Green Tea and Other Free Radical-Fighters

When the potent summer sun beams down and tries to fry our skin, antioxidants become even more important. These essential compounds bring their A-ntioxidant game to fight against free-radical damage, skin damage, and the potential for skin cancer.

The problem grows when we realize that one of the most powerful skin savers from that fiery ball in the sky is green tea – and it’s usually a no-show through no fault of its own from skincare products.

While the tiny yet mighty leaf is a delicious beverage, this free radical defender is filled to the brim with many beauty benefits. Follow along as we explore what free radicals are, how to face these faceless sun phantoms, and the benefits of green tea – plus other free radical fighters – for sun damage.

Free radicals are reactive atoms that contain one or more unpaired electrons These rogue electrons can be produced in the body by natural biological processes and accumulate in your skin tissue over time - or introduced from outside sources. Your body produces them naturally, in response to environmental stressors.

These outside sources can include UV rays, toxins, pollution, smoke, environmental damage, and even cigarette smoke. Each can damage your body’s cells, proteins, and DNA by altering their chemical structure.

While free radicals are a natural byproduct of cellular functions when cells are exposed to environmental stressors, they can wreak havoc in your body when they accumulate in excess. They contribute to skin damage, speed up the symptoms of aging, cause cellular death, and an increased risk of skin cancer.

Luckily, there are natural skincare ingredients that can help to protect your skin from free radicals – and provide amazing skin-efits when used topically!

Free radicals can cause cellular damage throughout your body, so you’ll want to take a multi-pronged approach to fighting them. Here are some key ways to fight free radicals from within:

Wear both a face SPF sun protection formula and body sunscreen DAILY!

We scream you scream, we all scream and screen for sunscreen – and, of course, ice cream! We’re a little overdramatic about this, but for one major reason: Of all the products that you could put on your skin, sun protection is the real fighter of free-radical damage! We’ll get into the best sun protection products below.

Consume antioxidant-rich foods:

Polyphenols are rich in antioxidants. Research has shown that these polyphenols can help to track down and isolate free radicals, and limit their potential to harm your tissue. They occur naturally in many of the plants you eat regularly This includes fruits, especially red-pigmented berries, and citrus fruits and veggies, especially dark, leafy greens, as well as nuts and seeds. Taste the rainbow, eat the rainbow.

Drink antioxidant-rich beverages; mainly green tea:

One of the many green tea benefits for the skin is the abundance of polyphenols and antioxidants that help fight cell damage. Chief among them is EGCG. Evidence shows that this compound can help mitigate the effects of free radicals. EGCG is also considered to help aid your skin in repairing itself after sun damage.

Use antioxidant-rich skincare products:

Antioxidants are adored for their protective and cell regenerative properties. These all-stars help neutralize free radicals found in our everyday environment and prevent them from causing damage to your skin cells. They help boost the power of your SPF, further protecting you from environmental stress.

Avoid inflammatory foods:

Limit your consumption of inflammatory foods as they’re null and void of many of the antioxidants that are helpful free-radical fighters. These include refined carbohydrates (white bread, pastries), fried foods, sugary foods, soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, red meat (burgers, steaks) and processed meat (hotdogs sausage), and certain types of buttering agents (margarine, lard, shortening).

Manage your stress:

Keep yourself healthy. Take steps to help manage stress, such as reading or meditating. Get enough exercise each day – and have some R&R for yourself. All these will improve your mood and help you stay healthy.

Since our system can’t produce antioxidants, such as green tea and other effective antioxidants, on its own, they must be obtained through diet, supplementation, or our personal favorite: skin care. Let’s create your beauty routine A-ntioxidant game to work against free radicals!

Start by selecting skincare products with antioxidant-rich ingredients. We all know about the benefits of green tea for skin, but that’s not the only superstar ingredient for fighting free-radical damage. Here’s a list of skincare ingredients that can help to counteract the effects of free radicals on your skin:

#1. Green Tea and Green Tea Oil

Both green tea and green tea oil contain polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties. Research has shown that these polyphenols can help to track down and isolate free radicals, and limit their potential to harm your tissue. Green tea also contains other healthy antioxidants, including vitamin C.

#2. EGCG

EGCG is a catechin that’s naturally found in green tea. Studies have shown that EGCG can reduce cellular damage due to free radicals, and can also help to promote healthy cellular lifecycles. It also helps improve your skin’s ability to repair itself after it’s damaged. The EGCG routine can transform your complexion from dull and dark to glowing and dazzling if you’re dealing with sun damage and hyperpigmentation.

#3. Rooibos

Rooibos is another tea that has been scientifically shown to have powerful anti-oxidative properties. The antioxidants in the South African rooibos leaves exhibit free radical scavenging activity. In other words, they help to prevent free radicals from being formed, and aid in lessening them from your tissue.

#4. Acai

Acai berries may have the highest antioxidant content of any food. The naturally occurring antioxidants in acai, which also include vitamin C, help to scavenge free radicals and promote healthy cellular functions.

