If you’re reading this article and you have a cup of tea in your hand – congratulations! You’re drinking one of the healthiest drinks around. (As long as it doesn’t have multiple teaspoons of sugar and lashing of full fat milk in it…) Tea is hydrating, and as long as you keep to below around four cups a day (because of the caffeine overload) it’s a healthy, immune system supporting option.
Tea is full of beneficial plant compounds that contribute to our health. But you may be thinking, I’m drinking ‘normal’ tea and isn’t this article all about green tea? Otherwise known as black tea which is still a healthy choice. Even healthier though, is green tea, as it contains more of the good stuff. But you’re a skin company, we hear you cry! Is green tea extract good for skin?
Turns out, yes, it is, and not necessarily just by drinking it. So here’s our lowdown on how to use green tea extract on your skin and how it benefits all skin types.
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What is Green Tea Extract?
Without sounding too “it does what it says on the tin”, green tea extract is exactly that – an extract of green tea. But what exactly does that mean? What exactly is green tea extract and why on earth would we want to use it on our skin?
Green tea extract is a concentrated, dried form of normal green tea. One small capsule or teaspoon of extract contains the same amount of beneficial nutrients and compounds as an entire mug of green tea. So it’s a stronger, more potent form of the already beneficial tea.
How Does Green Tea Extract Work?
Green tea extract is very rich in polyphenol antioxidants called catechins, in particular a catechin called epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG for short. EGCG antioxidants are an anti-inflammatory with antimicrobial properties, but more on those shortly.
What Does Green Tea Extract Do to Benefit the Skin?
Because green tea extract is so rich in polyphenol catechins, it has a beneficial antioxidant effect on the skin.
Antioxidant compounds such as EGCG help to neutralise or ‘mop up’ free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules of oxygen that scavenge for electrons from other oxygen molecules to stabilise themselves, sparking a chain reaction that can cause damage to our skin cells. This can result in irritation, inflammation, premature ageing and a worsening of spots and acne.
Is Green Tea Extract Good for Acne?
Green tea is exceptionally good for acne prone skin. This is down to the fact that as well as antioxidant properties, EGCG also has anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. This means that it helps to reduce inflammation, the red, hot, angry skin that often accompanies an acne breakout or spot.
EGCG has an ‘anti-androgenic’ property too, which means that it can keep sebum production at normal levels, helping to prevent excess sebum building up and blocking the pores.
It also means that it helps to inhibit the growth of the bacteria that reside naturally on the skin but can also be a contributing factor to spots if they become trapped in the pores by excess sebum. (Sebum is the natural oily wax like substance produced by the skin to help keep it moisturised and protected.)
What’s more, EGCG also has an ‘anti-androgenic’ property too, which means that it can keep sebum production at normal levels, helping to prevent excess sebum building up and blocking the pores. It does this by helping to reduce levels of androgens – hormones that can trigger the skin to release more and more sebum.
So you can see, green tea extract really is a skin saviour if you suffer spots and breakouts.
Is Green Tea Extract Good for Skin in General?
Even if you suffer the occasional breakout, or none at all (you lucky thing), using products containing green tea extract will still benefit your skin. Adding any antioxidant to your skincare regime will help to protect it from UV damage from the sun and damage caused by environmental toxins and pollutants.
How to Use Green Tea Extract
All this information is great, Vice Reversa, but how do I use green tea extract on my skin?! Well, we don’t just tell you about wonderous skincare ingredients here, we also include them in our products and they’re super simple to use!
We’ve added green tea extract to our Vice Reversa Microneedle Pimple Patches. Our patches have been specifically developed to wear on the skin directly over the problem area, where you feel spots are developing under the surface of the skin.
Green tea is exceptionally good for acne prone skin. This is down to the fact that as well as antioxidant properties, EGCG also has anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.
With over 500 dissolvable microneedles, they deliver skin soothing green tea extract, along with pore clearing salicylic acid and totarol, that has powerful antioxidant and antibacterial properties, straight into the skin, exactly where it’s needed.
What is green tea extract and how will it help your skin? We hope we’ve answered your questions. There only one thing left to do, and that’s try pimple patches with green tea extract for yourself!
