5 Amazing Ways Green Tea Helps Fight Acne

Everyone struggling with acne, whether it’s the painful cystic variety or just an occasional breakout, knows how it can kill your mood and cast a cloud on even the brightest day. It can be depressing when you’ve tried every treatment out there—from over the counter toners and masks to prescription strength acne creams—and your skin still isn’t clear. Looking in the mirror, you don’t see yourself, you just see your acne. While looking for a solution, you’ve probably read that what you eat and drink can be a factor in causing acne. Greasy and sugary foods especially are thought to be a culprit. But what you might not know is that there are also foods and drinks that have been shown to reduce acne breakouts. One of those helpful superfoods is green tea. Keep reading to learn just how it can help in your journey to clear, acne-free skin.

You might have some green tea sitting in your cupboard right now, or maybe you’ve sipped it alongside your food at an Asian restaurant. What you probably didn’t realize is that this light, pleasant drink is packed with acne-fighting properties among a wealth of other health benefits. For centuries, green tea has been used in Eastern traditions as everything from a beloved everyday beverage to a beauty elixir and medicinal treatment. In the West, studies are beginning to show that there are good reasons for green tea’s healthy reputation. It turns out that drinking green tea can help with everything from weight loss to cardiovascular disease, as well as skin conditions like acne. Since one of the other contributing factors to acne, especially cystic acne, is stress, it's a bonus that relaxing with a cup of green tea is also a calming activity. So, as we uncover the science behind these many tea benefits, let's keep in mind the words of Chiam Potok: "Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things."

One of the great things about green tea as an acne treatment is that it’s versatile. You can get acne-fighting benefits not only from drinking the tea, but also by using it externally. Brewed green tea and tea bags can be applied directly to your skin to calm cystic or other acne, reduce redness, and tighten pores. You can also buy or make a variety of toners, creams, and masks that include green tea and are designed to help treat acne. Check the labels of acne products for green tea extracts when you’re in the skincare aisle of your local store, or have a look online to find recipes for homemade green tea acne creams and other treatments. To know exactly how these products work to get rid of your acne, as well as green tea's internal benefits when you drink it, have a look below to learn the five main acne-fighting skin benefits of green tea:

Many people with acne know that hormones play a big part in the frequency and severity of breakouts. Especially, it seems, in cystic acne. This is why acne often makes its first appearance in the teenage years, when the hormones of puberty are running wild. It also explains why so many find that their acne gets better and worse on a monthly cycle. Hormones tend to follow that same cycle, with levels raising and lowering over the course of a month. Green tea helps balance acne-causing hormones like testosterone. Drinking green tea adds to the number of molecules in your body that bind to these hormones, rendering them inactive. Fewer active hormones mean less hormonal acne and clearer skin. Even better, reducing these hormones also reduces the risk of certain cancers—so you’ll look better and live a healthier life.

Inflammation is a term and condition that has been getting a lot of attention lately. It is an immune response that results in heat, redness, and swelling of different parts of the body, and it can cause a lot of health problems when it gets out of control. Heat, redness and swelling sounds an awful lot like an acne breakout, doesn't it? Studies have indicated that people with acne often have increased levels of inflammation. One of the effective methods of reducing inflammation is with antioxidants—compounds found in many foods, which fight inflammation on a cellular level. Green tea is very high in antioxidants, especially the very potent antioxidant EGCG. It has been shown to be up to 100 times stronger than vitamins C and E, and thanks to it, drinking just half a cup of green tea is equivalent to eating several pieces of fresh fruit. Drinking green tea, then, is one of the easiest and most effective ways to fight inflammation with a high dose of antioxidants, and reap the acne-fighting benefits that follow. In addition to helping with your acne, there are a range of other healthy side-effects of green tea's antioxidants, including protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer. Using green tea products directly on the skin can have a calming effect on the redness and inflammation of the acne itself, as well.

Oily skin is a struggle for many people with acne. Too much oil can clog the pores and make acne breakouts worse, in addition to making your face shiny more of a pain to deal with. But many of the ingredients in common masks, creams, and toners are harsh and dry out the skin too much, which can also make acne worse. It’s hard to find a middle ground, but green tea can help. Sebum is the skin oil that, while beneficial in the right quantities, can cause acne when the body produces too much. One of the causes of excess sebum production is high hormone levels. As mentioned before, green tea can reduce the effect of those hormones, and therefore your sebum production and acne breakouts as well. The acne clearing benefits of green tea by reducing oil can go even further. Having skin that is less oily means you will need to use less makeup and chemicals to hide or remove that oil, so your skin will have fewer things on it that could potentially cause even more acne. Plus, it will make getting ready in the morning that much easier!

When people think about blood sugar, the mind usually goes to conditions like diabetes, or thoughts of diet and weight loss. Acne isn’t something that seems like it would be related. But the more you learn about how the body works, the more you realize that everything is connected to everything else. And that includes your acne and blood sugar levels. It turns out that people with acne have a tendency toward being insulin resistant. This means that their bodies don’t absorb and use sugars effectively, which is how it ends up building up in the blood, causing high blood sugar. In addition to big things like Type 2 Diabetes, insulin resistance can also contribute to higher sebum production in the skin and more inflammation—things we've already learned can lead to clogged pores and increased acne. Green tea, as we’ve noted above, helps with each of these symptoms of insulin resistance individually. But that isn’t the only way it helps acne sufferers. In multiple studies, components of green tea, including the super antioxidant EGCG, have been shown to reduce insulin resistance in people who consume it. That’s one more powerful reason for people with acne to pour another cup of tea!