#5. Goji

Goji berries are also high in antioxidants, including vitamins A and C. While these antioxidants help to eliminate free radicals (and prevent them from being formed in the first place), the anti-inflammatory properties of goji also help to improve the overall appearance of your skin.

#6. Aloe

Aloe vera gel contains polyphenols (much like EGCG), which exhibit antioxidant properties. It’s been shown to scavenge free radicals, which - along with its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties - make it a great, multitasking ingredient in skincare, with the potential to help heal sun damage as well as to prevent it.

#7. Yerba Mate

Yerba mate contains polyphenols, xanthines, and caffeoyl derivatives, all of which are antioxidants that can eliminate free radicals and prevent them from forming. It also contains saponins, which have anti-inflammatory properties that can help to stave off existing damage.

#8. Rosehip Oil

Rosehip oil is rich in antioxidants to fend off free radicals, but its anti-aging benefits don’t stop there. It also contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can help to maintain the health of your skin’s cell membranes.

#9. Olive Squalane

Olive squalane can help to prevent free radical formation. Squalane oil is naturally produced by our bodies and helps to keep our skin moisturized and healthy. However, our bodies tend to produce less of it as we grow older, so including it in your skincare regime can help to keep your skin youthful and vibrant.

#10. Avocado Oil

One of the ways in which free radicals can harm our tissue is by damaging the mitochondria of our cells, causing them to die. Avocado oil protects mitochondria to prevent cellular deaths and helps to prevent excessive production of free radicals.

#11. Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid helps to protect the skin tissue against damage from free radicals, and may also exhibit free radical scavenging activity. It also helps to stimulate your body’s healing process, helping it to recover from damage--and helps your skin to retain moisture.

Sure, the health-promoting benefits of green tea can be found in what we eat and drink – and in our skincare, too. If you’ve been battling some skincare woes due to that fiery, ferocious ball in the sky, we hope we’ve given you some inspiration on how to start strengthening your skin from the inside.

As for the outside, we have a few key products to pair with your favorite green tea skincare.

Daily Skin Products That Help Fight Free Radicals

Start your daily skincare A-ntioxidant game with green tea! Our Green Tea Cloud Foam Cleanser calms redness with green tea caffeine and aloe, while gently toning the complexion with white tea. This pillowy-soft foam sweeps away dirt and oil, while aloe and green tea caffeine gently de-puff. Any areas of inflammation A calming blend of calendula, white tea, and helichrysum flower gently tone the complexion for a balanced, rejuvenated glow.

One of our favorite skincare products for fighting free radical damage is our Green Tea EGCG Concentrate Serum, which combines the benefits of green tea with EGCG. Along with combatting the formation of free radicals and restricting their damage to your skin, this lightweight serum features caffeine to brighten and soothe your skin.

We also love our Green Tea EGCG Concentrate Cream, which leverages the powers of antioxidants to prevent skin damage while moisturizing your skin. This protective, skin-softening daily moisturizing green tea extract cream is made in a base of nourishing yerba mate water, rich açai butter, and lightweight green tea oil.

Our Super Fruit Balm is a nutrient-packed concentrated blend of rich butters and superfruit oils, designed to deeply moisturize dry or sensitive skin with nourishing antioxidants. Acai and goji berries are abundant in anti-aging vitamin C, to promote a soft and youthful complexion. This luxurious superfruit balm is perfect for sealing in nutrients as the last step in your skincare routine. You can use it day and night.

Made superfruit products a dynamic duo by pairing our fruit-tastic balm with our Super Fruit Oil! This light, non-greasy facial oil is concentrated with potent antioxidants to promote skin elasticity and suppleness, while lessening the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Superfruit seeds from acai and goji berries are cold pressed to retain maximum nutrient concentration, for reparative and protective benefits for dry, damaged, or mature skin.

For face and body sun protection, our Yerba Mate Mist SPF 30 is an ultra-light, broad-spectrum SPF 30 mist that is ideal for mess-free, full-body sun protection. This mattifying formula uses Yerba mate tea leaf to fortify skin with antioxidants, to help protect against damaging free radicals and environmental pollutants. Our water-resistant, coral reef-safe vegan sunscreen is made with broad-spectrum mineral zinc oxide and sprays evenly for full coverage.

Night Skin Products That Help Fight Free Radicals

Some common PM skincare ingredients can help fight (and reverse signs of) free radical damage while you sleep. If you’re interested in experiencing the benefits of antioxidant ingredients in your nighttime skincare routine, we recommend seeking out these ingredients:

Retinol

Retinol is a natural antioxidant that plays a critical role in maintaining skin health. It helps to protect your skin cells against damage and supports healthy cellular life cycles. For a night treatment, our Retinol Restorative Overnight Balm enhances firmness, tone, and elasticity while you sleep. Made with vegan retinol, avocado butter, and plant oils to moisturize and restore skin.

