People do not need to shell out big bucks for beauty products, especially since some of the best beauty products can already be found at the kitchen shelves.
For facial wash, honey is actually a surprising alternative. “Honey is the oldest skin-care ingredient and has been used extensively for both medical and skin-care purposes,” Neil Sadick, MD, the founder of Sadick Dermatology in New York, told Well and Good.
People who have skin issues will definitely benefit from a honey facial wash because it can help soothe skin ailments. “It has antibacterial properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and it nurtures the skin. Honey’s particularly suitable for sensitive skin,” said Sadick.
Some people might harbour doubts on honey’s effectiveness as a skin cleaner. But Carla Marina Marchese, the founder and beekeeper of Red Bee Honey, said the thick, sweet product is a good salve for breakouts. It even has strong antibacterial properties that fight acne.
“Honey has a very low pH, so a lot of bacterias cannot survive in honey,” she said. “It’s about a 3.5 on average on the pH scale, and a lot of bacteria needs to thrive in closer to a 7 on the scale.”
But that’s not all honey does for the skin. It’s quite moisturising as well, and can be used by people with chapped noses or super red and dry flaky patches.
“Honey is moisture-grabbing because it’s a super-saturated solution, meaning the bees mix a lot of sugars into a little bit of water,” said Marchese. “So it’s always trying to grab water from the air to balance out the sugar. This is why people use it for baked goods — it keeps them moist for longer.”
However, Marchese warned that people shouldn’t just rush out to the grocery store and purchase whatever honey bottle they can lay their hands on. People should stick to raw honey that can be bought from the local farmer’s market, or manuka honey, which costs more than the regular honey.
“You need to use the best quality honey that you can get,” Marchese said.
