Home hacks: Here's how you can use tea bags in different ways

The next time you brew yourself a steaming cup of tea, resist the natural instinct to chuck that soggy bag in the trash. As it turns out, the organic matter within tea bags is chock full of potential for upcycling. The possibilities are endless, and they all start with that leftover tea in the corner of your cabinet (not that you should have leftover tea).

Cleaning windows: Black tea doesn’t only help us shine in the morning, it can make windows shine too. Use about 10 grams of used black tea leaves per litre of water. Steep for 20 minutes and let it cool down to room temperature. Soak the cleaning cloth, drain the excess tea and clean the windows.

Cool down a sunburn (or another burn): To relieve the sting from a day of tanning, a rushed shave, or even a misplaced flat iron, tea might just do the trick. All you have to do is take a used, cool tea-bag and place it on the affected area for instant relief. It works well for other types of minor burns (that is, from a teapot or steam iron).

Add flavour to rice: Add a little extra pep to rice (or any grain) with a tea bag. Simply place the bag in the pot of boiling water for a minute or two to let the flavour infuse. Use that tea-infused water to cook the grain of your choice as normal. For example, use jasmine tea to infuse jasmine flavour to the rice. 

Deep-clean hands: Some stinky scents refuse to budge. The next time you can’t scrub away the smell of onions, seafood, etc., turn to tea bags. Just use them the same way you would a bar of soap. The organic tea leaves will banish those unfortunate smells in no time.

Condition your hair: Tea has shown to remove product build-up and improve hair colour, shine, and growth when applied to the hair. Brew a few tea bags before your shower, let them cool, then apply the tea mixture after you shampoo and condition. Let the tea sit in your hair for about 30 minutes, then rinse it out with cold water.