Overview
Honey is the sweet, sticky substance that bees produce and store in hives.
In its natural form, honey is produced by enzyme activity, plant matter, and live bacteria coming together to create a powerful ingredient with hundreds of practical uses.
The unique process that creates honey makes it especially valuable for cosmetic uses, such as clearing acne, healing scars, and evening out skin tone.
Raw, unpasteurized honey has the most potential for topical application on skin. Keep reading to find out how honey can be applied to your face and help your skin.
Benefits of using honey for the face
Raw honey is packed with components beneficial for your skin, especially if you have acne or autoimmune skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. Even Candida overgrowth may be controlled by applying honey to your skin.
Raw honey helps balance the bacteria on your skin, which makes it a great product to use for acne. Manuka honey has been studied as an anti-acne product and found to be significantly more effective than other popular products.
Honey speeds up your skin cells’ healing processes. If you have blemishes or an eczema outbreak, honey that’s unpasteurized could speed healing and reduce inflammation. Manuka honey is so effective at healing wounds quickly that it’s now used by doctors in clinical settings.
Raw honey is also a natural exfoliator, which means applying it to your face takes off dry, dull skin and reveals new skin cells underneath.
Uses of honey on the face
Applying honey to your face is fairly simple, though there are different ways to do it.
Honey for face acne, psoriasis, and eczema
Honey for chronic skin conditions can be treated with a paste, spot-treated, or with a face mask that you leave on for several minutes.
The most important thing about using honey to treat these conditions is to use unpasteurized honey, such as manuka honey.
It’s vital that the honey you use still contains its healthy bacteria to be effective. This will activate your immune system and help with inflammation and redness, as well as heal blemishes.
One way to use honey for your face is to mix it with other ingredients to create a soothing face mask treatment. Before doing this, make sure to do a patch test of the honey and any other ingredients to ensure you won’t have an allergic reaction.
ALLERGY WARNING
If you have allergic reactions to pollen, celery, or other bee-related products, steer clear of using honey on your skin.
A mixture of raw honey and cinnamon is a powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial combination.
Mix three parts honey and one part freshly ground or pure cinnamon (“true” cinnamon) and warm the mixture slightly using the microwave. Apply to your skin and leave the mixture on for 8 to 10 minutes. Rinse off completely using warm water and pat your skin dry. Don’t use if you’re allergic to cinnamon.
Honey for skin lightening and brightening
Researchers haven’t drawn a direct connection between using honey on your face and lightening dark spots.
But since honey has exfoliating properties, using it on your face can eliminate dead skin cells that make your skin look dull. This can reveal brighter skin.
After washing your face with soap and water, apply manuka honey or another variety of unpasteurized, raw honey to your face. If you’d like, dilute the honey with purified water to make it less sticky and easier to remove. Leave the honey on your skin for several minutes before rinsing off.
Honey for scar fading
Honey helps your body’s healing process, which may help fade acne scars. You can use honey as a spot treatment on scars, applying it every day or every other day as a paste at the site of your scarring.
You may also see results if you use honey face masks as a part of your beauty routine, as described above. Keep in mind that what we know about honey’s healing abilities is limited, and still developing. A study found that honey may not be good for scarring caused by burns and deep cuts.
Side effects of applying honey on face
Honey is unlikely to cause an allergic reaction in most people. You should use any of these remedies with caution if you have any known allergies to:
- pollen
- celery
- bee venom
Always test new products on a small area of your skin that’s minimally visible to see if you’re allergic.
Make sure to remove any honey from your face before you go to bed. Honey left on your face can attract dust and other debris, which could aggravate an active breakout.
