Green tea is one of those nature’s little miracles. It seems like not a day goes by without some news report about discovery of yet another medicinal benefit. And now acne joins that ever-growing list.
You can use green tea to fight acne in two ways: topically and by drinking it.
Topical green tea
Studies have shown that topical green tea can:
- Cut sebum production by 50%
- Reduce acne by 50%, that’s as much as benzoyl peroxide
- Reduce skin’s genetic sensitivity to androgen hormones
- Reduce acne-causing inflammation
Read more about topical green tea here: Topical Green Tea: 3 Reasons It’s Better Than Benzoyl Peroxide.
I often get asked for product recommendations. Unfortunately there aren’t that many good products with green tea in the market. The best one I’ve used is Exposed Skin Care. I had very good results with it. And the products align perfectly with my ideas of combining natural ways with proven acne fighting ingredients.
For DIY solution, please check this article: Can You Use Fresh Green Tea As Toner?. It talks about how-tos and hurdles of using brewed green tea as topical treatment.
Does drinking green tea help acne?
Many people at popular acne forums swear that drinking green tea helps their acne. And I’m not surprised. Based on scientific studies green tea can:
- Fight hormonal acne
- Reduce insulin levels, which means the skin produces less sebum
- Antioxidants in green tea are 25 to 100 times more potent than vitamin C. Drinking green tea can reduce inflammation that’s known to cause acne.
I have a more detailed article about how drinking green tea helps acne here: 3 Surprising Ways Green Tea Fights Acne and this one: New Evidence Shows Drinking Green Tea Has Direct Skin Benefits.
You should also see: Hack Your Tea – How To Get 5 Times More Out Of A Cup Of Green Tea. Green tea is all about antioxidants, that article shows how simple changes can bump up the antioxidant content of a cup of green tea by 5 times!
Unfortunately green tea antioxidants have abysmally low bioavailability. Luckily there’s a cheap and simple fix for that. Please see this post How To (Yet Again) Get 3 Times More Out Of Your Tea – Hack Your Tea Part 2 for details.
Can green tea cause acne?
Some people are concerned that green may cause acne. Green tea does contain quite a bit of fluoride, but even at relatively high consumption levels this shouldn’t be a problem. All the details here: Should You Be Concerned Over Fluoride In Green Tea. It’s possible some people are sensitive to fluoride, and that’s why green tea causes acne for them.
But other than that, I haven’t been able to find any reliable evidence to back this up. So green tea causing acne seems to be just one of those myths surrounding acne.