How to Treat Dark Circles With Tea Bags

If you're a tea drinker, you can use your bags for more than just your beverage. Used tea bags are a great way to treat dark circles around your eyes and to help reduce the puffiness and redness that sometimes accompany them.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Tea bags
• Plastic bags
• Timer or alarm clock

1. Select the proper tea with which to treat your dark circles. You want tea that has plenty of tannis and caffeine in it, as well as copious antioxidants. (The caffeine helps remove excessive moisture, while the antioxidants soothe the skin.) Green, black or white teas are usually the most beneficial, but stay away from herbal teas, which aren't helpful to treat dark circles. (An exception is chamomile, which has anti-inflammatory properties.)
2. Place the tea bags in plastic after you have used them and store them in the refrigerator overnight. You want the bags to be as cold as possible when you use them: heat inflames the skin and increases redness and puffiness, while cooler temperatures help reduce these.
3. Remove two tea bags from the refrigerator when you are ready to treat the dark circles.
4. Lie down in a comfortable position, somewhere away from the sun and any bright lights. The sun will leech moisture from the tea bags and warm them up, which you don't want. Lying down will help you to keep the tea bags on your eyes with ease.
5. Place the tea bags on your eyes--making sure they are in contact with the skin and are covering the dark circles--and leave them there without moving for 10 to 15 minutes. You may want to use a timer or alarm clock to keep track of the duration, since you cannot easily open your eyes to check the time.
6. Repeat the process as often as you wish, swapping the used tea bags out for fresh ones from the refrigerator. You can treat dark eyes most efficiently if you set a regular schedule for using tea bags.

Tips & Warnings

• A specialty tea shop can help direct you to types of tea that may be useful in treating dark circles. Check the ingredients in any tea you purchase and make sure it has the right elements for this particular use.
• Try not to get any tea in your eyes when you lay the bags over the dark circles. It won't cause any real damage to your eyes, but it might sting a bit.