Humanity has been using the healing properties of honey for over eight thousand years. Scientists have found images of honey procedures on ancient Egyptian and ancient frescoes. Centuries have passed, but honey is still included in modern cosmetic products. Research has proven its benefits for the skin of the face and body. Homemade face masks with honey have a moisturizing, cleansing, antibacterial and antioxidant effect.
What to expect from sweet “medicine”
Those beauties who do not suffer from allergies to bee products are incredibly lucky. After all, with the help of honey you can achieve the following results:
- get rid of small wrinkles, rejuvenate and tighten the skin, toning and moisturizing it;
- carry out effective treatment and restoration of problem skin;
- moisturize and restore dry;
- normalize sebum production and stabilize the functioning of the sebaceous glands of oily skin;
- maintain a healthy appearance by affecting the deep layers of the epidermis and stimulating the production of your own collagen and elastin.
Honey, thanks to its rich microbiological composition, can have a beneficial effect on metabolic processes in the epidermis, stimulate blood circulation, accelerate cell regeneration and moisturize the skin at the cellular level.
Reviews
Girls who have practiced honey wraps for cellulite note intense sweating after the first procedure. The liquid literally flows down your legs, so it is better to wrap yourself in a sheet so as not to stain the surfaces. The sensations, according to reviews, are not very pleasant, but in one session you can lose up to three centimeters in the waist.
In the early stages of cellulite, using this method you can completely get rid of the unaesthetic manifestations of deviation. The skin quickly becomes smooth, elastic, soft. An effective method for restoring your figure after childbirth. Another advantage is that the manipulation does not take much time. It can be done while a small child is sleeping.
Honey wraps are very effective against cellulite. With their help, you can quickly model the contours of the body before an important event. However, if you relax and lead an incorrect lifestyle, the withdrawn fluid will quickly return along with extra pounds, tubercles, dimples, and flabbiness. To consolidate and improve the result, you need to eat right, play sports, and give up bad habits.
Indications and contraindications
In order to use honey for cosmetic purposes, you need to know what problems you can get rid of with its help. Homemade products will be an excellent alternative to store-bought ones:
- Problem skin with blackheads and acne.
- Oily, prone to acne.
- Dry, prone to flaking and cracking
- Combined – for preventive purposes.
- Normal – for toning, moisturizing and gentle care.
Almost every person can use honey in its pure form for skin care and treatment. The active components of the “sweet elixir of youth” will help you cope with many problems at home.
But there are some contraindications, since honey is a fairly strong allergen and can cause unpleasant consequences in some people. These include:
- First of all, an allergy to bee products. These can be skin manifestations and asthmatic attacks. Up to anaphylactic shock. People prone to this type of manifestation should avoid cosmetics that contain honey and other bee products.
- Open wounds, scratches on the treated surface.
- Skin diseases in the acute stage.
- Purulent pimples in an inflamed state.
There are few contraindications to the use of honey cosmetics at home. But still they exist. Please pay attention to these precautions to ensure that you do not achieve the opposite of what you expected.
Beneficial features
The benefits of regularly consuming components of honey-containing products are extremely popular. The composition, which includes a certain amount of enzymes that accelerate the metabolic process, organic acids, vitamins, glucose, fructose.
Honey is the only non-perishable food product. The healing properties of which can vary depending on the type of plant used by the bees during production.
The medicinal properties of its external use are known to few. Regular use of body masks containing honey helps solve many problems:
- Gets rid of dead parts of the epidermis;
- Tightens pores;
- Gives elasticity;
- Moisturizes the skin;
- Accelerates the healing process of the outer layers of the dermis;
- Saturates the body with vitamins even when applied externally.
Honey massage
Massage techniques are very diverse. Using honey as an active component for massage is an excellent solution for removing blackheads, lifting the contours of the face and double chin, and removing fatty deposits on the cheeks.
Using honey in its pure form, you can perform a deep facial scrub, similar to mechanical peeling.
A honey massage of problem areas on the body will help get rid of the appearance of cellulite, improve blood circulation and improve the overall health of the skin.
To carry out such a massage at home, you need to do the following manipulations:
- Cleanse your facial skin of decorative cosmetics using your usual makeup remover. Rub with a tonic and let it calm down a little after the preliminary procedures.
- Apply honey heated in a water bath in an even layer. (You need to heat it up to body temperature and only in enamel containers to avoid contact with metal and prevent the product from oxidizing).
- Leave the honey on the face (if necessary - chin, neck and décolleté) for a quarter of an hour. Let the active ingredients absorb.
- Then apply the pads of your fingers to the skin and tear them off the surface with a sharp movement. In this way, treat the entire surface covered with honey.
The honey will begin to foam and roll into white “peas” under your fingers. This is normal - the pores of your face are cleansed of unnecessary substances and dead skin cells are removed.
This massage should be done for no more than five minutes to avoid excessive stretching of the skin. This technique is also not recommended for aging and sagging skin.