CoQ10

CoQ10 is a natural enzyme that exhibits antioxidant properties to fend off free radicals. It also helps to maintain overall cell health, keeping your skin youthful and healthy. Our Wrinkle Smooth Sheet Mask features retinol, CoQ10, and vitamin C to deliver a triple dose of anti-aging benefits and lessen the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

Niacinamide

Niacinamide is a B vitamin that’s essential to skin health. When used in skincare, it displays antioxidant properties, staving off free radicals and preventing skin damage, along with helping your skin to heal itself. Our Multi-Vitamin + Antioxidants Potent PM Serum works synergistically to lessen the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, increase firmness and elasticity, and brighten and even skin tone.

Body Products That Help Fight Free Radicals

While we’re occupied protecting our skin from free-radical damage, our body can get overlooked. It’s important to protect all our skin! Our Blood Orange Nourishing Body Cream does that, and more! It’s enriched with skin-soothing aloe, as well as potent anti-aging vitamins and antioxidants for softer, more supple skin. Deeply moisturizing cocoa and avocado soothe dryness and flaking, while aloe and rose hydrosol replenish essential hydration. Additions of stimulating Kona green coffee and vitamin C brighten and energize the skin for a more youthful glow. This silky-smooth body cream is infused with the scent of sweet and citrusy blood orange.

Weekly Products That Help Fight Radicals

Our Acai Pulp Facial Scrub is an intensive, concentrated all-natural face exfoliator designed to give pores a deep sweep for a glowing, more youthful complexion. This super fruit-infused facial scrub smooths away bumps, flakes, and dead skin, while instilling vitamins and antioxidants for a super soft, glowing complexion.

Our Matcha Oat Milk Nourishing Mask is concentrated with soothing oats, moisturizing coconut milk, calming calendula, plumping hyaluronic acid, and restorative matcha green tea. Beta glucan-rich colloidal oats soothe and moisturize; coconut milk softens and fortifies; calendula calms; hyaluronic acid plumps skin with hydration; rice ceramides increase suppleness, and organic matcha green tea restores and protects against environmental damage. It’s a matcha made in heaven for your skin!

Our Deep Hydration Mask features soothing and replenishing aloe and a hydrating trio of cucumber, hyaluronic acid, and plant ceramides to refresh and deeply nourish dry skin. This water-drenching blend of botanicals locks in long-lasting hydration to leave skin ultra-plump, soft, and supple. Anti-inflammatory rosehip, ylang-ylang, and chamomile help to calm the skin, while beta-glucan soothes and moisturizes.

Green tea proves to be a true skincare powerhouse, offering a wide range of benefits for various skin concerns, and most importantly helping to combat free-radical damage. Its natural antioxidants, especially EGCG, help fight the formation of free radicals and restrict their damage to your skin.

Who knew that green tea and its other free radical fighting crew could be so mighty? Start small and implement at least one of these ingredients into your natural skincare routine, to encourage and support meaningful change in your skin’s long-term health.

However, for those looking to defy the signs of aging and fight free radicals head on, green tea's ability to stimulate collagen production and combat free radicals makes it an excellent anti-aging ally. Embrace green tea-infused products and unlock the potential of this potent ingredient for healthier and more radiant skin.

Don't miss out on this incredible skincare ally - explore green tea today! It’s time for your sun skin A-ntioxidant game, and others will be green with envy!

Can Drinking Green Tea Have the Same Skin Benefits as Topical Application?

It's a great idea to have a daily cup of green tea, which potentially has its impact on your inner and outer health when consumed or applied, but a more direct and guaranteed route to gaining green tea's super skin properties is to use it in a topical product that comes from nature for the most gentle and safest way to reap its super-leaf properties.

What Are the Most Effective Ways to Incorporate Green Tea into Your Skincare Routine?

Applying green-tea infused skincare products daily can make a difference to counteract cellular damage, including UV and free radical damage, and signs of aging on your face, as well as strengthen your skin, so your regular natural skincare products can be better absorbed. Incorporating green tea products into your daily skincare routine is the most effective approach to helping to guard against free-radical damage.

How Do Antioxidants in Skincare Products Protect Against Free Radical Damage?

Free radicals will then 'steal' other existing set's partners, creating a chain, multiplying and exacerbating their damage potential. Antioxidants work by providing that solitary electron with a pair, therefore neutralizing the molecule. Antioxidants also strengthen their antioxidant network so having more is more!

Can I combine green tea with other natural ingredients for better sun damage repair?

Absolutely! The combination of green tea and plant-based retinol, for instance, allows your skin to tolerate higher concentrations of retinol with less chance of skin irritation. This dynamic duo is powerful for fighting the signs of skin aging. Its use is limited by irritation and green tea's soothing effect can help.

Is green tea beneficial for all skin types when it comes to sun damage repair?

There are no known side effects to green tea skincare. Unless you have a green tea sensitivity or super-sensitive skin or reactive skin, consider it completely safe to use for your skin. Better yet, green tea can benefit all skin types and conditions (whether you have acne-prone skin, dry skin, or mature skin). Fortunately, it’s gentle enough even for those with sensitive, reactive skin, if you patch-test first.