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This week I’ll show you what I’m currently hooked on. A homemade matcha green tea mask.
I grew up in Japan drinking green tea which comes with lots of health benefits. I’m not going to bore you with all the health benefits that green tea provides but basically it’s packed with antioxidants.
And antioxidants are anti-aging.
It turns out it’s also very good on your skin topically. The antioxidants including vitamin C in matcha green tea protects your skin from UV light, brightens your skin, promotes skin turnover, reduces fine lines and liver spots or sun spots. Catechins in matcha is good for acne because it reduces sebum production and inflammation.
So here’s my matcha green tea mask. Mix one part of matcha powder, bentonite clay powder, honey and four parts of water to make the paste. I’m using a teaspoon here.
Bentonite clay helps to pull the dirt out of the pores and you can ingest it too to detox internally. If you don’t have bentonite clay you can use flour instead.
Wash your face and apply the paste on your face avoiding the eyes. If you have sensitive skin do a patch test on a small area to make sure you are not allergic to any ingredients.
Put it on your decollete if you’ll be taking a shower or bath. Leave it on for few minutes as you enjoy the nice green tea aroma and wash it away. It dries pretty quickly so if you like you can keep it moist with water or your favorite toner.
I took a bath after this and when I washed away the mask using my favorite facial massage techniques I made an instant matcha green tea bath which is good for the entire body.
After the matcha mask my skin feels super soft and smooth and lighter. So I’m going to do this once or twice a week this year.
If there is a left over paste I pour hot water and make a sweet detox tea out of it. It’s not as strong as coffee but matcha does have caffeine so if you are sensitive to caffeine don’t drink it at night.
As I mentioned you can take bentonite clay for internal cleanse. It tastes awful just with water but it’s delicious with matcha and honey.
Here’s extra information to make you green tea smart. There is a difference between a regular green tea and matcha. Matcha is more potent and expensive than regular green tea because of the way it’s made.
Regular green tea is often called “sencha” and it’s made by growing the plant under the sun the whole time. The harvested leaves are dried and then steeped in hot water to make the green tea but it’s more yellowish in color.
Matcha is created by putting the same plant under the shade few weeks before the harvest. This causes the plant to increase the chrolophyll and L-Theanine content.
Chrolophyll gives the darker green color and helps to balance the pH level and remove heavy metals from the blood.
L-Theanine helps you to calm down your mind and reduce stress.
The harvested matcha tea leaves are then ground between the stones to make the powder. This is a picture of more industrialized matcha stonemills.
You add hot water to make matcha green tea which has darker green color than the regular green tea. Since you are ingesting the ground tea leaf itself you are taking in all the good stuff that comes in the leaves and not waste any like you do with steeped regular green tea leaves.
A cup of matcha green tea is said to have three to ten times more antioxidants than regular green tea.
Matcha Green Tea Powder on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mx00rb
Bentonite Clay on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1JUkIpL
Massage Monday #271 – Homemade Matcha Green Tea Mask with Bentonite Clay http://bit.ly/mm-010416