I have always had fairly good skin, with an occasional break out, but never have I suffered from full on acne.
Until I spent six months living and working in remote Sulawesi, Indonesia and my skin started to go crazy.
I don’t know if it was the humidity, or the amount of MSG that was being put into all of the food there and was unavoidable, but something became completely unbalanced in my skin.
It culminated in me waking up one morning to find cystic acne had popped up, literally overnight, from my jaw line all down my neck.
Not only was it sore and inflamed but it was horrible looking and for the first time in my life I had developed Adult Cystic Acne.
As a natural living eco girl I didn’t want to put any harsh chemicals onto my skin in an attempt to clear up the acne, so I kept washing my face with my natural face wash and tried to stay indoors in the air conditioning but nothing seemed to be working.
I then returned home after finishing my work assignment hoping that it would magically disappear.
Being home in Australia again I was able to completely avoid MSG or any pre packaged and processed foods and instead go back to a normal diet packed full of leafy greens, veggies, fruits, nuts and whole grains.
I had envisioned that the acne would go away as instantly as it appeared.
Not so unfortunately.
One month later and although my skin started to improve a little bit and the acne had disappeared entirely from one side of my neck, the other side was still red, sore and inflamed.
One night I was online and I stumbled upon the honey cleansing method and decided that it couldn’t hurt to try it.
I went out and purchased some Manuka honey from my local shop, Manuka honey is praised for its antibacterial properties and is a natural super food for internal and external health.
Note: when purchasing honey for use as a cleanser make sure you purchase raw, unrefined, organic honey. This is honey that hasn’t been melted to a high temperature and therefore lost a lot of its key health benefits.
I then smoothed it onto my face and neck using a few drops of water to help soften the honey for ease of applying it, and then left it on for about 10 minutes before washing off with water.
I went to sleep and woke up the next morning and…. WOW.
The cystic acne that had been big, sore, red lumps on my neck had gone down and were no longer raised and my skin felt better than it has done in the last six months.
I seriously couldn’t believe how effective such a simple thing as honey could be to my skin.
From that day I have been hooked on Manuka honey as a skin care product and it is now all that I wash my face with in the mornings.
Two weeks have passed since I started using honey as my facial cleanser and although the acne is not 100% gone it has cleared up remarkably and there has been a noticeable difference in my skin tone and the amount of white heads and pimples on my neck and lower face.
But wait theres more!
Not only is honey great for your skin, but it is also really good for your hair!
Below are some other ways you can incorporate honey into your natural beauty regime at home and whilst travelling:
- Honey mask: don’t want to wash your face with honey every day? Then simply do a honey mask once a week instead. Smooth the honey over your face and neck with the aid of a little water and leave on for 10-30 minutes and then rise off for smooth and reinvigorated skin.Perfect for the tired traveller wanting to pamper themselves.
- Want to give your hair a really good conditioning treatment? Simply mix some honey and water together and spread over your hair. Leave on for around 30 minutes and then wash out. Your hair will feel super smooth and invigorated! This is easy to do and can be done in a hostel bathroom or shower by simply using a cup and placing the honey on your hair before you shower and washing out at the end (so that would be less than 30 minutes as your shower should not be anywhere near that long)
- Want to lighten your hair but don’t want to use nasty chemicals to do so? Honey has natural hydrogen peroxide properties and will naturally lighten your hair. Simply mix some honey, water and cinnamon together and apply evenly all over your hair. The cinnamon acts as a reactive agent to the honey. Leave on your hair for a few hours or sleep with it overnight and wash it out. You might not see results straight away if you have darker hair, but after doing up to 10+ times I guarantee you will start to see natural highlights through your hair. If nothing else your hair will be smooth and shiny after this treatment! Going out in the sun helps up the speed with which your hair will naturally lighten. I often put this on my hair, tie it into a bun and then go out for a hike or to run errands. Sure your hair looks greasy and weird but you could get away with doing this whilst travelling if you are planning on sightseeing.
- Did you know you can wash your hair with honey? Well you sure can and its a great alternative to the ‘no poo’ method of using baking soda. Honey is much gentler on hair. To make the honey shampoo simply mix some water with a small amount of honey, spread through your hair and then wash out. Easy! Follow up with an apple cider vinegar or rosemary water rinse. A word of warning: just like the no poo method your hair may go through an adjustment period if you start washing with honey. This might not be the easiest thing to keep up with when travelling, but honey can be purchased everywhere so you could always try it.
- And lastly honey is great for your internal health too! Add honey to your tea or meals to take advantage of the health benefits of one of natures super foods.Everyone wants to stay healthy when travelling so make sure you add honey to your diet every now and then.
So there you have it, the many different ways you can use honey in your natural beauty regime.
And the best part is that these are all travel friendly as well!
The Eco Backpacker 