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Green tea is not a tea to be put aside, for your health or for your skin care.  It’s easily touted as one of the healthiest teas that you can drink.

Full disclosure, I’m a coffee addict.  But if I do reach for a tea it’s hands down going to be a green tea.  The impressive caffeine content and antioxidants make green tea my best choice.

And if I’m looking for a soothing and antioxidant rich addition to my clay mask.  Green tea is my spa par-tea choice.  I recently got addicted to a pun website after creating the apeeling banana face mask. See what I did there.

Green tea contains 30% antioxidants by weight that help prevent cell damage.  (healthline) 

Antioxidants are the bomb for skin care.  They are the reason skincare products are classified as anti aging.  Green tea is one of the most well known sources rich in antioxidants.

What’s even better than green tea?  The super concentrated green tea powder, called matcha.  It potentially contains 3x the antioxidants than a regular green tea.

We created a bentonite and matcha green tea. But today, this face mask mixes green tea with french green clay.  And it has a whole handful of reasons why to use this mask:

• Soothing Inflamed skin
• Absorbing excess oil
• Acne and blemishes
• Anti aging face mask
• Protect skin from UV damage

So grab yourself a green tea, save a bit for this face mask, apply and enjoy the spa par-TEA!

French Green Clay is one of my favorite clays!  It’s effective on acne, deep cleanses your skin but not too strong.  Here’s 8 of the other french green clay mask recipes I have curated.

It also mixes beautifully.  If you have a fine mesh french green clay, like the one in our clay mask multipack, it will mix easily without clumps.

What are the Green Tea Mask Benefits?

Green tea contains an antioxidant called catechins.  The most important of those catechins is called an, epigallocatechin gallate, EGCG.

That’s the technical jargon.  The power of the antioxidants in green tea is measured by its level of EGCG’s.  Consumerlab.com compares the level of EGCG’s found in different brands of green tea.  The EGCG’s are currently being studied for skin cancer prevention.

These antioxidants give us a couple benefits for adding green tea into our face mask.

1. Anti Aging

Why are antioxidants in green tea good for your skin?

A main component of most anti aging skin products is antioxidants.  Those antioxidants are what go to work on your skin to protect and repair your skin from UV damage.  UV damage is the leading cause of changes to the appearance of your skin.

2. Skin Cancer Prevention

A major risk of skin cancer is prolonged exposure to (UV) ultra violet radiation.  You can get exposure to ultra violet radiation from both indoor tanning and natural sun exposure.  Even when it’s cloudy, or through windows, your skin is being exposed to UV’s.

419,000 cases each year in the US are linked to indoor tanning. 86% of skin cancer is associated with solar UV.  skincancer.org

Please whatever you do, stay away from those indoor tanning beds.  I have been guilty of not applying proper sunscreen and feeling the effects of that in itself as I pass the thirty threshold.

Several studies have found that green tea possess anticarcinogenic properties and with further research, adding green tea to skin care could have a profound effect on skin disorders.

3. Oily Skin

Oily skin is caused by an out of control sebaceous glands, located just below your skin.  Genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors can cause those glands to overproduce oil to hydrate your skin. 

Applying green tea topically to skin before bed for 60 days, participants experienced a 27% reduction in oil production in a single-blinded study.  Another study with 3% green tea topical application over 8 weeks found a 10% oil reduction after week 1, but an impressive 60% oil reduction after week 6. 

These impressive results for reducing the ongoing production of oil, like all skin treatments, requires consistency.   

4. Reduce Acne

One of the main causes of that nasty volcano popping up on your forehead is because some dead skin cells or excess oil got trapped in your pore.  This causes an actual bacteria called p. acnes to infect the pore.  That results in that famous pimple rearing its head.

My girlfriends and I are bachelor nation fans and religiously watch it every monday night.  Last week, the bachelorette Hannah, even named the pimple of the week “Marcus”.  No one likes a marcus.

Green tea is anti inflammatory reducing inflammation of existing pimples.  By reducing excess oil production, green tea also works to reduce the potential of future breakouts caused by oily skin.

This has also been proven in a 8 week study where 88% of participants were happy with the results after significant reduction in lesions with a 2% green tea lotion.

What type of Green Tea is the best for your skin?

