Slathering honey onto your face might sound a little wacky, but it might be just what your skin needs. As someone with sensitive and acne prone skin I've spent a lot of time wandering the aisles of Target and picking up whatever sounds most promising. This has led to a pileup of products that don't work well for me and are harmful to the planet. These past few years, however, I've decided to focus on simplifying my skin care routine and using only products that work really well. This saves me time and money while helping to reduce plastic and harmful ingredients.
My current routine includes Cetaphil daily facial cleanser, acne prone moisturizer, and a salicylic acid spot treatment. They all are easily accessible and inexpensive but aren't sustainable in any way.
In a conversation with a vegan and zero waste friend, she mentioned her new routine washing her face solely with manuka honey. She scoops about a teaspoon of honey into her hands and rubs it onto a wet face. Manuka honey has tremendous benefits and when you hear about washing your face with honey it is (undoubtedly) manuka honey. I did a lot of research into benefits and monetary costs of honey and made the choice not to use Manuka honey. The issue I had is that it is very expensive and so I went down another path, looking for a less expensive dark honey.
I stopped by the UCLA’s farmer’s market and picked up a jar of raw, unfiltered Avocado honey from our local vendor Nedra at Don Pilis Apiaries. I chose Avocado Honey because it is a very dark honey and dark honeys have more benefits and more antioxidants. This honey in particular is locally sourced and packaged in a glass jar.
To test this honey I washed exclusively with it for two weeks. Once a day I scooped about a teaspoon of honey onto my fingers and applied it onto my wet face. I left it on between 10 minutes and two hours while studying or cleaning. It is definitely sticky so tying hair back is a must!
The Verdict:
I loved this routine! It's such a low cost DIY and took literally no time to make. I required zero moisturizer with the honey face wash, didn't have any adverse reactions to it, and was left smelling great! Avocado honey left my sensitive skin happy, balanced, moisturized, and soft. I don't think I'll incorporate this into my routine as my everyday face wash, but I will start to use this as a calming and moisturizing face mask. For some variety I'll mix in avocado, oats, or lemon.
This blog is written by Emily Davis, co-chair for E3's Zero Waste Campaign
