Honey honey

Over the last few weeks I have been noticing that my skin has really not been happy. I am having a minor bought with 'adult' acne and dry skin (sounds pretty right?). I decided to attack my skin issues with a bit of honey!

Honey is great for the skin. It moisturizes, it exfoliates (natural enzymes) and it is anti-microbial. The best part is that is does all these great things but is super gentle. I like to add herbs to my honey for the added benefits (and the scent!). Lavender is always a good choice because of its wonderful scent and ability to heal, soothe and calm redness (its better for acne than Tea Tree). Other great herbs/plants to add would be dried powdered Lemon or Orange peel (vitamin c, exfoliant), Rose Hips (antioxidants), Chamomile (soothing), Calendula (very healing for skin) - you can actually even eat these if you really wanted to!

I mixed up a batch of Herbal Honey mask. It has been macerating for a few weeks so it smells absolutely divine!!! I applied last night and although I am not completely free and clear of skin issues but my skin looks and feels a whole lot better than it did.

Herbal Honey Mask
1 tbsp finely ground dried lavender flowers
1 tbsp finely ground dried chamomile flowers
2 1/2 tbsp local honey

I used a coffee grinder to grind my herbs, so the particles weren't as small as I would have wanted but it works. Mix ingredients together and store in a clean glass jar. I let my mixture sit for about 2 weeks before I used it but it can be used immediately (no need to refridgerate).

I also like to use Honey as part of my daily cleansing routine (I actually ran out a couple of weeks ago...maybe that is why my skin has been looking so crap).

My Honey Cleanser recipe is super simple (for those who like soap here is another recipe from Supernatural Botanicals blog).

1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Hydrosol (I used Rosemary - other good options are Lavender and Rose)

I actually made this hydrosol (that will be another post)

Mix honey and hydrosol together with a whisk until completely incorporated (will be a bit watery) then put into a clean glass container.

Ta-da--- you now have a gentle cleanser!

Small batches work best - honey is anti-microbial and wont spoil, hydrosols are pretty stable but can be negatively effected by temperature changes (i.e. steamy bathrooms). My cleanser lasted about a month and was totally fine. I like to use this cleanser in the morning and another cleanser at night to get off makeup.

Let me know how these work for you and have fun whipping up your own honey skin treats!