Kitchens are filled with beauty treatments. Like mixing sugar and olive oil together for a DIY lip scrub or squeezing some fresh lemon into your greek yogurt for a homemade brightening mask. And the latest trend that I’m hearing raves about from everyone is…wait for it….cleansing your face with honey! It sounds extreme, no? But before you picture that teddy bar glue sealing your eyelids shut, let me clarify. Leave teddy out of this! You want manuka honey, which is filled with powerful antibacterial properties and really effective at treating acne. I asked one of my favorite 312 beauties, Megan of Seed to Serum, to give us the scoop on honey cleansing. Here’s what she had to say…
…I initially began washing with raw organic honey a few months back. Because I was suffering from crazy breakouts at the time, I threw caution to the wind and picked up a jar at Whole Foods. Sadly, I never really saw any of the promised benefits, namely clearer skin, so after about a month of halfhearted honey cleansing I gave it up. When my skin started acting up again, I spoke to May Lindstrom and (surprise, surprise) she suggested honey cleansing. Though this was not the advice I was hoping for, I decided to give it one last try – this time with manuka honey.
I am currently using Wedderspoon Gold Organic Raw Manuka 16+ (for these medicinal benefits, be sure to look for 15+ or higher on the jar.) Every morning, I splash my face a few times with water and then slightly pat my skin dry. A little moisture should remain, which helps the honey spread easier. I use a spoon to remove a little from the jar and loosen it up a bit between my fingers and lightly rub over my skin (exactly the same as I would any other type of cleanser) for 2-3 minutes. Manuka honey is not sticky. In fact, it feels like an incredibly luxurious cream cleanser!
If I’m not really wearing any makeup, I cleanse with honey exactly the same way as I do in the morning and call it a night. If I am, I like to pre-cleanse with One Love Organics Vitamin B Active Moisture Cleansing Oil. Some nights when I’m feeling overly ambitious, I use the One Love Organics, dry my skin and then apply a generous layer of honey and leave it on for 20-30 minutes. This works wonders when my skin is red and irritated. However, a word of caution – do not do this every night or you will dry out your skin. I learned that the hard way! Honey cleansing has been wonderful for reducing redness, bumpiness and irritation. It’s incredibly calming and hydrating. More importantly, it speeds the healing of acne! No, it hasn’t stopped my breakouts completely, but it has helped to reduce scarring and shorten the acne’s life cycle.
Now, go follow Megan here!