Not all green teas are made the same.  I was shocked to learn this a couple months ago, but the majority of greens teas contain an unhealthy level of pesticides.  This canadian 2014 study tested 4 greens teas that all contained pesticides.

Uncle Lee’s Legend of China Green Tea was tested to contain 27 different pesticides. 

Here are some green teas that don’t contain pesticides or GMO’s:

– Numi Green Tea (my fav)
– Traditional Medicines
– Rishi Tea

Matcha, green tea’s higher concentrated older brother, in similar testing has been found to be free of pesticides.  That said, it’s much more expensive.  

Related: Anti Aging Matcha Face Mask with Bentonite Clay 

Is French Green Clay Good for your Skin?

Just the name french green clay sounds luxurious.  The clay doesn’t disappoint with a super smooth clay that applies like glass to your skin.  Look for a fine mesh clay with no additives (like this) so it’s not clumpy.

The smooth application also comes with it’s fair share of benefits for your skin.  The science of how clay works on your skin comes from a combination of how it’s formed millions of years ago.

French Green Clay is a wonderful pore refining clay.  It adsorbs impurities from your pores like dirt and dead skin cells but by science it also removes heavy metals and chemicals from your skin.  Everyday our skin is exposed to heavy metals from the environment and chemicals from our makeup.

Clay is very effective as an acne treatment.  With continued use, french green clay is also effective at firming the skin, increasing collagen production and shrinking the appearance of pores.

Our facial clay assortment pack has French Green Clay along with Kaolin, Bentonite and Rhassoul clay. 

Uplifting Green Tea Mask Ingredients:

Recipe Yield: 1 face masks

You will need:

• 1 tsp of Green Tea Water (this is my favorite without pesticides)
• 1 ½ tsp French Green Clay
• 1/4 tsp of sweet almond oil (or carrier oil of your choice)
• 1 drop bergamot essential oil for a light citrus mask or lavender essential oil

Bergamot essential oil is a natural cleanser and helps to unclog pores. 

Equipment required:

• 1 glass, wooden or plastic bowl (glass is preferred)
• 1 plastic, or wooden spoon

Mix How to Green Tea Mask for your Face

This recipe yields 1 face mask recipes.  If you make extra, cover and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Step 1:  I used loose leaf green tea.  Boil some water, and add to about 1/4 teaspoon of loose leaf green tea.  The green tea leaves swell a surprising amount so you don’t need a ton.

The instructions are basically the same with a tea bag.  Add an approximate inch of water to just cover the tea bag.  This will brew the tea to be super concentrated. Afterwards, re-use your tea bag for another cup of antioxidant rich tea.

Let steep for up 3-5 minutes. 

Step 2: Use a teaspoon of the green tea from the leaves or tea bag that you steeped.

Step 3: Add 1/4 teaspoon of sweet almond oil and 1 drop of bergamot essential oil to green tea.  1 drop is enough, don’t add more.

Green tea has very little fragrance to it, so adding bergamot essential oil adds a citrus like fragrance with a mild spice.   You can substitute with lavender or tea tree essential oil which are also great for your skin.

Step 4: Add 1 tsp french green clay.

Pro Tip: try to avoid using metal when mixing liquids with clay.  Use a plastic or wooden spoon and bowl.  This is because of the cation exchange that takes place with how clay works.

Adjust clay or water until you get the desired consistency.  It shouldn’t be soupy, if you have too much water, it will also look a bit oily.  Aim for smooth but not overly thick.

Different sources or brands of clay can differ so they might not be the exact same directions as I used.

How to apply Green Tea Mask:

This mask does get a bit messy with the banana puree, so a face mask brush is appreciated.

For application follow these instructions:

1. Cleanse your skin prior to applying a mask.

2. Using a face mask brush, apply the mask evenly to your face and neck.

3. **Most important** Remove the clay mask BEFORE it dries.  To remove, gently splash water to rehydrate the clay.  Then remove with water or face towel.

4. Follow up with a toner like witch hazel.

5. Apply a moisturizer.  I just got a new oil this week, marula oil.  So far it’s wonderful as a bedtime moisturizer after this face mask.

Some redness is perfectly normal after a clay mask.  I go over in much more detail any questions about how to use a dry clay mask.

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things. -Chaim Potok

Disclaimer: Our content does not constitute a dermatologist or medical advice.

Did you try this mask? I would love to hear how it worked for you! Leave a comment below.

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