Spearmint Tea for Acne

I tried this tea when my cystic breakouts were at their worst. I drank this daily, morning and night in conjunction with using apple cider vinegar on my face. I found the tea to be very effective and would highly recommend for those suffering with hormonal cystic acne. I have finally cleared my hormonal acne naturally and if you would like to see how I did it you can watch my video here:

I'm now in my mid 20s and i noticed my acne getting worse. Everyday i was getting a new painful cyst along my jaw line. Wearing makeup would make it worst. In addition, my skin was super oily! Topical cleansers, masks, and toners with different acne medications were not helping! After becoming frustrated with all the money i was spending on new products, i started doing a little research and discovered i had hormonal acne. I mean after all, my skin wasn't this bad off as a teen!!! I was looking into making an appointment with a dermatologist. I started searching treatments for hormonal acne just so i would already have my questions ready for the doc and some how ran across organic spearmint tea. I have to admit i was hella skeptical! A $5 box of tea could shift my hormones??? Nahhh no way!!! After deciding i had nothing to loose, i went to whole foods and picked up the Traditional Medicinals organic spearmint tea. I drink a cup in the morning and a cup a night. The taste is very mild and is great with honey. After about 4 days i noticed results! No new painful cysts and my skin was less oily. I've been drinking this tea for about 2 months now! The first month my period was 5 days late. This month only 2 days late. (I think my body just had to adjust to the tea) A couple weeks ago i started taking Alive Women's Energy multivitamin and my skin looks even better! My current skin routine includes Purity one step cleanser, Dickinson's witch hazel, and Cerave moisturizing lotion. I also use the Neutrogena clear pore cleanser mask and the Queen Helene mint julip mask a few times a week. I still get a few pimples here and there but i can definitely deal! I'm absolutely amazed that a herb could make that much of an impact! If u're suffering from hormonal acne, spearmint tea is the way to go!

I have been suffering is hirsutism for approximately a year now after a bad battle with my birth control and screwing up my hormones. I first learned of spearmint tea from DAYS of research for a natural way to stop the unwanted and not to mention, EMBARRASSING facial hair growth! I am dark brown skinned and the hair was very course, thick and dark.. YUCK! Well, I found the tea for cheap at the grocery store and began to drink two cups per day... yeah so that got old. I am very busy and making two cups of hot tea per day just slipped my mind as easily as anything else. Then I came across the best thing since sliced bread.. THE CAPSULE! What! You mean I can just pop the pill and continue with my day? Yes. I ordered 3 bottles containing 60 capsules each from Swanson (only place I could find them), and so far, halfway through my first bottle, the hair is almost ALL GONE! I kid you not. My skin looks brighter, more clear and less oily as well. I listened to some natural product freaks and used Evening Primrose Oil on my skin (don't ever) and got a nasty breakout that Im healing with tea tree oil and masks BUT aside from that, my skin is slowly but surely changing for the better. I am going to get my face threaded this month and see if the hair just stays away for good, but for now I have been tweezing and hair is either not growing back at all or it grows back very thin. Hormonal acne is slowing down as well. Great for hormone issues in women. Get you some spearmint tea capsules!

I buy my spearmint tea from Monterey Bay Spice Co. They have wonderful tea and it's cheap! this is absoulutely something I will not be without. I drink it all the time and have noticed improved health all around. My skin is healthier and my entire body is healthier. I rarely get sick and I completely attribute it to a healthy diet with this as one of the components. Spearmint tea greatly reduces the amount of my unwanted facial hair, greatly reduces skin oiliness and increases the elasticity and clarity of my skin. I never break out anymore and definitely attribute that to Spearmint tea. I also take spearmint tea capsules from Swanson's - the best to have on hand when you don't have time to drink a cup of tea, just pop the pill and voila!

Like stinging nettle tea, spearmint tea helps to balance hormones. Both spearmint and Nettle tea contain phenols that are android adaptive. Say for instance, you have melasma or hair loss due to estrogen dominance; spearmint and Nettle tea will balance your hormones. Likewise, both spearmint and Nettle tea control excess free testosterone in both men and women. spearmint tea has the unique ability to balance your hormones in either direction depending on what your body needs.
I drink a lot of spearmint, lemon balm, stinging nettle and licorice teas. Licorice is an interesting tea, and one you must be careful with.
But spearmint? Hey, go nuts. You have nothing to lose except maybe bad skin.

