I, for one, love being outside in the summertime. Going to beaches, walking and hiking, and having bonfires with friends. While this Summer looks different, I have still been going outside and unfortunately, mosquitoes are having a free-for-all on my skin. They always seem to be attracted right to me and especially my legs and forehead. So, after being itchy and frustrated, I decided to test out the idea that tea can help me get rid of the itchiness from bug bites. I read a few different articles saying a few conflicting ways of treating bug bites with tea, so let’s try this out.
The first thing I had to determine was whether to use black, green, or chamomile tea. I have seen conflicting articles talking about each and I decided to test out the different methods. Here is why each one claims to work:
- Black Tea: The tannins in the tea are known to tighten the skin and supposedly draw the liquid out of the bug bite.
- Green Tea: Known for its antibacterial properties, green tea is said to help shrink the bug bite and ease itching.
- Chamomile: Known to reduce inflammation, using chamomile on bug bites is supposed to ease up irritation and help it heal quickly.
To set the scene, as I am writing this, I have at least seven bug bites on the back of my legs. I am laying on my stomach with a towel and seven *cold* tea bags are resting on my legs (I had a picture, but the back of my legs is slightly odd to show in picture form, so I opted to leave it out). Not the most comfortable blogging position, you can imagine. After this, I switched to a different position to test out the green and chamomile. Originally I was just going to try black tea, but I decided to give all three of them a go. I had seven bug bites on the back of my legs for the black tea, a green tea bag on my ankle, and a chamomile one on my wrist.
Black Tea:
I prepared this tea by just dipping the tea bags into water and then putting the bags in the fridge to cool for about 45 minutes. I prepared the other two slightly different. Supposedly, you put them in the fridge and then put the cold bags on your skin for 10 minutes. I had my mom help me because the back of my legs were covered in bug bites and I am not flexible enough to reach everything. I would say this remedy helps with temporary relief. The cooling of the tea bags felt amazing on the skin (since they were inflamed and warm), and they did not itch at all when applying them. However, about 30 minutes after doing this, I accidentally brushed my leg and they started itching again. But temporarily it was fine.
Green Tea:
For the green tea, I instead soaked the tea bags in cold icy water so I did not have to wait for the tea bags to cool down. I also could then dip the tea bag into the cold water when my skin heated up the bag. I kept the tea bag on my skin for 10 minutes, and this particular one was located on my ankle. I think this one might be the best of the remedies, as my ankle is still not itching as of 45 minutes after the experiment. So far, it temporarily solved the itching and it seems to have helped a bit longer than the black tea.
Chamomile Tea:
For the chamomile, I did the same cold icy water trick as the green tea. I had to dip the chamomile a few times as my skin was heating it up so quickly. This one also was quite successful, my arm did not seem as itchy anymore and did seem to get temporary and somewhat long-term relief. The redness also seemed to have gone down. This one is also working better than the black tea, I have bumped the bug bite a few times and have not felt any itchiness.
After-Thoughts:
After some time, it became quite apparent which one was the most successful. The back of my legs continued to itch, as did my ankle. This means that the chamomile was the most successful at least for my bug bite. The bug bite on my wrist did not seem to itch at all [even when I provoked it a bit] and the swelling and redness seemed to be lessened. I was quite impressed. Now I need to treat the many…many bug bites with chamomile. I do not know if they can be “cured” by tea, but they definitely can help.
The next day, I seemed to have a bit of improved results. My arm seemed to be in the best condition, not being itchy anymore, but the bug bump seems to linger a bit. My ankle itched a bit but it was not terrible and even my legs itched a bit less. I think chamomile might be the best candidate honestly.
This type of article reminds me of the articles that I wrote when just starting my blog. I have already uncovered what happens when you use tea for sunburns so this was a fun experiment to do and I think a nice reminder of how much I also like doing tea experiments. Hopefully, you do not get any bug bites, but in case you do, I hope this article helps! Happy Brewing!
-Danielle
Sources:
Holland, S. (2018, July 04). 13 Home Remedies for Mosquito Bites: Ways to Stop the Itch. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/health/outdoor-health/home-remedies-for-mosquito-bites
Shainhouse, T. (n.d.). 8 Home Remedies for Soothing Bug Bites. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.parents.com/health/bug-bites/8-home-remedies-for-soothing-bug-bites/
Woodruff | COMMENT, E. (n.d.). 11 Genius Home Remedies for Bug Bites. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://www.totalbeauty.com/content/slideshows/home-remedies-for-bug-bites-170621/page11