giving many nice and informative tutorials about Korean skincare and makeup applications. Let me reveal you how you could do this at the bottom of this post.

First let us find out the beauty benefits of green tea in our skin:

Green tea like you already know is a rich source of antioxidant. It contains a compound called polyphenol that eradicates free radicals that causes cancer and at the same time protects healthy cells by bringing cancer cells to its end. A study perfomed by Dr. Stephen Hsu, a cell biologist in the Medical College of Georgia Department of Oral Biology, proved that the outer most layer of the skin called epidermis, which usually dies and sheds off in every 28 days cyle, starts reactivated once exposed topically to the polyphenol of green tea. (source) So instead of being shed off, this old cells start dividing again. They just gained another life! This just tells us how potent green tea is as an anti-aging by rejuvenating skin cells.

If you aren't convinced yet with the health and beauty benefits of green tea, here's another one. Green tea also provides some form of sun protecton by blocking UV Rays. This is why many sunscreens have green teas in their ingredients like Innisfree Eco Safety No Sebum Sunblock. UV rays as we know is the number one cause of aging skin. So better start smearing those sunblock now to avoid more wrinkles!

Rinsing the face with green tea is no secret in Korea or in Japan. It just probably me who is very late in this information or YOU too if this is your first time reading about it. At least we are not alone together :)

HERE'S HOW: THE GREEN TEA FACE WASH: 

It is as easy as drinking your tea. So, the next time you drink your green tea, prepare some too for your skin.

• Infuse 5 bags (or less! It's up to you) of green tea in a hot water for 10 minutes
• Let it cool and pour the tea in a bigger basin. Set aside
• Cleanse face like you usually do. Here's how.
• After cleansing face and rinsed of thoroughly with water, follow it up with the green tea face wash
• Wash the face with undiluted green tea infuse, or if you have very sensitive skin dilute the infuse with some water.
• Splash the green tea to face several times, while trying to pat in the infuse in the skin for better absorbtion. Do not rinse.
• Pat skin dry.

The green tea wash disinfects the skin, since it contains anti-inflammatory properties that sooth redness, irritation and other forms of breakouts in the skin.

You can do this 1x/a week after a face scrub or exfoliation. BTW, the sugar scrub used in the video, is Skinfood's Black Sugar Wash Off Mask. An excellent scrub to get rid of dead cells! You can find this and many other forms of scrubs in BoOonBox

For best results, follow it up with a serum like Innisfree's Green Tea Seed Serum and or Innisfree's Green Tea Seed Deep Cream. If you are lazy to brew your teas... these are great alternatives. Easy to use and they are in concentrates. My favorite so far is the Green Tea It's Real Sheet Mask from Innisfree. It is very cheap for CHF 2.50, but I tell you, it contains concentrated essences of different active ingredients that leaves your skin smooth and hydrated after use. And it is sooo easy to use!

And hey, before you go...I have one more DIY GREEN TEA MASK for you!

After drinking your green tea, don't throw away that little bag that contains the tea. Instead, remove the contents and put it in a bowl. Mix a tsp. of honey or sugar, if your prefer and add some tsp. of rice flour until it is quite thick, but not so thick, so that you can easily apply it unto the face. Apply the mixture on your skin, massage it for 1-2 minutes paying extra attention to your problem zones and leave it for around 5 minutes. Rinse face and pat dry. Follow with your normal routine.

And before I forget, here's the video of Pony about the green tea face wash. 

Do you also have some face wash secrets? I would be thrilled to hear about it!

Thanks and until next time again.