Tea. Something we Brits turn to in any and every situation. However, tea just might be the answer to more questions that you’d expect! Intrigued? Read on for these 5 Amazing Things You Can Do With A Tea Bag!
1. Stubborn Stains
We all know the feeling – that patch of carpet that is just a bit smelly, worn, or faded. Well, worry not, tea bag to the rescue! Just leave a used tea bag to dry out, separate the bag and the leaves, combine with a generous handful of baking soda and then simply distribute the mixture onto the trouble spots. Vacuum (or ‘Hoover’) it up after twenty minutes to reveal your rejuvenated carpet! If the trouble spot is significantly big, you can store tea bags in the fridge (in a glass of water – to keep them fresh) until you have enough. The same can also be applied to wood floors and furniture, using weak (no milk) tea from pre-used bags to polish and clean wooden surfaces.
2. Skincare
Used teabags can be re-brewed into a weak tea perfect for re-hydrating dry skin – simply put into a spray bottle or onto cotton pads before applying to your skin. Green tea is especially effective due to its antioxidant content and can also be used to wash your face as an acne treatment, but any and every tea works! Whole (used) tea bags can also be used for those pesky dark circles that crop up under your tired eyes. A cool tea bag on each eye for five minutes will calm your skin, and the caffeine within the bags will shrink and minimise the blood vessels around your eyes that are causing the discoloration.
3. Hair Care
Weak tea made with used bags can also be used after shampooing as a conditioning treatment for your scalp, hair and skin. You can even be rid of cheeky grey hairs with the use of tea, who knew! No expense needed, with a homemade dye from tea bags and boiling water in a 3:1 ratio with the addition one one tablespoon each of rosemary and sage, let stand overnight before sifting in the morning. Shampoo as usual before applying the mixture, saturate it, blot with towel and voila! Due to the lack of chemicals and dependent on the depth of your current hair colour, it might take several applications to achieve your desired results – but with a much smaller price tag, who can say no?
4. Antioxidant and Anti-Infection Qualities
Made famous in Japan’s notorious Hakone Kowakien Yunessun spa, you can bathe in used green tea, wine and even coffee! In fact, bathing in any tea is fantastic for your skin care due to their antioxidant properties. Fragrant teas such as jasmine or orange also function as a form of aromatherapy. Old tea bags can also be used to draw out infections for painful blisters, warts and sores – as well as reducing pain and helping you to heal that much faster.
5. Dying and Re-Dying
As everyone who has been to an English primary school will know – you can drag old tea bags across your homework to make the paper look ‘aged’, but – here’s where it gets interesting – who knew the same could be applied to clothes? After leaving your used tea bags to steep in a pan of hot water, add your garment and allow the vintage tones to absorb into your clothes, the longer they’re left, the darker their tone will become. In fact, the same technique can be done to rejuvenate black clothes (or clothes that were once black), just first wash the fabric, then soak in water that in a 1:4 ratio of strong tea to clean water, and after ten minutes see your clothes become revived, magic!
So, you see, tea can be used for so many things even if you don’t like the taste of it. Maybe you’ll love it in a bath, its effect on your clothing, your skin or your carpet! Have a different secret use for tea that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know below, join in the conversation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter & Instagram. (Check out some useful ways to use lemons and don’t forget to keep motivated to Keep YOUR Fit ON!)
