Hormonal acne is one of the most annoying types of acne. Firstly, hormonal acne tends to be deep and large, and stews under your skin for days before coming to a head (if it even comes to a head at all). The usual topical acne treatments like benzoyl peroxide, tretinoin and tea tree oil don’t act on hormonal breakouts very effectively, and squeezing them can cause scarring. Let’s take a look at how spearmint tea can help!
What causes hormonal acne?
Surprise – hormonal acne is caused by hormones! Specifically, a type of hormone in your body called androgens. These are known as male sex hormones, even though they’re present in both sexes, but they’re present in higher amounts in males and cause things like body hair, muscle growth, voice deepening, sperm development and male pattern baldness. The most well-known androgen is testosterone.
Androgens also cause increased sebum production. Sebum is produced by sebaceous glands are located in hair follicles, and more sebum leads to a higher chance of blockages, which lead to breakouts. Since androgen levels cycle with the menstrual cycle, many women find that they’ll experience hormonal acne at the same stage of their cycle (usually around menstruation, or as I like to call it, “blood flood”).
What can spearmint do for acne?
Spearmint has an antiandrogenic effect – that is, it has the ability to reduce testosterone levels, and hence reduce sebum production and the development of hormonal acne. In two clinical trials, women with hirsutism (male-pattern hair growth) drank spearmint tea twice a day for either 5 days (2007 study) or 30 days (2009 study). The hormone levels in their blood was then measured. In both trials, testosterone levels decreased by about one-third on average, although hair growth wasn’t affected (this was probably because the study time was too short). Unfortunately, there aren’t any published studies on how spearmint decreases androgens yet.
What are the side effects of spearmint tea?
Even if you don’t have hirsutism, and despite the lack of studies specifically on acne and spearmint tea, it may still be worth giving spearmint tea a try before you move onto stronger hormonal acne treatments. Spearmint tea is inexpensive and has relatively few potential side effects, compared to the main prescription treatments for hormonal acne (combined oral contraceptives and spironolactone). However, there are a few things to note:
This probably won’t work well if you’re male. Sorry! Spearmint has been associated with reduced male libido and might damage testicular tissue and reduce sperm, which makes sense since male sex hormone are much more important in males. Chances are, the amount of spearmint required to improve acne will also be the amount which will start having negative effects.
Spearmint can interfere with iron absorption, large amounts can cause kidney and liver damage, and it can make heartburn worse. If you have any of these issues, it’s worth talking to your doctor before you start drinking lots of spearmint tea (also if you’re pregnant!).
If you’re allergic to spearmint or related plants (rosemary, basil, mint, thyme etc.), you’ll want to steer clear.
Apart from these caveats, neither clinical trial had any reports of negative side effects for spearmint tea, which is quite unusual for a clinical trial.
How much spearmint tea should I drink?
Unfortunately the 2009 clinical trial doesn’t go into any detail about dosage beyond “twice a day”, but the 2007 trial used 5 g (1 heaped US teaspoon) of dried spearmint tea steeped in 250 mL of boiling water for 5-10 min, twice a day.
My sister and I have both been drinking The Tao of Tea Spearmint Tea, which is pure looseleaf spearmint tea. Annoyingly, a lot of “spearmint tea” is actually a blend including spearmint, so double check the ingredients list before buying! I use a tea strainer for spearmint because the leaves are chopped and float around annoyingly if you don’t contain them somehow. If you’re lucky enough to have a spearmint plant at home, the fresh version will probably work just as well!
Further reading
M Akdoğan, MN Tamer, E Cüre, MC Cüre, BK Köroğlu & N Delibaş, Effect of spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) teas on androgen levels in women with hirsutism, Phytother Res 2007, 21, 444-447.
P Grant, Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial, Phytother Res 2010, 24, 186-188.
TL Ebede, EL Arch & D Berson, Hormonal treatment of acne in women (open access), J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 2009, 2, 16-22.
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Hello! Been reading for a while – love a bit of science – and layering moisturisers has made such a difference to my skin!
Anyway, I wanted to comment about my own experiment with spearmint tea for hormonal acne, having read the same studies as you. I drank a tsp dose twice a day for a couple of months and found it so effective on hormones it made my painful periods come back with a vengeance (I have a Mirena coil which has made them virtually disappear). But no effect on acne in that time, unfortunately, and I wasn’t willing to keep going any longer!
That’s super interesting – back in high school I had terrible period cramps (blacking out, passing huge clots etc) and as a last-ditch effort my mum took me to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. She gave me some crazy concoction of herbs to take, along with a list of foods to exclude in the fortnight before my period was due (“yin” or cooling foods, according to Chinese food therapy classifications), and surprisingly, it worked! My sister also went for her acne, and essentially my exclusion list was her “eat more” list. Maybe part of the scientific basis behind yin foods is based on estrogen…?
For reference, my exclusion list included oranges, ice cream, grass jelly, seaweed, green tea, watermelon, tofu and cucumbers. There were a few things that I was meant to eat more of, but I can’t remember most of them except for ginger, ginseng and lychees.
Hi!
Really enjoy your posts. So does my biochem prof husband:) I read a post on fan serviced-b about taking spearmint supplements instead of drinking the tea. Are there any studies with participants taking supplements instead of drinking tea?
That’s great to hear! I haven’t seen any studies on spearmint supplements at all, and unfortunately the mechanism of how spearmint works is unknown so it’s hard to make a guess as to whether it works the same. Theoretically a supplement could work better (if the effect is due to a compound in spearmint that’s somewhat heat-sensitive) or it could work worse (if the compound is activated by heat or steeping in hot water makes it easier to absorb), or there could be no change…
ooh interesting! I have (or had) that nasty hormonal acne. ugh!! I would have certainly tried this back in the day. I changed my diet, that helped. But that didnt last forever. I started taking menopause pills, those helped. And then I turned to retinol. I certainly don’t like the side effects described here 😮 but anything is worth if it helps with acne! (Except maybe Accutane :O If a person can avoid it).
Thought you might enjoy a contrast, YMMV story.
I first tried spearmint capsules about 4 months ago after reading about possible benefits on fanservice-b. I ordered the same Swanson caps that Tracey was using and let the experiMINT *;)* begin. At the end of the first month I noticed that my typical end-of-period breakout didn’t really happen. So initially, things were looking great! Right on track. But then, a switch happened.
At the end of month 2, I started to get a breakout BEFORE my period. This never, ever happens to me. It always comes after. It was kind of a nasty one but I pushed through and managed to heal up the pimples in a week or 2.
And then, month 3 happened. This was when I expected to be in the free and clear. For the second time now, I got the pre period breakout and it was AWFUL. Massive, cystic acne around jawline AND neck. One of the worst breakouts I’ve seen since pre-k-beauty days. I stopped the spearmint immediately.
I am now starting my first period since pulling the capsules from my diet and I’m happy to report only a couple small pimples with no cystics in sight. I’m still healing the scarring left behind but I’m expecting my skin to be back to relatively normal by my next cycle.
Just goes to show you never know! And, don’t bombard your system all at once with new products and treatments. Introduce slowly so you can pinpoint triggers.
Ugh how annoying! I totally agree, testing one product at a time is a good idea (although it’s soooo tempting to just throw everything at your face!).
I have hormonal acne around my mouth and chin, and since using the Citrus Clear products it has improved considerably. I still get the odd pimple, but not deep cystic ones like I would before, meaning they heal quicker. My skin looks smoother and more even now, with less red and dry patches that were caused by the acne. The Citrus Clear Sensitive Moisturizer is not too greasy, like the majority of creams are on my oily combination skin.
Spearmint tea is magical! It worked for me as well!