Using Real Green Tea as a Skin Care Treatment
An article written by Donna Tokugawa for the Spa Industry to promote use of GREEN products in their treatment. Today we are all looking for ways to
“Go Green” “Be Greener”
and create more “Green” on the Bottom-line.
Using Organic Japanese Green Tea you will:
Guaranteeing You More “Green”!
First a few tea tips: All “real tea” comes from a single type of plant, the camellia sinensis, where and how it is grown and processed accounts for the differences. Any other tea like beverage is a Tisane and does not contain the same properties found in real tea. Green tea contains catechins which are antioxidants and have been shown to function as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents. Green tea with its high levels of Theanine relaxes and calms the mind, rehydrates the body and helps eliminate toxins. Applied to the skin active ingredients fortify cells supporting a healthy foundation to prevent and defend against UV damage. Green tea has anti-bacterial properties and a positive affect on “mood” making it a natural in the spa environment. Japanese Green Tea gives us the inexhaustible commitment to clean perfection indigenous to a culture deeply rooted in aesthetics and a Tea Lifestyle.
So how can you incorporate Japanese Green Tea into your spa?
Begin by knowing water is tea with all the good stuff missing! Now think of all the ways you use water in existing protocols and replace it with the restorative properties of Organic Japanese Green Karigane* Tea. Preparing a cold infusion is easy to do:
Single Serving
- Place 1 Tablespoon Organic Karigane in a tight mesh infuser in 6 ounces of room temperature water. (iced water may shock the body)
- Let stand for 5-10 minutes depending on your taste.
- Remove the infuser and set aside to re infuse again later*.
Bulk Serving
- Place 5 heaping Tablespoons Organic Karigane loose in a 2.2 liter (Approx. ˝ gallon)
- Let stand 5-10 minutes depending on your taste.
- Strain liquid into another container setting leaf aside to re infuse again later*.
*High quality leaf should re infuse 4 to 5 times within a 24 hour period.
After enjoying as a beverage or skin care treatment see www.getlooseleaftea.com for other ways to continue to benefit, beyond the cup!
Cold infusion will not result in the astringency typically associated with Japanese teas and because of the high Theanine levels creates an alert but calm feeling. Theanine has been linked to brain alpha activity. Recent Japanese research has shown positive results in preventing and reversing senility in people who regularly drink Karigane green tea, something your “baby boomers” will especially appreciate!
We all know beauty begins from within and drinking green tea either as a cold infusion or as a hot drink is an obvious choice when concerned about health and beauty. However green tea doesn’t stop simply as a beverage. The options for use on the outside of the body are limited only by your imagination. Here are a few examples to get you started!
Foot Baths and Finger Bowls
Place green tea in a muslin bag and add to warm water bath bowl. Antibacterial properties make this the perfect start. Slimming properties benefit the ankles while soothing smoothing moisturizing properties enhance massage, pedicures and manicures. Remove the muslin bag after about 10 minutes and set it aside to give to your client to use again at home.
Body Scrubs and Wraps
Green tea facilitates the elimination of alcohol, fats and nicotine while it purifies and strengthens the skin. Offer the enhancement of green tea antioxidants with any scrub or wrap by including the tea liquid. Dry leaves work to exfoliate as aromatic tea oils are released and absorbed.
Full Body Baths
The natural fresh aroma of Japanese green tea is non gender or age specific and appropriate for individuals who may be sensitive to fragrance.
Face/Body Toner
Helps the skin resist external pollutants and protect against free radicals. Useful with UV exposure, alleviates fatigue, depression and enhances an overall sense of wellbeing. Give clients personal spritzers to self apply green tea in the sauna, steam room, whirlpool, swimming pool and after the shower.
Eye Treatments
Compresses will reduce puffiness and smooth fatigue lines. Never use teabags directly on the eyes, as they may be too strong, instead fully infused tea liquid should be used to create compresses.
