Green Tea Facial Scrub

I love making myself facials at home with ingredients that I already have in my pantry, so when I saw Michelle Phans YouTube video "Green Goodness" (Watch it here) I was inspired to create my own. I have done some research and have found that green tea is full of antioxidants which will help protect your skin from free radicals. Green tea can also has an anti-inflammatory effect, so it can help soothe sensitive skin. In addition, for those of you with acne prone skin, or even those who just get the occasional breakout like me, green tea can help clear your skin of the bacteria that causes acne. Plus, drinking green tea has medicinal qualities like reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol levels.
Other ways you can use it are by putting it in a spray bottle with some ice and bringing it to the pool with you. Whenever you get too hot or need a refresher just spray it on your face and body, or go out and buy a product with green tea in it in the organic/natural section of your grocery store. I discovered that the St. Ives brand came out with their own Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub and other face and body products using green tea.

So here's how to make my own Green Tea Facial Scrub:

Ingredients:

1 tea bag of green tea, or 1 tsp of loose green tea leaves

1 Tbsp of sugar

1 Tbsp of brewed green tea, cooled

1 tsp of honey

Plus an additional ingredient. I added a tsp of olive oil for moisturizing purposes. Other beneficial ingredients you could add include plain yogurt, half of an avocado, or lemon.

Directions:

1) Brew the green tea by pouring boiling water over the tea bag or tea leaves, and let it steep for about 2 minutes.

2) Take the tea bag out of the brewed tea and empty the tea leaves into a small bowl. If you used loose tea leaves, strain the tea to separate the leaves from the liquid. Do not get rid of the tea!

3) Add sugar to the tea leaves and stir them with a spoon.

4) Stir in the honey.

5) Your tea should have cooled down enough by this time to add it to the tea leaf mixture. You do not want the tea to be too hot or else it will melt the sugar.

6) Now you can add your additional ingredient.

7) So now that you have made your scrub it will look something like this...

Application:

1) Take a cotton pad and dip it into the scrub. Apply it generously to your face, including your lips if you feel like they need some exfoliation. (You can also use this scrub on scars. I've heard it helps scar tissue, too.)

2) Gently scrub your face for 1½ minutes. You do not need to use a lot of pressure, especially on your lips.

3) Rinse the scrub off, by gently scrubbing it away with warm water.

4) Now you can go back to that saved green tea again and use it as a toner.

                                                                                  

I hope you enjoyed your Green Tea Facial Scrub! My face felt very smooth and refreshed afterwards. On the other hand, I'm not sure using olive oil was the best idea... I could still feel it for a little while after rinsing the scrub off, but after 10 minutes my face felt great. Next time I'm going to try yogurt...

P.S.: I'm sure I will make a new facial sometime soon, so I'll be sure to share it with you(: