Many people use honey to sweeten food or teas, but there are ways to use honey for medicinal purposes. Honey contains multiple properties that make it suitable for things other than ingesting, with essential nutrients and antioxidants.
One interesting fact about honey is that it doesn’t spoil and is used frequently as a more natural, healthier substitute for sugar. Other things honey can do are beneficial to your health. With society’s focus more on clean and organic beauty products, more people are discovering the benefits that raw honey has for multiple uses.
Want to know what honey can do for you? Below are many ways to use honey for your skin, hair, and more.
Honey for Skin
Honey is found in many makeup products, including those for the skin. It’s a base ingredient due to its ability to help seep into the skin and moisturize. In addition, the enzymes penetrate and soothe it to condition and soften. Here are some ways to use honey for your skin:
Exfoliation
Raw honey helps to remove dead skin cells and leave your skin looking brighter and smoother. Mixing honey with baking soda and rubbing on damp skin, then rinsing, will help exfoliate your skin and give a lovely, glowing complexion.
For Burns
Raw honey can help treat burns. It provides healing and reduces inflammation, giving nutrition to damaged tissues. To gain the most benefits, mix honey with aloe vera gel to effectively treat sunburns and burns naturally.
Pore Cleansing & Acne Treatment
Honey can help cleanse your pores and eliminate blackheads. It has antioxidant and antibacterial properties, removing dirt from your pores and helping clear up acne and fade acne scars. Mix raw honey with some coconut or jojoba oil and apply to clean, dry skin for ten minutes, then rinse with water.
Scar Treatment and Wound Healing
With its natural moisturizing capabilities and antibiotic properties, honey helps keep skin soft and also aids in lightening the look of scars. It also helps your wounds because it is antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal. So, it can be beneficial to your skin wounds, specifically after you undergo a chemical peel or laser skin removal, where your skin barrier is affected.
Since it works as an anti-inflammatory, it can help repair your damaged skin and heal it more quickly. Mix honey with coconut or olive oil and massage over the scar, then treat with hot or very warm water.
Honey For Hair
It may not be a surprise that honey can help treat your hair, but numerous benefits accompany it. There are multiple dermatological advantages to using raw honey alongside regular hair care products.
Hair Growth
Since honey already promotes skin growth, the scalp can also be part of this process. Your scalp is made up of tons of skin cells that contribute to hair growth, so applying honey to your scalp products can promote more rapid repair of those cells, making your hair grow longer. Mix raw honey with a bit of water and massage it into your scalp, then leave for a couple of minutes before rinsing.
Hair Conditioning
Look for nourishing honey shampoo and conditioner since those products that have raw honey as an ingredient are the best for cleansing and restoring moisture to your hair. There are also plenty of minerals, vitamins, and other helpful elements so that your hair becomes soft, shiny, and healthy.
Emollients and humectant properties in honey help smooth your hair follicles and put more shine to dull hair while also adding moisture. As a result, your hair will be more lustrous, smooth, and noticeably healthier.
Prevents Hair Breakage
Honey contains proteins, which add structure and strength to your hair. It helps to restore the weak and brittle ends of your hair. Mix honey with just a little water and massage it into the ends of your hair, then rinse clean.
Prevents Hair Loss
While hair shedding is not uncommon, some people can be concerned when seeing their hair shed more than usual. If you’re losing more hair than you would like, damage to your hair could be a significant contributor.
Since honey helps reduce hair breakage and cleans hair follicles by ridding impurities within your scalp, it helps to minimize clogging, a primary factor in hair loss. In addition, it stimulates regrowth from dormant follicles.
Other Honey Benefits
Some evidence suggests that honey can help reduce your risk for skin cancer and other cancers. There are positive results from these studies of using honey on cancer cells, showing its ability to help slow the growth and reproduction of cancerous cells in the body.
Besides helping just brighten your complexion and help reduce the look of scars, it can help minimize sun spots and even improve signs of aging, so using it when you’re young keeps your skin staying young by preventing new wrinkles.
Not all honey is created equal, so be aware of this when using honey in your beauty routine. Raw or manuka honey is best to ensure you gain the most benefits. It absorbs water to hydrate your skin and hair, making it ideal if you suffer from chronic skin or hair problems.
Raw honey has micronutrients and vitamins like B and magnesium. Honey also plays a significant role in stabilizing your blood sugar, even though it is sweet. It has the lowest glycemic load, so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar like other sweeteners.
When ingested, raw honey is an excellent source of prebiotic fiber to help nourish good bacteria within your microbiome. Honey may even help provide weight loss benefits due to its effect on hunger and offers positive and nutritional health effects.
Staying Safe When Using Honey
If you have allergies, it is important to test a small part of your skin before applying honey all over your body’s areas. You should also ensure that if you use it on your skin or hair, you cleanse and remove it completely. If it remains on your body, it can trap dirt (as well as become very sticky) and may cause more problems.
Honey provides several benefits for your hair, skin, and more. It has natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and health properties to treat skin conditions and hair problems. Of course, talking to your doctor before you use honey within your beauty routine would be most helpful, but the many advantages can help improve your skin, hair, and health over time.