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🍯 5 Benefits of Using DIY Raw Honey Skincare
Raw Honey Skincare
Raw honey is the perfect skincare product for healthy, beautiful skin and a more balanced skin microbiome (the garden of bacteria and microbes that call your skin home).
Don't worry, you don't need to use raw honey as an ingredient to mix up your own elaborate skincare. Raw honey is the finished product, those hardworking bees have done all the formulating and manufacturing for you. It's ready for your skin straight from the jar!
Not only does raw honey have direct skin beautifying properties, its texture and stickiness also make it ideal as a gentle exfoliant that can be used by all skin types, including very sensitive skin.
The sticky properties of raw honey can also be used to do your own lymphatic drainage facial at home.
Incorporating raw honey into your skincare ritual is easy and the benefits to your skin are well worth the effort.
In this article, I’ll share the benefits of using simple raw honey as a skin treatment at home. You’ll learn the benefits of raw honey for skin care and how to use raw honey in a lymphatic drainage massage.
The following topics are covered:
- Skin pH – honey is the perfect pH for healthy skin
- Skin microbiome – raw honey contains compounds that help to bring your skin microbiome back into balance
- Exfoliation using raw honey – the ideal deep exfoliant that is safe for sensitive skin
- Raw honey lymphatic drainage facial
- Pimple treatment using raw honey
- The best raw honey for skincare
Skin pH
Raw honey is pH balancing for optimal skin health. Healthy skin has an acidic pH of around 4.7. Raw honey has an average pH of 3.9 – slightly more acidic than skin. Most skincare products that claim to have a balanced pH are around 5.5. Most soaps and cleanser tend to be alkaline (above 7).
If your skin’s ‘acid mantle’ is knocked out of balance by overly alkaline skincare (or pollution) it leaves your skin vulnerable to irritation. Your skins barrier is slightly acidic which ensures moisture is kept in and bacteria are kept out. Alkaline skin is flaky, red and dry.
Skin Microbiome
Raw honey helps to balance the skin microbiome. Use daily, or, at least several times per week to improve the microbial balance of your skin for the long term.
Raw honey is concentrated flower nectar. The special properties of raw honey differ slightly based on the type of flower nectar available to the bees. Most raw honeys have a degree of antimicrobial action, helping to gently prune excess microbes to maintain a healthy balance.
Exfoliation
The sticky nature of honey captures dead surface skin cells and gently removes them. Raw honey effectively exfoliates skin without irritation making it suitable for very sensitive skin.
Removing this top layer of dead skin assists your skin to look naturally more radiant. It also helps your skin absorb moisturisers and skin actives like vitamin C more effectively.
Many of the microbes that dominate a dysregulated skin microbiome feed on dead skin cells and skin oils, so regular exfoliation is important in helping to keep your skin and microbiome in a healthier, more balanced state.
Lymphatic drainage
Your lymphatic system is the fluid that sits between your skin and your muscles. Your lymph fluid picks up cellular waste (cellular poop) and returns it to your liver for processing via lymph nodes. Unlike your blood which has the heart to pump it around your body, your lymphatic system does not have a pump and relies on muscular contractions to move lymphatic fluid.
The sticky nature of honey makes it easy to perform a simple lymphatic drainage facial at home any time you need it.
You can watch this video on how to use raw honey in a lymphatic drainage facial treatment at home.
Rhythm and repetition are key for lymphatic drainage to be effective. Use a gentle pressure in a pulsing or tapping motion. Move your fingers as though you are pumping or pushing. Rhythmical repetition is also important – repeat each gentle movement 20 times.
If you are extra sensitive or have a chronic health condition like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue start with just 5 repetitions and slowly increase over a few months.
Patience and consistency are required for best results but you’ll feel and see the difference after your first lymphatic facial.
Using raw honey in a lymphatic facial isn’t just good for your skin, it’s also helpful for:
- Sinus sufferers
- Congestion
- Puffiness
- Blocked ears
Finally, remember to breathe deeply using your diaphragm while doing your raw honey lymphatic drainage facial. Deep diaphragmatic breathing also pumps and moves the lymphatic fluid around your whole body.
Spot treatment
Pop a small amount of raw honey on pimple or blemish and leave on overnight. The high sugar content of the honey will draw out the pimple while the antimicrobial properties have time to deal with the bacterial imbalance that created the pimple.
Cover your pillow case with a tea towel or hand towel to keep your pillow clean.
Which raw honey is best to use?
Australia has a growing community of small, local and ethical beekeepers. Please support their efforts, you’ll also be helping to support beneficial pollinators in your local area at the same time. No matter where you live in Australia, you’ll find raw, local honey close to home if you look around. Start with local fruit & vege shops or growers/farmers markets. Using raw, local honey may also provide additional benefit to anyone with hayfever and other similar allergies.
Raw honey is the ultimate skincare hero for anyone wanting natural, low tox and effective home remedies for healthy and beautiful skin.
Sarah Luck
Sarah has been in private practice as a naturopath and nutritionist for the last 20+ years. She has worked alongside both integrative doctors and holistic beauty therapists. Her unique approach to caring for your body’s largest organ, your skin, is reflected in the beautiful, safe and simple skincare products she formulates for Nubeean Noosa’s, Healthy Skin[care] range. “When you start treating your skin like a garden instead of bricks and mortar, all of a sudden it starts making sense”.
Honey Probiotic Cleanser
A blend of raw paperbark honey from our own healthy bee hives in the Noosa Hinterland mixed with probiotic extracts from radish root & coconut, organic plant glycerin and plant squalane. Just 5 ingredients for healthier looking skin. A daily skin balancing cleanser and exfoliant.
Free from all fragrances including essential oils. Emulsifier free and naturally free from all toxic ingredients including phthalates, parabens etc. Free from palm oil derived ingredients. Beautiful, simple and safe.