Most of our staff didn’t get past 15 years old without pulling something out of the fridge and onto the vanity. Whether it was cracking an egg into hair conditioner or whipping an avocado into a homemade facial, experimenting with food-based beauty DIYs was part of our quintessential teenage rite of passage – and a practice we brought with us into adulthood.
Although these projects can lead to chick flick-worthy mishaps, many beauty DIYs are truly worth the extra effort! Bananas, eggs, coconut oil, papaya…these farm-fresh foods are the perfect ingredients for a gorgeous glow, as raw fruits and oils are full of just the right stuff to nourish the skin and hair.
Although the powerful mineral, enzyme and vitamin content of these foods make them worth the task of a completely homemade mask or lotion, the lengthy steps required – whisking eggs, peeling fruit, blending up concoctions – usually make DIY beauty elixirs a rare “girls night in” treat.
The latest sensation in edible beauty experimentation is raw, active honey – but it’s not nearly as sticky a situation as you’d think.
There are a few reasons this gooey stuff is causing such a stir. First of all, we’re learning to distinguish between the processed versions of our favorite products and the raw, organic, un-processed versions that have so much more to offer. With honey, the raw factor makes all the difference: raw honey has powerful anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The enzymes, minerals and vitamins in honey are left fully intact when raw, as well as the slew of antioxidants and phyto-nutrients.
Raw honey is good, but manuka honey is better – and Wedderspoon’s honey is the gold standard. Named for the flowers that grow readily in New Zealand, manuka honey is considered “active”, meaning it bears such an extra-concentrated dose of anti-bacterial properties that it is considered therapeutic. That’s what makes this sweet stuff such a potent salve for the skin. Wedderspoon’s is the most widely-trusted brand from New Zealand and has become a cult-status favorite with in-the-know beauty lovers.
Breakouts, dullness from fatigue, redness and irritation can all be soothed and remedied with a good slather of this golden goo. Honey helps to heal skin damage, detoxify, oxygenate and gently exfoliate. At first, it may seem foreign to dip into your stash of tea sweeteners in order to soften your skin, but you’ll soon learn to adjust when you begin to note the difference in your dermis. Although raw, active manuka honey is powerful enough to be used to heal wounds and treat infections, we’re sticking to the simpler tasks of banishing breakouts and giving skin the glow!
Would you or wouldn’t you? We dare you to give it a try and recommend Wedderspoons! Find it here or at one of our favorite online beauty shops, Spirit Beauty Lounge – where it’s sold right alongside the makeup and the moisturizers, natch.
Do you use honey on your skin? We want to hear about it! Leave us your comments or send us your emails about your latest beauty obsessions!