I took this for 6 months. It did more for me than Spironolactone or Doxycyline ever did. My acne while taking it, never returned. My excessive oil production was stabilized. I will note that this was not a cure all solution. I still had to use diligent skincare to keep my skin perfect.

And then one day, I quit taking it. I know that sounds crazy. Especially since I had dealt with cystic acne for about 13 years. Every derm I went to in 2011-2013 wanted to put me on accutane. I never went on that because it had long term effects on the aging process in terms of moisture issues. My mom/dad/brother were on it. I know from first hand.

But stopping spearmint tea was a personal decision. Although it has no permanent affects on oil glands, I'd still rather be dependent on a topical product than a supplement. Finding PURE spearmint tea & always having a LARGE supply for all day use became a HUGE pain in my ***. AHAs got rid of at least 75% of my acne prior to spearmint tea. I'm now adding in retinoids to take it one step further. If you have awful acne your best bet is an internal and external approach. I just am too lazy for this.

------

Be sure to check the ingredient list because a lot of "spearmint teas" are actually diluted with other herbs. Most people don't seem to realize this (I got recommendations for plenty of them by people that were clueless about this here on MUA.)

I did not fully understand acne until my early twenties. I have spent the last 4 years studying it, and at 24 I finally got rid of my volcano-like cystic acne. I could write for days on the science behind it. However I'll save that for another time & make my review into a simple version that everyone can understand.

Spearmint tea has anti-androgen effects. Meaning it messes with your hormone levels and blocks (to a certain degree) your male sex hormones (testosterone). In turn, this has an effect on your skin. Less testosterone means less oil production. Less oil production, often means less acne.

Spearmint tea is a good way to decrease acne without needing a prescription. A lot of people turn to birth control in order to combat their acne. A simple explanation for why birth control pills often helps acne is because it changes hormone levels. But if you wanted to know a deeper explanation: the most popular birth control pills for acne have antiandrogen effects. YAZ is very popular for this purpose.

Another popular acne medication is Spironolactone (commonly referred to as "Spiro".) I was prescribed this by a dermatologist months ago after realizing my hormones were to blame for much of my oil production. Spironolactone is actually a medication for fluid retention treatment. However studies realized early on that it has an antiandrogen effect. A lot of long time acne suffers have found relief taking it. Once again, it works very similar to Spearmint Tea. (Note: I had to get off Spiro immediately due to adverse effects.)

The biggest drawback I've found is that spearmint tea will never be as effective as birth control pills with major anti androgen properties nor high dosages of Spiro. To see results I would recommend drinking it as frequently as you can (within reason). Drinking one glass every three days is not going to do anything for you. The more spearmint tea you drink, the more antiandrogen properties you'll have in your system. Another word of advice is give it some time before throwing in the towel. Sometimes birth control pills or Sprionolactone can take up to 6 months to make an effect on oil production. And Spearmint Tea is NOT NEARLY AS POTENT. That doesn't mean it doesn't work, just moreso that you'd need a much larger amount to get the equivalent of other options. I actually had some effects while only taking spearmint tea that I got while taking Yaz - spotting in between periods. Is that good? Obviously not. However it solidifies the impact spearmint tea has on hormones.

Now that I've explained that, let me tell you all about what having slightly less oily skin has done for me. My acne has dramatically reduced, my makeup doesn't look nasty by 1PM, and I can go all day without powder touch ups. YES THIS STILL REQUIRES PROPER SKINCARE AND MATTE MAKE UP FORMULAS. But spearmint tea has still greatly contributed. The best part of my acne clearing up has been the realization that my Rosacea isn't nearly as bad as everyone assumed. There's no doubts about whether or not I have Rosacea, I definitely do. However my acne was so inflamed and widespread that when it began to clear up, my redness decreased by at least 50%.

There are some things I'd like for everyone to consider before giving antiandrogens effects a chance. Is your skin oily or dry? If it's dry, testosterone levels most likely aren't your problem. That's not to say a hormonal imbalance is out of question. HOWEVER spearmint tea does have the ability to worsen your acne...BECAUSE it has an effect on your hormones. This could go either way for you. Just like how some BC cause people to have worse acne!