Sunlight, while it may give you a nice tan, does a lot of damage to your skin in the process. This is why dermatologists recommend always wearing sunblock, especially on your face. But most of us have gone without it in the past, and will probably do so again in the future. That means we all have sun damage to contend with, and that damage can contribute to acne breakouts in addition to more serious problems like skin cancer. Polyphenols in green tea can actually repair DNA that has been damaged by UV (sun) exposure. That’s pretty impressive! It also stimulates your immune system, so that cells damaged too much to be repaired can be eliminated before they might mutate into something potentially dangerous. A better immune system is also good news for acne sufferers, since your body will also be better able to ward off acne-causing bacteria in your pores. This isn’t an excuse to skip the sunscreen. Next to avoiding direct sunlight, wearing a cream with a high SPF is your best protection against skin cancer and other conditions. Drinking green tea can’t reverse all the damage caused by UV rays, but it can help make up for the times when you’re forgetful.

Those are your top five reasons to add green tea to your anti-acne arsenal. But if you aren’t completely convinced, or you’d just like a little extra icing on the cake, we can add one more thing to the list: by drinking green tea on a regular basis, you’ll be ensuring that your body is properly hydrated. Good hydration is essential to the health of your skin as well as the rest of your body. And the healthier your skin is, the less likely you are to have an acne breakout. Our bodies are about 60% water—it makes up more than half of us! That means that it is a vital part of our life, and we need to make sure the balance is maintained by replenishing the water that we lose. Why not maintain that balance at the same time as reaping the benefits of green tea, both as a way of fighting acne and having an overall healthier body? It’s a deliciously win-win situation.

So now you know quite a lot about the why of using green tea to treat acne, let’s delve deeper into the how. Picking up a box of green tea bags at your local grocery store and brewing a cup from time to time is a good start, but it won’t get you the best acne-fighting results. The first consideration is that, when it comes to the elements that affect acne, not all green teas are the same. The tea you find in cardboard boxes at the grocery store is far from fresh, thanks to age and packaging, and that has an effect on antioxidant levels as well as taste. If you want green tea at full acne-fighting power (and aren’t lucky enough to be living in Japan) try looking at a health food store or specialty tea shop. Look for green tea that is packaged in foil bags, which preserve freshness and quality. And if you can, find tea that has been picked and packed the most recently. The next consideration is preparation. The longer you brew your green tea, and the hotter the water you use, the higher levels of EGCG and other antioxidants you’re going to get. That’s great for your acne, but if you take it too far, it won’t be so nice for your taste buds as the tea will be strong and bitter. For a good balance, use water that is just below boiling, and steep your tea for 2-3 minutes (or go by the instructions on the package for whichever tea you buy). You can adjust according to your personal preference. Remember: you won’t get any of the benefits if it doesn’t taste good enough for you to drink it! Speaking of drinking—just how much green tea are we talking about to make a noticeable difference in acne breakouts? Obviously the results will vary depending on things like the type of tea, and the individual drinking it, but a good place to start is a cup or two a day. If you aren’t seeing any changes after a while, try upping your intake. But a word to the wise: green tea contains caffeine (albeit less than coffee or black tea), so it’s probably not a good idea to have it too late in the day. A great way to get your two cups a day is to make it your go-to beverage with breakfast and lunch—maybe hot in the morning and iced in the afternoon to mix it up. Having it with food will also help the people who might experience nausea drinking green tea on an empty stomach.

When it comes to using green tea for external skin treatments, there are dozens of over-the-counter acne products you can buy in stores and online that contain it. If you want to go for a more natural, do-it-yourself product, try one of the following green tea recipes, or do a quick web search for more ideas. For a green tea mask: cut open a couple of used tea bags, or use the contents of a strainer if you’re using loose-leaf tea. Mix the wet tea leaves with a little honey and lemon juice to form a paste (and increase the acne-fighting potency), and spread that over clean skin, concentrating on the T-zone or areas of cystic breakouts. Relax for 5 to 10 minutes, and then rinse with warm water. Your skin will feel smooth and fresh! For a green tea facial toner: brew extra-strong tea by using boiling water and letting it steep for at least 5-10 minutes—since we’re not worried about taste, we can go for maximum antioxidant extraction. This gentle toner can be used morning and night after cleansing your face to shrink pores and reduce acne-causing oil. Any extra should be stored in the fridge for freshness. You can experiment with adding other acne-fighting ingredients to these recipes, or add green tea to a mask, toner, or cleanser you already love. There are endless possibilities, so adjust as needed until you find the ones that work best for you.

With benefits ranging from decreased inflammation and oil production to balanced hormones, better blood sugar levels, and repaired UV damage, green tea is a powerful tool in the fight against acne, whether you're dealing with the teenage, adult, or cystic variety. As a bonus, it will also bring you better health in the process. Whether you use bags, loose leaf tea, or matcha powder, and whether you're drinking it or putting it in your masks and creams, this is one superfood that can be used on a daily basis, both inside and out. Hot or iced, flavored or plain, there's a delicious cup of green tea to suit everyone. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get brewing.