You’ve already heard about the virtues of green tea, so why should you shake up your spray tan formula for the hundred billionth time just to include white tea extract? You’ll find the answer in white tea extract’s incredibly potent antioxidant, anti-aging properties.
As the least processed tea, white tea retains more of the plant’s natural goodness than do black and green teas.
The Science Stuff
The Camellia sinensis plant’s leaves, which provide us with the glorious drink we call tea, contain catechins, the fun antioxidant portion of tea. Fermenting the leaves for black tea and drying the leaves for green tea reduces the amount of catechins in the final product. However, in white tea, the young leaves and buds are left unprocessed or steamed immediately after picking. Since white tea extract has a higher catechin content than other tea, it also has higher antioxidant value. This science is interesting, but what does this have to do with skincare and your anti-aging regimen?
Why did we add it to our formula?
In a nutshell, white tea extract keeps your skin looking younger by protecting it from damage. Researchers believe that the antioxidants reduce oxidative stress to the skin. This type of stress is thought to promote skin cancer, wrinkles and uneven pigmentation. Much the same as a paint job reduces oxidation damage to vehicles, the high antioxidant value of lotions, potions, cleansers and serums containing white tea reduce the same damage to our skin. You could say that the extract helps prevent you from looking like an old jalopy.
As an anti-aging product, this extract protects your skin from more than just sun damage. I’m sure you’ve heard about collagen and elastin; in fact, you can’t read a skincare article without coming across these two proteins associated with youthful skin. You may be less familiar with the enzymes MMP, or matrix metalloproteinases. All skin contains MMP, which is healthy, but the amount increases with age. Unfortunately, increased levels of MMP gobble up the collagen and elastin that keeps our skin looking young. White tea extract to the rescue! Applying this extract to your skin helps inhibit the activity of MMP, so collagen and elastin perform their assigned task of maintaining your skin’s freshness while they stop functioning as appetizers for wrinkle-inducing, firmness-reducing enzymes.
Sources: Derma Doctor
