Almost everyone has heard of the Oil Cleansing Method but have you heard of the Honey Cleansing Method? No, I didn’t just make that up! Raw honey is hugely beneficial for our skin. It’s not just meant for internal health! I wrote THIS post a while ago about the benefits of Manuka Honey and have since been using it to cleanse my skin in the morning! Quite honestly, I’m turning away from conventional cleansers. They so often tend to strip our skin of what it needs to thrive. The more I delve into pH and how it effects our skin, the more I realize how we can be doing everything right by our skin, but if we are using a cleanser that is too harsh, it all goes down the toilet.
I’ve been a huge advocate for Oil Cleansing. I do this every night. I even offer a Oil Cleanser in my Etsy shop which I personally use and feel it has enhanced my skin greatly. In the morning I knew I needed something to refresh and cleanse my skin but again, cleansers just seemed to leave me tight and dry. I started using a DIY cleanser but because it contains castile soap (super high pH) I ended up having to add citric acid to bring the pH down. I also had to add a preservative because it contains water. It dawned on me that cleansers just aren’t the best option.
Cleansing with honey feels like a way to truly nurture my skin. It leaves my skin feeling just as clean as a cleanser would but without the tight, dry feeling. I can’t explain it but my skin just feels happy. It feels clear and glowy afterwards! Honey Cleansing is such an important part to my skin care regime.
How Skin Benefits from Honey:
Honey is antibacterial and anti microbial making it a very efficient cleanser. It is also very effective in calming inflammation-this can be so helpful first thing in the morning. Who wants to wake up and immediately annoy your skin? Not me! Honey is also very healing and encourages healthy skin on a cellular level, encouraging old skin to slough off and new skin to glow! As you can tell, honey is excellent for every skin type. It’s also extremely gentle and can calm irritation-very helpful for sensitive skin types. Honey also contains enzymes and probiotics-both very beneficial for the skin!
How to Honey Cleanse:
It’s really so simple!
- Scoop up about 1 tsp. of honey into the palm of your hand.
- Add a few drops of water to help the honey become more spreadable.
- Using upward motions, massage your skin for as much time as you have. Sometimes I’m in a hurry and it’s only a minute, other times I get 5 minutes. The longer the better!
- Always rinse with cool-cold water. This helps “wake up” skin as well as reduce puffiness and tighten pores.
- Follow up with a toner and moisturizer.
Be sure to thoroughly remove the honey from your hair line and neck. It’s so annoying to find you’re sticky later on in the day!
Honey will not remove makeup. This is why I hardly ever honey cleanse in the evenings. You can always use an oil like coconut oil to remove makeup and then honey cleanse once your makeup has been removed with the oil and a warm cloth.
Where to Find the BEST Honey for Cleansing:
The absolute best honey for cleansing is Manuka Honey. I use THIS brand. The next best thing is RAW honey. I use THIS and have used THIS brand. You want your honey to have the least processing possible. The more heat used to filter the honey, the less benefits for your body and skin. If you’re buying that little plastic bear, be aware it’s been processed to smithereens and no longer contains the good stuff! Always look for “un-filtered”, “un-pasterized” or “raw”. Not “all-natural”-any company could boast their honey is “natural” because technically honey is natural.
Honey cleansing is definitely something I recommend everyone try. You’ll be shocked at how easy it is. It requires much less time and effort then the oil cleansing method and leaves your skin feeling truly clean. Since I’ve been honey cleansing, my skin is smoother and no where near as red. In fact, between my new DIY hyaluronic acid serum and honey cleansing, my skin doesn’t even need foundation! VICTORY!
xx, Jenni
I’ve been using raw honey for over a year now and LOVE it! I oil cleanse at night. In the am I wipe my face with a warm washcloth, then apply honey. I let it sit while I brush my teeth and dry brush my body. Rinse on shower. Definitely feel it has brightened my skin. Thanks for all your great info Jenni!
Elizabeth-You’re welcome! That’s a great way to do it with the oil cleansing!
I definitely would LOVE to try your Honey Cleanser! I stumbled across honey a couple years ago as a healing product for a fairly bad burn on a friend. She had accidently poured scalding hot water from the tea kettle on her arm. Didn’t want the ER, so I looked in my cabinets for a natural remedy. I took a few chamomile tea bags, poured some hot water on them, and put in the freezer just to chill, (saving the tea in the refrigerator to add a cool liquid later). Something said to add honey in this mixture. I took some gauze & gently wrapped my concoction around her arm, taping where I could to make it stay. She picked up her head and said; what did you do, it feels so much good? Told her etc..etc.. I think at some point we both thought it was more the honey than the tea. I burned myself a week later, but not that bad. I decided just to put honey on it & it took the away the burn feeling. I live in Florida & have Aloe plants everywhere! It doesn’t compare to the honey!
Laura-Honey rocks!! Thanks for sharing! Mixing aloe and honey is a good idea!!??
Ok this is going to be really weird but I need to ask someone this question. So I have been trying honey cleansing off and on recently because everybody says that your skin is suppose to be moist and supple and glow and feel soft after you do it….but after I do it my skin feels dry and it kinda looks dry I know I am not allergic to it.I eat it and when I put it on my skin it feels good and I don’t get itchy or breakour in hives, in fact it calms down my breakouts, the only problem im having is
my face feels very dry after I use it and most people say it shouldn’t feel that way. Any suggestions?
Amanda-So So So sorry to respond so late to this. How is your progress? I’ve never heard of honey irritating the skin. Your skin could be sensitive to it-we are all so unique. I honestly don’t think honey is that moisturizing so if you’re looking for moisture you might switch to the oil cleansing method. Hope this helps.
Aftwr doing tons of research I’m soo happy I found your blog 🙂 What do you think about adding organic lemon juice (made by you of course) to the honey? I started to use (before discovering your blog) the Nature Nate’s raw & unfiltered honey, so far so AWESOME. What do you thing about this honey vs the one you said was best?
Jesica-I’m so glad!! I’m on the fence about lemon-I think it’s great from time to time but it might be to much daily. Plus, it would burn your eyes if you accidentally got some in. I love using lemon with a sugar scrub-talk about extra softness! I’ve not used Nature Nate’s. I just love honey on every level so I would bet it’s great too!