How to Use Green Tea in Your Beauty Routine

This is a guest post from our friends at Upcircle, a skincare brand which creates their products with byproduct waste.

Tea is one of the world’s favourite drinks and it is estimated that the in the UK 100 million cups are drunk daily. It has many health properties and is known for being the perfect comforting drink. However, the topical benefits of tea are less well known. Here at UpCircle we’re old hands at incorporating tea into our products- our Chai Soaps include the residual spices leftover from making Chai Syrup and our Face Toner contains chamomile stem extract – a by-product of the tea industry. For this blog we’ve teamed up with our friends over at NEMI to take a deeper look into the topical benefits of green tea and how you can easily incorporate it into your routine and repurpose your NEMI tea bags!

Drinking green tea has many health benefits, using it topically can also do wonders for you! The benefits of this wonder drink include:

Being rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants help to fight free radicals which can contribute to the signs of aging and conditions such as hyperpigmentation. Using antioxidant rich skincare products is a great way to help keep skin glowing!
It can help to reduce inflammation making it great for calming redness and soothing skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
It helps to reduce excess sebum and oil from the skin. When combined with its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties this makes it a great treatment for acne.
It contains caffeine which can help to reduce puffy, swollen eyes. When used in conjunction with the UpCircle Eye Cream your eyes will be sparkling!

Using Green tea as an ingredient in skincare is growing in popularity. However, the best way to use green tea and prevent waste? Save your NEMI tea bags and reuse them. Below are 3 of our favourite ways to reuse:

1. Green tea facial steam to deeply cleanse skin.

Steam doesn’t open up your pores however, it does increase your skin’s temperature, which can warm up and soften any debris and sebum within pores, making it easier to remove from your skin. Including green tea bags in your steaming is a great way to benefit from this wonderful ingredient.

Place 2-3 tea bags in a bowl of boiling water and leave to soak for a few minutes (this will also help to allow the water to cool and be safe to use). Whilst you wait cleanse your skin- we would recommend using our Cleansing Face Balm followed by our Chocolate Charcoal Chai Soap. Once you’ve finished cleansing drape a towel over your head and lean over the bowl so your face is directly above the steam. Stay like this for 5-10 mins- or until you feel too hot to continue. Pat your skin dry with a towel and finish your routine- we’d recommend following with our Face Toner, Eye Cream, Face Moisturiser and Face Serum for hydrate, glowing skin!

2. Green tea eye masks to reduce puffiness and soothe.

After a long day it’s important to give your eyes some love and attention. Using Hemp Pads soaked in green tea to relax and cool them is the perfect antidote.

Once you remove your tea bag from your cup place it into a small ramekin or bowl along with 2 reusable Hemp + Cotton pads and enough water to cover the bag and put it in the fridge to cool. Once cooled apply the pads to your eyes and leave for 10 minutes- we recommend using alongside the UpCircle Face Mask for the ultimate pamper session! Following up with the UpCircle Eye Cream will help to lock in the effects!

3. Green tea hair rinse for smooth and shiny hair.

Green tea isn’t just great for skin it can do wonders for your hair too! Using it as a rinse a few times per month will keep your hair in tip top condition.

Save 3 (or more) tea bags and place them in 3 cups of hot water and allow them to cool. After washing your hair use the mix as a final rinse. Once your hair is dried apply a few drops of the UpCircle Serum to the ends for glowing locks.