Honey benefits for skin you need to know about!
14 Honey benefits for skin you need to know about!
Did you know honey is fantastic for your skin? We all use honey from time to time. We use it as a substitute for sugar when baking, as a sweetener in tea, and as a remedy against sore throat.
But you can do so much more with honey! It is great for the skin and can deliver amazing results. Honey is full of antioxidants, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, substances with antibacterial properties, and many other nutrients.
Honey has been used for thousands of years, because of its healing properties. Because of its antibacterial effects and other healing properties, honey can even help treat wounds or burned skin.
You know what? Not only your grandma, but also modern science recognises the health and beauty benefits of honey. This article covers 14 honey benefits for skin you must know about.
Honey is loaded with healthy ingredients!
Honey helps bees get through the long winter months. Therefore it is full of good nutrients to help them stay heathy and strong. Honey contains many healthy ingredients, such as:
Enzymes
Minerals
Inhibin
B-vitamins
Trace elements
Organic acids
Pollen
Nectar
The proteins in honey can support the regenerative capacity of the skin and the B-vitamins strengthen the skin cells. Honey contains all kinds of other such as minerals and trace elements, and organic acids, which can help improve your skin. The pollen pollen and nectar can have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Honey has a healing effect both internally and externally. Honey that is rich in enzymes has a purifying, antibacterial and disinfecting effect on your skin. This is why honey is an extremely popular in all kinds of skincare products.
14 Honey benefits for skin you must know about:
Honey – ambrosia for your skin. Honey is a natural and clean product with many health benefits. We have used it for centuries to treat various health problems.
Here are the top 14 honey benefits for skin you need to know about:
1. Speeds up wound healing
There is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence that shows how honey can help speed up wound healing. Honey helps the healing of wounds in multiple ways and does not only speed it up, but also helps against scar formation, promotes the formation of new skin, and helps with collagen production to name a few. [1]
2. Effective against acne
If you have acne you will be very happy to hear that honey is an excellent treatment for it. Because of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, honey is very effective against the formation of whiteheads. Honey can help eliminate the bacteria that causes acne in the first place and because of its anti-inflammatory effects it also reduces the redness on the skin.
It is natural and super easy to use. And the best part is, unlike many products against acne, honey does not dry out your skin. In fact, it keeps your skin nice and hydrated.
3. Helps against ageing of the skin
Honey is full of antioxidants. These include different kinds of flavonoids, monophenolics, polyphenolics, and vitamin C. And to make things even better, some of the antioxidants in honey are lipophilic, while others dissolve better in water. [2] This allows them to work at different levels on your skin and skin cells.
Antioxidants are famous for being able to reduce the oxidative stress that causes ageing of the skin. If you are looking for honey with antioxidants, keep in mind that darker colour honey that has a higher water content often has more antioxidants. [2]
4. Improves micro circulation
There is scientific evidence that honey increases the end products of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is effective in several ways. One of the things is does to improve the blood flow in the skin. [1] Poor blood circulation can cause dry skin.
Having good circulation in the skin is very important, because it helps your body to deliver nutrients to your blood cells. A good circulation is also important in order to make sure toxins don’t start to build up, because this can cause all kinds of problems including inflammation.
5. Gently exfoliates the skin
The natural acids and sugars in honey can help to gently exfoliate and peel the skin. This gives an opportunity to many other beneficial ingredients to be absorbed more easily. [6] This usually does not cause irritation.
6. Reduces inflammation
One of the things honey can do is to lower prostaglandin levels. Prostaglandin plays a major role in inflammation and reducing their levels helps manage it. On the other side, nitric oxide, also mentioned above, can reduce inflammation even further.
In addition to that, honey can also kill bacteria that are causing inflammation and other problems. So honey really works on several different levels to calm your skin and reduce the inflammation. [3]
7. High bioavailability
The trace elements found in honey, such as copper, manganese, zinc, calcium, and iron have a very high bioavailability of about 80-90%.
8. Increases the skin’s hydration
Honey is rich in humectants which to help attract water and hydrate your skin. This is very effective for treating dry skin, making it feel soft, as well as strengthening the barrier function of the skin.
In contrast to occlusives, which hydrate the skin by making a barrier and trapping the moisture in, humectants tend to attract moisture. While occlusives can often feel heavy, humectants feel very light an leave the skin feeling soft, healthy and refreshed.
9. Helps treat burns
Honey can be very effective in the treatment of burns. Numerous scientific studies support that claim. It appears that honey helps with the regeneration of the outer layers of burned skin. The antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of honey also contributed to this in a good way. [1]
In most studies hat investigate the effect of honey on burns, honey is applied on the wound and then covered with sterile gauze. [1] Important to note is that most of these studies used honey that was specially intended for medical purposes, explained below in more detail.
10. Strong antibacterial activity
Honey has many antibacterial properties. It can even be effective against some antibiotic-resistant bacteria. [6]
There are several different ways in which honey helps fight bacteria:
The sugar in honey attracts water molecules. So if the honey is not too diluted, for example because of liquid from the wound, it can dehydrate and kill bacteria.