Other supplements or foods that may have an impact on hormones & thus acne:
-Hormones in lactose can potentially affect your hormone levels *negatively*. I found that giving up dairy helped clear up my skin ALMOST as good as spearmint tea. But a life without cheese isn't worth living...and spearmint tea still works better.
-Zinc can help.
-Vitamin D can help.
-Vitex supplements can help regulate hormones.
-Omega 3,6,9 can have various effects on hormones/acne
Other medications that can help:
-Accutane for a (potentially) permanent effect on your oil glands.
-Spironolactone as listed above (non-permanent, just like spearmint tea.. the chemistry behind it has VERY short half lives)
-doxycycline

Hi everyone. I haven't found any decent reviews about this tea specifically for hormonal acne without PCOS/hirsutism, so I decided to do one! I will be updating my progress frequently. I have been prescribed Retin-A Micro (0.04% w/w) along with Biacna (clindamycin phosphate:1.2%w/w and tretinoin 0.025%w/w) to use nightly in combination with Aczone (5%w/w dapsone gel) in the mornings since January 2015. Obviously these haven't been working for me, but it did get rid of my deep cystic acne. I just need to get rid of the hormonal (worst are pre-menstrual) pustules I get seemingly every few days.

June 27/15: I purchase David's tea Organic Spearmint and plan to drink 2 strong (I put 2.5 tsp of tea) cups per day as per recommendation on various websites.

July 2/15: Not even a full week yet, and I have only had 1 tiny pimple since I've been drinking the tea religiously (2 cups/day). No adverse effects to report on. I've noticed that my skin isn't as oily, and I haven't blotted my face at all today - crazy! I decided to up my "dose" to 3 cups/day. Will continue.

July 4/15: Week 1 has gone by. I'm happy to report that I have been acne-free (other than that small one which healed fast!) for this week. No new acne to report, no side effects. Will continue to update weekly at this point.

July 5/15: Ah, it seems as though I've jinxed myself because today I woke up with about 5 new tiny pimples right along my chin and jawline... Not too happy about this :(. Alas, I will keep drinking the same "dose" as above and see what happens. I'll report any changes next on July 11.

July 12/15: Sooooo... I decided to stop the spearmint tea for now and and take contraceptives since I saw my dermatologist last week (July 8) after breaking out really badly. I did ask her about spearmint tea's effectiveness for acne and she told me that she hasn't found any real benefit from it and preferred spironolactone (spiro) over it for reducing androgens/free testosterone. If the BCP doesn't work out for me, I WILL be trying the spearmint again. I realize I only tried it for a short time, but I would be willing to try it for longer.

Probably the number 1 thing that helped clear my acne. As a sufferer of PCOS, I have tried many medicines but I have to say this is the best! Along with taking supplements (Zinc, B6, and Saw Palmetto) ,diet changes (No dairy, no soy, no gluten, low sugar intake) and a simple skincare routine, this tea has saved my life. Not only is my cystic acne gone but also the annoying hairs on my breasts and stomach have not grown back! If you have PCOS, acne or not, please try this tea! You will be so happy you did. :)

I hate tea, so when I read about this I was hesitant. But I've been inexplicably breaking out around my chin and jaw lately, and this came up as an effective treatment. What the heck. I've tried so many other products that haven't made any difference. I picked up a box of McCormick's spearmint tea at Von's for $1.89. It was the only spearmint tea in the entire wall of tea, BTW. Not complaining. It was also the cheapest. So I started drinking a cup a day for the last week, and the breakouts have stopped. I noticed it working after only 3 days, actually. I just boil water, steep a bag for a couple of minutes and drink it. No sugar or anything else. Just tea. The taste doesn't make my gag anymore, but I still do not enjoy tea. It's worth it, though. I'm going to continue drinking this until I run out, and if the breakouts return, I guess I'm now a tea-drinker.

I've been drinking Alvita organic spearmint tea for a little over two weeks now. I have dry skin and the majority of my acne is hormonal. Topicals are too drying and only irritate my skin so I decided to give this a try. I drink one or two cups a day and have seen an improvement in my acne. I have not gotten any large painful acne cysts since I started drinking this. As an added benefit this has also helped immensely with facial hair. I typically have to have my brows and lip waxed about every two weeks. I don't know if this slowed the hair growth, but I didn't need waxed at my last trip to the salon. A box of 24 tea bags can be bought for just a few dollars and is well worth the money.