Your ticket to great skin: cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, and now -- green tea?

Maybe so. Cell studies suggest that the polyphenols in green tea could help revive aging skin cells and even aid in wound healing.

Quick Tea Fix
For a green-tea face refresher, soak a cotton ball in green tea (cooled to room temperature), and swab it over your face. Apply antioxidant-rich moisturizer, place cucumber slices over your eyes, and lie down for 15 minutes. Voila -- you've got an instant skin pick-me-up.

Safety First
But hold on! Before applying green tea to your face, test your skin's sensitivity to it. Dab a small amount behind your ear and wait 24 hours to make sure your skin doesn't react.

Green tea can't take care of your skin all by itself, though. Get a skin care routine designed just for you. It's free, and easy to do, with this online program from RealAge.

Green tea polyphenols induce differentiation and proliferation in epidermal keratinocytes. Hsu, S., Bollag, W. B., Lewis, J., Huang, Q., Singh, B., Sharawy, M., Yamamoto, T., Schuster, G., Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2003 Jul;306(1):29-34.

Skin photoprotection by green tea: antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects. Katiyar, S. K., Current Drug Targets: Immune, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders 2003 Sep;3(3):234-242.

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