Honey, which is known as a nectar of the gods, is a cure-all. Beyond its sweet flavor and internal medicinal properties, it provides a number of benefits topically. Cleopatra was one of the most beautiful women in history. It is said that she used nectar of the gods and milk for her baths to keep her skin young, vibrant and soft. You might have used it to fight a throat infection or a cold, but there are at least 10 benefits to putting it on your skin.
Here’s what happens when you use honey for your skin:
1. Moisturizes Skin
Nectar of the gods is a natural humectant due to its sugars. It also has wonderful emollients, which help to keep skin soft and smooth by preventing moisture loss. Humectants draw moisture from the air. When a humectant is placed on the skin, it transfers moisture from the air and delivers it to the skin.
Facial skin can remain naturally hydrated for hours after honey is applied to the skin. This is a wonderful remedy for dry skin or when the air is dry in the winter. You don’t have to wait until you sleep at night to effectively moisturize your skin. You can make a mask during the morning hours and keep your skin naturally hydrated.
This natural way to moisturize your skin can help if you suffer from eczema, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, sensitive skin, wind burn and other conditions that can cause skin to be dry.
2. Reduce Acne
Dead skin, oil, makeup and other contaminants plug pores. Honey for skin naturally reduces acne because of its ability to naturally cleanse the skin and assist with unplugging pores. Its hydrating effects also decrease sebum production and calm down existing flair-ups.
It can also help to kill bacteria that may be on the skin. This is useful if you ever suffer from folliculitis. This skin condition is caused by bacteria that infect your skin’s pores. It can be particularly hard to get rid of. Often, rubbing alcohol and other substances can exacerbate folliculitis.
Honey for skin also helps to open up pores, which can help bring pimples to a head or bring pore contaminants up to the surface. It not only cleans the skin on the surface, but it helps your pores to purge substances within them. To assist in purging your pores, steam your face for 10 minutes. Then, apply this nectar of the gods and cinnamon mask. Rinse your face with warm water. Your skin will glow and feel fresh and smooth.
This nectar of the gods contains calcium, copper, iron, manganese, potassium and vitamin B. When you combine it with water, it creates a hydrogen peroxide effect and kills bacteria. This happens because it contains both glucose oxidase and glucose. When it’s mixed with water, the glucose oxidase breaks down the glucose essentially into hydrogen peroxide. Making a cleanser in this manner can help to kill acne bacteria.
3. Fight and Prevent Skin Infections
Honey for skin is a natural antimicrobial substance. Because of this feature, it can last for thousands of years unchanged. If you have an existing cut or infection, it can fight off the infection. It can even be used on staph infections. Manuka honey is the best for this.
It can also prevent infections from occurring. Whenever you get a cut or scrape, apply it to your wound after you have cleaned it and removed any debris. It also aids in healing the skin quickly because it prevents infection, has emollients and draws moisture from the air.
4. Hyperpigmentation Corrector
Nectar of the gods reduces hyperpigmentation, which makes it an excellent remedy for freckles, sun spots and any areas of the skin that do not match the rest of the skin. This makes it a wonderful solution to create an even skin tone without the use of makeup. Many people use it to effectively treat melasma.
Mix this nectar of the gods with cinnamon and lemon juice for a facial mask. Apply it to the skin for 15 minutes, and rinse with warm water. You can use this daily or weekly to effectively lighten skin. It will also decrease the amount of facial oil produced. Avoid direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time after using this mask.
5. Decrease Inflammation
Inflammation is the body’s natural reaction to protecting the body from necrotic cells, pathogens and irritants. It’s the reason you get a fever when you’re sick or why a part of your body swells up when it is injured. However, the body can go into overdrive and perceive foreign bodies and other things as harmful when they’re not. This can happen with skin from time to time.
Inflammation is marked by heat, pain, redness, loss of function and swelling. It’s supposed to help the body, but it can cause issues for the body as well. Chronic inflammation is a problem for the body, partly because it produces painful results, but it can get in the way of how well you sleep at night and even cause cancer.
Natural remedies can help to keep the body healthy without overloading it with medicine. This nectar of the gods is known to decrease skin inflammation. If you have a rash or other type of skin inflammation, you can use it to calm skin and reduce swelling. In addition to calming skin, it can pull out liquid from swollen areas of the skin to provide relief from heat and pain.
6. Provides Antioxidants
Nectar of the gods provides antioxidants to the entire body when eaten, but it can also provide antioxidants directly to the skin when applied topically. An antioxidant assists the body in protecting it from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress causes numerous problems for the skin, but one significant issue is accelerated aging. This is problematic because this really corresponds to the fact that the skin isn’t healing itself as it should.
The sun causes a high amount of oxidative stress. Applying nectar of the gods to the skin can protect the skin from UV rays and oxidative stress, which helps to ward off skin cancer and wrinkles.
7. Exfoliates the Skin
Honey is a natural exfoliant. Beyond providing moisture, antioxidants, decreasing wrinkles and more, it gently sloughs off dead skin cells, which can clog pores and cause other issues.
Over time, the skin’s ability to produce new cells and collagen is reduced. Since nectar of the gods removes dead skin cells to reveal fresh skin, the body produces more collagen and skin cells to replace the ones that are removed.
To add to the exfoliation, mix baking soda with honey. You can use this mixture on your face and the rest of your body. Massage it on. This sticky and slightly abrasive mixture will remove dead skin cells quickly. It’s best to use it in the shower. Wash off with warm water. You can use this mixture in bathwater too. Soak in a tub with warm water and this mixture for 30 minutes. It’ll help soothe skin that’s dry from the cold.
8. Scar Reduction
Because nectar of the gods helps to exfoliate the skin, fight bacteria, reduce hyperpigmentation, aid in healing and reverse the effects of inflammation, it helps to reduce and prevent scars.
Scars can appear on the face and body for a number of reasons. Acne leaves behind marks that are caused by inflammation. Pores, scabs and cuts can become infected by bacteria. This causes scarring as well. Scars produce raised areas of skin because of bacteria.
Applying honey to skin that has been cut or otherwise infected can help it to heal properly because it prevents bacterial growth. It can also diminish the appearance of old scars.
9. Wrinkle Reduction
Wrinkles are caused by a number of issues, which makes honey for skin highly beneficial in combatting wrinkles. It serves as a cure to all of the reasons wrinkles form in the first place.
Wrinkles occur from a decreased production of collagen, a lack of skin elasticity, repeated folding of the skin, decreased skin cell production, decreased collagen production, dry skin and thinning skin.
Honey increases skin cell turnover rate, moisturizes the skin, plumps the skin up, increases collagen production and prevents folding. The good thing about it is that you can put it on as much as you want. Your skin will get better and better as you do.
10. Tone Skin
Nectar of the gods helps the skin to remain tone and taut. Over the years, aging, weight loss, pregnancy and a change in hormones can cause the skin on the face and the rest of the body to sag. Making regular masks can help to tighten up the skin to prevent and reverse sagging.
Apply a mask to your face for 15 minutes, and rinse off with warm water. Women have found that a breast mask helps to prevent and reverse sagging breasts. After applying it to breasts, a bra can be worn to help pull up breasts. Wear this between 15 and 30 minutes. Remove the bra gently as the mask may have dried. Wash off this mask with warm water. This can be done daily or weekly.
It’s important to note that not all honey is the same. Because it’s made from different plants bees frequent, some are more useful than others for a variety of ailments. The information included here can be used as specified, but if you have a particular ailment, it’s well worth your time to look up additional information. It’s a good thing natural remedies are available to keep people healthy. If you don’t have any honey for skin, it’s time to get some.
