25 Feb Beau(Teas): The Magic that lies in each Tea Bag!

First cultivated 5,000 years ago in China, tea has become one of the most popular beverages around the world and a rich history that spans continents and cultures. It has been an excellent source of both disease-fighting flavonoids and antioxidants that help detoxify damaging free radicals in our bodies. But as it turns out, the last place we should throw our used tea bags is in the trash—at least not immediately. Here are multiple ways to cure ailments and spruce up beauty regimes with the help of a brewed tea bag or two.

Relieve Sun Burns:

Allow the tea bags to cool after steeping, then place them on sunburns and minor burns for relief. If the majority of your skin needs tending, brew a tea bath and submerge yourself in the cooled-off water. Packed with Vitamin A & C, folates and omega 3 fatty acids, tea helps in healing sunburns whilst the nutrient Perillyl alcohol, also helps to prevent the formation of skin cancer cells.

Ease Itching:

Apply used tea bags to rashes and insect bites to ease itching.

Stop Bleeding Gums:

You can alleviate sore or bleeding gums by either biting into a used-tea bag or by placing it over the problem spot. The tannins in tea help to constrict blood vessels, which will stop the bleeding and reduce swollen tissues that cause soreness.

Heal a Bruise:

Place a soaked tea bag on a bruise to help it heal faster. Ruptured capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the body, create bruises and since tannins constrict blood vessels, they stop the leaking that causes discoloration.

Shrink a Wart:

Due of its bacteria-fighting properties, the tannic acid in tea is said to shrink warts. To try this method, place a warm tea bag on the wart for ten minutes every day, a few times per day. The wart should shrink after a couple of days.

Eliminate Puffiness:

To get rid of the puffiness around your eyes, soak a tea bag in warm water and place on it over each eye for about twenty minutes.

Reduce Under-Eye Dark Circles:

You can do the same to reduce under-eye dark circles. Dark circles are a form of bruising, which means that tannins can alleviate them in the same way.

Get Shinier Hair:

You can rinse your hair with tea-infused water to make it shinier and healthier. Tea acts as a moisturizer to the hair shaft and stimulates the scalp thereby promoting hair growth. It also balances the pH levels on your scalp so for oily hair, it acts as an astringent, which normalizes the scalp’s oil production whilst for dry hair, it neutralizes dryness on the scalp thus making it beneficial to dandruff issues.

Conquer Stinky Feet:

You can make your feet smell sweet by soaking them in a steeped-tea bath for about twenty minutes every day. The astringency in tea closes up the sweat-emitting pores that create foul smells and the tannins also help to eliminate  stinky bacteria. To conquer particularly bad odors, use black tea!

Get Flawless Skin:

Need a quick substitute for facial toner? Tea’s astringency reduces the secretion of oil from the sebaceous glands, which diminish the appearance of acne, blackheads and the redness of skin. So quickly wipe a tea bag over your trouble zones!