Using a honey mask can easily do wonders for the many men and women who continue to have skin problems despite using natural, chemical or homeopathic treatments. Beauty treatments like honey facial masks have long been popular but these solutions could get relatively expensive especially in name brand beauty centers. Here are some tips on how to use honey as a facial mask.
Benefits of Using Honey
Honey is one of Mother Nature's panaceas for skin ailments. It has three brilliant characteristics that make it so. First, honey is a natural source of antioxidants. This means that it has properties that help eliminate the harmful free radicals in the skin. These free radicals upset the chemical balance of the skin causing rapid aging. Studies also show that darker colored honey contains higher concentrations of these antioxidants, thus making it an organic anti-aging treatment.
Second, using honey is a natural anti-microbial. It has the ability to fight off pathogens without causing damage to the skin. Most cases of severe acne are caused by bacteria. The strains of microbes have grown more and more resistant to conventional chemical cures. Rather than ramping up dosages of anti-bacterial ingredients, it is a better idea to use honey as a facial mask to kill these harmful microbes.
Finally, honey is a natural humectant. Simply put, honey has the ability to naturally absorb moisture from the air and lock it in. Many cosmetic treatments resort to the use of petroleum aggregates to moisturize skin. Honey, on the other hand, can do this naturally and later on transfer this trapped moisture to the skin. Honey results to skin with a natural glow and helps fight off the signs of skin aging.
Using Honey as a Facial Mask
Honey is very sticky and this adhesive property makes it an excellent base and binder when making facial masks. On its own, it peels away old skin cells and dust that has seeped deep into pores. It is an excellent deep cleansing and exfoliating treatment.
Combine a few tablespoons of honey with two apples in a mixer to form a paste. Apply this mask on your face and leave on for an hour, then rinse with lukewarm water. This treatment not only relaxes your face but with the grains of apple acting as a gentle scrub, it can exfoliate and remove old skin cells to reveal a younger, new you. Plus, the double concentrations of antioxidants in honey and apples result in tauter, suppler skin.
The milk and honey tandem has also been well documented in history as used by the ancient Egyptians, particularly Cleopatra whose claim to fame was her legendary beauty. Combine a few tablespoons of honey and full cream milk to make a facial mask. For those with acne problems, add the juice of half a lemon for added anti-bacterial effects. Keep the mixture in the refrigerator for at least half an hour and then apply on your skin and neck and wait for it to dry up. Layer this balm two or three more times. Rinse with lukewarm water. For best results, use this honey mask two to three times a week.
Using honey as part of a beauty regimen has long been the secret of queens, aristocrats, theater actresses and celebrities across the world. When combined with other organic ingredients, honey as a facial mask is a healthy, natural and inexpensive way to achieve skin that looks young and feels young.
