Of the three main varieties of tea–green, black and oolong–green tea provides the most antioxidants because you make it from unfermented leaves. People in India, Thailand, China and Japan have been drinking green tea for centuries. Along with the health benefits you can gain with green tea, you may gain beauty benefits both by drinking green tea and by applying it topically using lotions that contain it. Not only is green tea good for your health, it can help with weight loss and with reducing the effects of aging skin.
Drinking Green Tea
Green tea contains polyphenol. By drinking it, you can fight free radicals, unstable compounds that can attack human cells and damage DNA. Damaged skin cells can accelerate the aging process by producing wrinkles, dry and dull skin and dark circles under the eyes, according to WebMD. The polyphenols in green tea help to neutralize this damage.
Lotions Containing Green Tea
The ingredients in green tea can reduce sun damage and may protect your skin from skin cancer when applied topically as a lotion, according to WebMD. Lotions containing green tea may also reduce sagging skin and wrinkles.
Green Tea Powder
Another way to keep your skin looking young is to use green tea powder to make a face mask. You would brew some white tea and mix enough of it with the green tea powder to make a paste. You can squeeze a little lemon in, too, to give yourself a glow, recommends the ?Dr. Oz Show? website. Put this homemade mask on your face to help prevent fine lines and wrinkles.
Lose Weight with Green Tea
Green tea may boost your metabolism to help your burn fat. The combination of green tea and caffeine can help not only with losing weight, but with maintaining it as well, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The metabolism boost may also give you an increase of energy.
Find and Use Green Tea
You can find green tea in most grocery stores and in Asian markets, according to the Free Beauty Tips website. Green tea is inexpensive compared to most other beauty treatments, at about $2 for 100 tea bags, as of 2009. When drinking the tea, have around 2 to 3 cups a day to receive its benefits, according to University of Maryland Medical Center. Most drugstores carry beauty products that contain green tea, as well.
