What Raw Honey Can Do for Your Skin
Green living means living more simply, with fewer chemicals and toxins – protecting ourselves as well as the planet.
One way of doing this is to reduce the amount of chemicals you buy and use.
When it comes to personal care, you can buy organic products, and that’s an excellent step.
But it’s even better if you can avoid commercial products altogether, and use simple, single-ingredient products instead.
- No packaging
- No waste
- No transport
- You know exactly what goes into the product, and thus exactly what’s going onto your skin – your largest organ.
- Greatly reduced cost
We all want clear skin and a glowing complexion – it indicates good health and vitality, and we are attracted to that.
Let’s look at 2 ways to achieve clean, healthy skin: honey, and jojoba oil1.
What Raw Honey Does for your Skin
Raw honey (pure, raw honey with no additives), is
- an antioxidant (it helps prevent signs of aging),
- anti-microbial (it keeps your skin clean), and
- a humectant (it draws and binds water from the air into your skin).
Honey is easily available and reasonably priced.
How to Use Raw Honey on Your Skin
Cleanse your skin with raw honey: (this is laughably simple). Put a drop of honey into the palm of your hand, add a little water, then cleanse your face like you would with any other cleanser. Rinse off with clean water.- Moisturise your skin with a raw honey mask: Wet your face with clean water, then apply a thin layer of honey. Leave it on for 15-30 minutes, and then rinse off with clean water. This is so gentle that you can do it every day if you wish!
What Jojoba Oil Does for your Skin
If you prefer to use jojoba oil instead of honey, great! Here’s what you need to know.
Jojoba is used in many commercial skincare products. It has very similar properties to sebum, which the human body produces naturally for our skin.
If you buy commercial products containing jojoba, always check the ingredients listing for additives – but it’s better to just buy pure jojoba, then you know what you’re getting.
How to Use Jojoba on Your Skin
Use pure jojoba as a cleanser (just use a small amount as you would any other cleanser) and rinse off with clean water.- Use pure jojoba oil daily as a simple moisturizer – in fact, you can use it all over your body, as it is quickly absorbed by the skin and leaves no oily residue. It’s also non-comedogenic (non-clogging) so it’s good for scars, burns and insect bites too.
So Simple!
These are simple, natural and safe skincare options that don’t cost the Earth – perfect!
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1As a general rule, creating your own beauty products couldn’t be safer. However, be aware of allergies. If you have not used a particular ingredient in the past, you may wish to do a skin test to make sure you have no allergic reaction. If you are taking medication or are pregnant, always take extra care, and ask your medical practitioner if you have any concerns.
Clare, I love honey both for my skin and for my health to build my immune system. I am currently in a transition at the moment where I am trying to reduce the amount of honey I use as I am worried about the decline in bees. it’s hard to give up or cut back on a food which I believe is very healthy for me. I wonder if you worry about the increasing number who are using honey or beeswax while the bee population are declining?
Lois, you’re absolutely right about the declining bee population.
And yet, yes, I do promote the use of honey.
Every single thing that we do, has an environmental impact. Take honey as a face cleanser for example. I estimate (because it needs such a small amount daily) that I use about one tiny jar per year of honey for this. The glass jar will be re-used, and it can be recycled an infinite number of times if needed. Trace amounts of honey in our waste and water systems are unlikely to cause major problems.
Compare this to a commercial cleanser, perhaps with microbeads. Cleansers are manufactured and processed, packaged (mostly in plastic), marketed, and used in relatively large quantities. The packaging is unlikely to be recycled by the majority of consumers and so will end up in landfill or as litter. Those microbeads will work their way into our water system, where they are too small to be filtered out. So we, and birds and animals, end up drinking them. They are already causing huge damage to marine life in the Great Lakes as an example.
OK, so we know natural products are better for the environment. But what about natural products that are in decline? Should we still use them?
Well, if I went to any of the huge industrial food corporations – e.g. General Mills, Kellogg’s or Nestle – and advised them to start using huge quantities of honey (not that they’d listen to one little environmentalist, of course!), then that would have a serious impact. The demand for honey would be unbelievably massive.
With bees in decline, I do – probably the same as you – blogs on the topic, I tweet about bees, and sign and spread petitions about the use of neonicotinoids. My garden is organic and bee friendly and when I can, I buy honey from a small local bee keeper.
If people who care about the environment use a little more honey, while still caring for the planet, minimizing their footprint, and working to help bees, then I believe that’s OK.
I’d wondered whether to discuss this in the blog but didn’t want to make it too long, so thanks so much for commenting Lois!