When it comes to things that are good for your skin, we usually think of natural substances like Vitamin E or even aloe vera. While eating aloe vera or drinking vitamin E doesn’t sound exactly appetizing, raw honey is natural, good for your skin and delicious to boot. Let’s discuss the many healing properties of raw honey.

Is Raw Honey Good for Your Skin?Most women—and even some men—love skin care products and use a number of them on a daily basis. We probably don’t know how we could live without our lotions, scrubs, face masks, makeup, and body wash, but we forget that many of these skin care products contain a number of chemicals, with even some carcinogens mixed in. Even though most skin care products smell great and make us feel like a million bucks, they contain toxic ingredients like parabens, sodium laurel sulfites, propylene glycol, phthalates, methylisothiazolinone (MIT), toluene, synthetic fragrances, mineral oil, paraffin, petrolatum, just to mention a few. If our skin care favorites contain synthetic chemicals, what are some natural skin care alternatives?

Benefits of Raw Honey

Luckily, there are natural skin care alternatives out there that we can choose over so many synthetic parabens and phthalates. Medicine has finally discovered the benefits of raw honey. Recent studies have shown that raw honey actually causes the skin to produce hyaluronic acid, (HA). HA helps the skin retain water, causing you to have a more even and plumper complexion. If taken internally, hyaluronic acid also promotes joint health. The benefits of raw honey to healthy skin are considerable, with some people wondering if raw honey can cure cancer. Wait until you hear what raw honey can do for damaged skin.

Healing properties of raw honey

The healing properties of raw honey are no laughing matter. Enzyme-rich raw honey may prevent scar tissue, heal acne, prevent the outbreak of psoriasis, and even speed up and improve the healing process of everyday cuts and burns. Able to protect your skin and fight against a number of health concerns, raw honey has several “anti” properties, being anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and an antioxidant. Doesn’t raw honey sound like a natural skin protector that you want on your side? Promoting cell rejuvenation, antioxidants like raw honey also protect the skin from radiation from UV rays, in a way functioning like a light all-natural sunscreen. Some raw honey aficionados even use raw honey to treat diaper rash. While using raw honey for diaper rash is effective, it is also quite messy, so I recommend using an all-natural bee salve since it’s less sticky and absorbs into the skin more easily.

How to use raw honey on cuts and scrapes

While you‘re probably used to keeping your raw honey in your kitchen pantry, from now on you might want to consider storing a little container of it in your bathroom medicine cabinet to take advantage of all of raw honey’s skin care benefits on a daily basis. Here are some tips for how to use the honey on cuts and scrapes.

Carefully spread the raw honey on the wound with a spatula, just as you would with Vitamin E or Neosporin. Since raw honey contains natural sugars, it’s a good idea to avoid double-dipping at all costs to avoid the growth of bacteria and germs. Dress the wound with a bandage.
Make sure the bandage does not stick to the wound. If sticking occurs, you probably need to apply more raw honey to your cut or scrape. Change the dressing and apply more honey as often as needed.

Recipes for honey facials:  

Honey Wash  

Step 1
First wet your face like you normally would before washing your face.  This step is really important.  If you put honey on dry skin, it will be sticky and not able to glide over your skin like a normal facial wash or soap.

Step 2
Scoop out a little honey and wash your face with the honey like you would an actual soap. You don’t need to add anything to the honey, it dissolves once it touches water making it easy to move around and not sticky.  

Step 3
After washing, thoroughly rinse off your face with cold water.  Any honey that hasn’t been rinsed off will feel sticky on your face once it dries.  Rinsing with cold water instead of hot helps your skin retain it’s moisture.

Step 4
Then softly pat dry and apply whatever moisturizer you normally use

Honey & Oatmeal Scrub  

Step 1
Grind uncooked oatmeal, using a blender or coffee grinder, until the oatmeal is the consistency of coarse sand. Any type of oatmeal is fine, including instant, quick-cooking or old fashioned oats. As a general rule, 2 tablespoons is enough for one facial.

Step 2
Place the oatmeal in a bowl, and then stir in an equal amount of honey. If possible, use natural or organic honey. Warm the honey in the microwave to make blending easier.

Step 3
Add a few drops of essential oil, if you like. Blend the oil one or two drops at a time until the scrub has a mild aroma. Geranium, lavender, sandalwood and ylang-ylang are general-purpose oils that benefit normal, dry, oily or combination skin. Chamomile and rose soothe sensitive skin, while rose and neroli work well for mature or dry skin. Citrus oil, tea tree and rosemary help dry excessively oily skin.

Step 4
Wash your face, and then splash your skin with lukewarm water. Apply the scrub to your face with your fingers, massaging gently in circular, upward motions.

Step 5
Rinse the scrub off with lukewarm water. Blot your face gently with a soft towel to dry. Apply your favorite moisturizer to return moisture to your skin.