Some of the enzymes in honey produce hydrogen peroxide. This acid helps kill harmful bacteria. The high levels of antioxidants in honey help protect the wounds against any oxidative stress from the acid. [1]
There may be also other ways in which honey fights bacteria, that are not discovered yet. [5]
11. Helps against scars
Numerous studies have shown that honey is very effective against the formation of scars. [1] There are several different ways in which honey manages to do this. It helps with the production of collagen and also with connecting the different collagen proteins together.
In addition to that, it is also effective against bacteria and inflammation, which often make the healing of wounds and the formation of scars worse.
12. Regulates the pH of the skin
Chronic wounds and inflamed skin can often have a high pH. Naturally occurring acids in honey can help lower that and balance the acidity of the skin. One of the acids in honey, hydrogen peroxide, also helps with wound contraction. [1]
13. Effective against dandruff
Dandruff is often caused by a dry skin or a fungal infection. Honey can help against both and in addition to that hydrate your hair and make it nice and shiny.
Lysozyme and a few other components in honey are responsible for its effect against fungal infections. [7]
14. Helps replace damaged skin
The enzymes found in honey can help replace damaged skin tissue with new. Honey helps remove dead tissue painlessly without damaging the healthy new growing cells.
The amino acids, vitamins and other trace elements in honey help cell growth and the formation of new healthy skin. [6]
These are the honey benefits for skin you have to know about. But there is so much more to know about honey…
Does honey have anti-viral properties?
Honey could even be effective against some viruses, although the scientific evidence we have right now is not enough to say that with confidence. There is evidence that medicinal honey might be helpful for herpes patients though. According to the studies, it can help alleviate some of the symptoms. [4]
Not all honey is suitable for skin repair and wound healing
Not every type of honey has the same benefits for your skin. For best results, you need honey with a high enzyme content. Also the enzyme activity is important.
The honey you find in the supermarket is often pasteurised, in order to keep it liquid for as long as possible. This involves heating the honey to a temperature of about 74 °C (165 °F). Because of this heating, the enzymes and many other healthy components in the honey are destroyed.
When you are looking for honey for your skincare, it is best to look for raw honey. This honey is just minimally processed and often contains bee pollen and other small particles.
Raw honey typically crystallises quite fast, which reduces the activity of the enzymes in it. But these enzymes can be reactivated again, if you dilute the honey with a bit of water.
By far the best honey for use on the skin, is the one specially intended for medical purposes. This honey is sterilised by gamma-irradiation and laboratory tested. Even though this honey is sterilised, it does not have an impact on its antibacterial activity. [4]
The dangers of honey
Even though honey can be extremely healthy for most people, it is not for everyone. For example children under the age of one should not eat it. Also people who are allergic to pollen may want to stay away from the bee pollen, often found in raw honey. People with an allergy to bee venom or celery should also stay away from it.
Using honey on your skin
Honey can help soothe skin problems, but it can also work great as a skincare product because of its abilities to regenerate the skin. [6] Because of its antibacterial and disinfecting effects, honey can work well as a final step of face cleansing. It can be especially effective for people with dry skin.
After using honey on your skin, it feels clean, fresh, hydrated, and soft. Honey can also be effective for dry lips and chapped corners of the mouth.
Honey for your body
Your whole body can benefit from the effects of honey. Honey can make the well-known dry spots on knees and elbows become nice and soft again. Also honey can help calm red and irritated skin.
Honey can be used as a scrub, a body lotion, and deodorant. Due to its antibacterial effect, it can reduce the unpleasant odours caused by bacteria.
Do you have a problem with sweaty feet? The antibacterial effects of honey can help reduce the unpleasant odours caused by the bacteria on your feet. So why not give it a try?
How to use honey on your skin
Face mask
Prepare yourself a clean, super hydrating, and easy face mask with honey! Massage the honey into your skin and leave it for about 15 minutes. Then gently rinse off and enjoy a smooth and hydrated skin.
Face or body scrub
You can easily make your own clean scrub with honey. Feel free to experiment with the ingredients. For a gentle face scrub, you can add almond meal to a teaspoon of honey and apply as usual.
For another easy recipe, you can mix a teaspoon of honey with a little bit of cinnamon. It is excellent for exfoliation of the body as well as for improving circulation. But be careful with this, because the cinnamon can definitely irritate some people’s skin. Do not use it on sensitive skin or any sensitive areas.
Honey benefits for skin: Summary
Honey comes in many shapes and sizes. The honey in the supermarket is usually not suitable for the skin, because it has been heated too much. If you want to use it for your skin, make sure you buy either raw honey or honey that has been approved for medical use.
If you want to use it to dress wound or for other medical purposes, keep in mind that only the medical honey is safe for that. Anyway it is best to talk to your doctor before you use honey for medicinal purposes.
You can use honey for all kinds of skin problems or just for skin care. It has many benefits for the skin, including hydration, wound healing, improved circulation, less inflammation, and antibacterial effects. In addition to that, your skin feels nice, soft and clean after using honey.
Honey has many uses. It can be used as a face mask, in a DIY scrub, and it also works well as a lip balm, especially if you suffer from dry lips or chapped corners of the mouth.