The remaining honey should be washed off with slightly warm water. Treat the skin with a vasoconstrictor lotion. After a few minutes, apply a light nourishing or moisturizing cream, depending on your skin type.
This procedure should be carried out at home as needed, but not more often than once every two weeks. Reviews about honey massage are very flattering.
Recommendations for use
Experienced cosmetology professionals recommend regularly using a scrub to cleanse the skin and maintain body tone. By treating steamed skin, maximum effectiveness of bath procedures, saunas, and hot baths is achieved.
- Sufficient preventive intensity of use is once a week. Restorative procedures equal 2-3 sessions per week.
- Abuse of masks will lead to the development of allergic reactions of the body, redness, and itching.
- After washing off the mask and completing the procedure, avoid thorough drying with a towel. Remove excess moisture with a paper towel. An alternative is to let the skin dry naturally.
Clear signs of the need to begin skin restoration are:
- Skin laxity;
- Dryness;
- Stretch marks;
- Overweight;
- Avitaminosis.
The absence of application indicators is not a contraindication. Keeping the epidermis healthy is easier than restoring it. A preventive strike on skin problems is the best prevention.
Masks with honey for any skin type
With the help of such cosmetics prepared at home, it is excellent to clean, moisturize and nourish the skin.
Honey + milk
Mix 2 large spoons of honey with fermented milk products that you have on hand (cottage cheese, cream, kefir). The consistency should be creamy and soft.
Apply the composition to a cleansed face and leave for 20-30 minutes. Then remove with a soft cloth and wash with chamomile infusion. Do not wipe, just blot lightly with a towel and let dry naturally.
Honey and black bread
Take a slice of black bread, remove the crumb from it and soak it in warm milk to make a thick paste, the consistency of sour cream.
Add 2 tablespoons of liquid homemade honey (preferably linden or flower). Stir until smooth.
Cleanse your face and apply a mask to it. Leave to act for 25-30 minutes.
It is best to rinse off with chamomile or calendula infusion, warmed to body temperature.
A little history
Honey is a sweet, viscous product produced by bees. It is nectar partially digested in the crop of a honey bee or the sugary secretions of some plants.
Source Wikipedia
It has been known for a long time, at least since the 8th millennium BC. e. In the Indo-European tradition, honey is often associated with the divine drink of immortality.
Honey is considered a symbol of immortality, health, fertility, prosperity, happiness, beauty, sweet life. It is also called the food of the gods and the elixir of life.
By origin, honey can be either flower or honeydew. Flower honey is produced by bees through the process of collecting and processing the nectar secreted by plants. Bees produce honeydew by collecting honeydew - the sweet secretions of some insects - and honeydew (the exudation of sugary juice on spruce needles and on the leaves of some plants) from the leaves and stems of plants.
Honey varies in color, smell and taste. If honey is collected from a certain type of plant, it is called monofloral and given the name of the plant from which it was collected: buckwheat, linden, rapeseed, sweet clover, acacia, chestnut, clover, sunflower. Honey collected from different plants is called polyfloral (mixed) or simply floral.
Honey is often named after the geographic area associated with its origin. In Russia, Altai, Bashkir, Far Eastern linden, and Siberian fireweed honey is known.
The main importers of honey are the USA, Japan and Germany. They annually import up to 250 thousand tons of honey.
Vitamin “bomb”
Take the pulp of any fruit that you like best. It could be a banana, apple, melon, watermelon, apricot, peach, strawberry. It all depends on the season. It is better to take the fruit that grows in your area.
You need to take a few spoons of pulp and add a spoon of honey. Stir and apply to clean face. The duration of the mask is 15-30 minutes.
Rinse off with warm water. If you have the opportunity and desire, you can use an infusion of herbs.
In this composition, honey further activates the vitamin complexes of fruits and helps them penetrate deep into the epidermis.
Mask for oily skin
This mask can be made in two ways.
First way
- Take the egg yolk and beat it into a foamy mass.
- Heat the honey slightly in a water bath so that it can be easily applied.
- Apply the components in layers, allowing each of them to dry a little. There should be a minimum of 6 layers - that is, three applications of each component.
- Then let the mask dry completely on your face. This will take approximately 40-50 minutes.
- Wash off with warm infusion of chamomile or calendula.
With the help of this maxi, you normalize the functioning of the sebaceous glands and degrease the surface of the skin. This is a kind of facial cleansing.
Second way
Mix beaten egg white, honey and a little oatmeal or starch (preferably cornstarch). Make the consistency creamy, a little like sour cream.
Apply to face and let dry completely. Rinse as indicated in the previous recipe.
Cosmetics development
Contract cosmetics manufacturing places special emphasis on the development of cosmetics. Natural raw materials must have all the necessary documentation for chemical technologists to begin working with them. After all, natural ingredients are often unstable.
Developing a cosmetic formulation is a long and complex process. It is especially important to determine the required percentage of the component input so that it is effective but does not cause allergies.