Massage
Cleaning the body with a green tea infused towel or spray has the added benefit of nourishing the skin. Wrap feet in hot green tea towels to increase relaxation, place tea infused compress on eyes and finish by removing excess oils with a warm tea towel, leaving the skin soft, clean and firmer. After repeated use white towels will naturally absorb color so consider earth toned towels if this is a concern.
Facials
Soak paper mask in tea liquid and apply to clean, cool and heal. Anti-bacterial properties make green tea a good choice after chemical treatments. Allowing mask to remain 20-30 minutes results in a firmer, thicker feeling skin. Tea infused masks can be used as part of a deep cleaning facial as well as an anti-aging moisture intensive regime.
Steam Room
Replacing water with tea liquid creates a cleaner, healthy, aromatic environment as it enhances client experience.
Cool Face Towels
Create a bowl of cold green tea infused face towels to be used during and after heat treatments. Place next to Jacuzzis or outside of sauna rooms and watch them disappear. This is also a good way to introduce green tea to clients who have not yet selected the tea upgrade to treatments.
Of course serving tea as the liquid after treatments in place of water will only further enhance your work. A cold infused tea is created using room temperature water which is easily absorbed by the body quickly. Ice tea should be avoided as it is not absorbed as easily and iced liquids may even shock the body after some treatments.
Use untreated towelettes and create your own wipes. Simply add one cup of tea liquid to a reusable canister and pull towelettes from the top. Offering towelettes at your front desk when suggesting a green tea enhancement to treatments allows the client to feel, smell and experience the upgraded benefits immediately. They are also wonderful for therapist to use to clean their hands without drying the skin.
Consider packaging/selling the green tea upgraded service with “take away” features allowing you to sell retail products as part of the service rather than pushing products after a service.
Some examples:
- Including a package of the loose leaf tea you will be using in treatments for the client to take home and continue their wellness program. While explaining the benefits of the upgraded treatment you are selling product and a lifestyle choice while aligning yourself as genuinely concerned about their overall wellness.
- Once consumers experience using the spritzer bottles in the spa environment they will be comfortable creating daily rituals using the tea on their skin at home. Clients appreciate the cost effective indulgence of all natural organic skin care and benefit from you showing them “How To” go back to nature!
- Any body treatment you use the muslin bag filled with tea should be given to your client to reuse again at home. Be sure to send them home with this in an earth friendly bag that will not leak along the way.
High quality loose leaf teas can and should be re-infused multiple times. By introducing lifestyle choices and educating clients on how a tea lifestyle will increase their overall wellbeing you add additional value to their spa experience. Developing a relationship based on good information, trust and results is critical to maintaining repeat clientele and building on word of mouth clientele.
Most of us who have made the commitment to healing work and educating on wellness based lifestyles are able to see how the health and vitality of the planet are interconnected with how we treat one another. This is the basis for why we choose green products and implement environmentally friendly practices. Of course applying the ancient principles of Japanese green tea in treatments certainly enhances our commitment, it doesn’t stop there. Japanese green tea properties contribute to health and beauty and equally to a lifestyle of scared space, rituals and ceremony. The basis of a tea lifestyle is called Chado or The Way of Tea. The spirit of Chado is WA harmony, KEI respect, SEI purity and JAKU tranquility. So it is easy to see how a tea lifestyle and the goals of spa experience are one in the same!
Be a leader in the “Green” movement with all natural, 100% pure organic Japanese green tea. Enhance treatments with the active ingredients of Japanese green tea. Green Tea is very “hot” and included in several body/bath products. However the highly valued catechins in green tea are very unstable and may not even be existent in the products claiming to have green tea as an ingredient by the time you purchase the product. Even if some of the properties are within the products, modern science with all its wisdom still pales when compared to Mother Nature. Science still does not know enough and studying the results of components is simply not the same as using the wonder plant as a whole. By using fresh tea in its entirety not an extract or powder you can be sure you will deliver all of the benefits green tea can give; nourishing the body, mind and spirit.
*Karigane is a type of Japanese green tea. Those produced in the Kyoto region are known to contain the highest concentration of Theanine among all teas.
