Honey has long been one of society’s most coveted products. It is delicious, adding a natural touch of sweetness to whatever dish you add it to. The best part about honey, though? It’s actually really good for many aspects of your health. The most coveted of these are the benefits of honey for the health of your hair, skin, and gut. Let’s see if you can finish reading this article before running out to buy some high quality, organic honey for yourself.
The Benefits of Honey: Hair
Having shiny, healthy hair is something that we all want to have. After all, a good hair day makes you feel like you can take on the world. A bad hair day? It makes you want to hide away in your house. Hair equals confidence, and honey is here to help you achieve that.
1. Honey for Hair Growth
Do you have a dream of having long, luscious locks but it seems as though your hair has a ‘shelf’ that it can’t seem to go beyond? Research suggests that honey can support cell growth, making it beneficial for promoting hair growth and maintaining a healthy scalp.
2. Honey for Hair Conditioning and Shine
Due to its moisturizing properties and rich content of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants, honey can effectively restore moisture to your hair. With that said, honey is amazing for helping your hair get its shine back. With its emollient and humectant properties, honey acts as a great moisturizer for the hair, smoothing the follicles and adding shine while retaining moisture.
3. Honey for Hair Lightening
Sometimes, particularly in the summer months, we want to lighten our hair to give it that sun-touched look. While you can go to the salon and dye it to be that way, this can be costly and involve a fair amount of chemical products. The glucose and enzyme content in honey can lead to the breakdown of glucose, resulting in the production of hydrogen peroxide. This natural bleaching effect can be an alternative to chemical bleaching treatments.
4. Honey for Hair Breakage and Hair Loss
One of the number one reasons your hair won’t grow any longer is because when it reaches a certain length, the ends dry up, crack, and break off. Honey contains protein which, when combined with its vitamins and minerals, can help strengthen weak and brittle hair, preventing breakage. This can also help to prevent excessive hair shedding.
5. Honey for Hair Removal
Though we want thick hair on our heads, many of us don’t want it in other places. This can be one the face, under the arms, on the legs, in our private areas, or anywhere else where you have hair that you don’t particularly like. While not as effective as beeswax for removing body hair, honey can be used for fine hair or sensitive skin, offering a natural and gentle hair removal option.
6. Honey for a Healthy Scalp
Healthy hair starts at the scalp. Using honey in scalp treatments can help cleanse the scalp, alleviate scalp conditions such as dandruff, and provide moisturizing benefits to both the hair and skin on your head. This includes all of honey’s beneficial anti-microbial factors as well as essential skin nutrients.
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How to Use Honey in Your Hair
Incorporating honey into your hair care routine isn’t complicated, but it is a bit more than simply pouring honey on your head. To use honey for your hair, you can create a nourishing hair mask by mixing raw honey with water or a natural oil such as coconut oil or olive oil. Apply the mixture to damp hair, ensuring thorough coverage from roots to ends. Leave the mask on for 20-30 minutes, then rinse it out with warm water. If your issues are scalp related, make sure you massage the mixture well into your scalp and roots.
Benefits of Honey for Skin
Now that you have beautiful hair, you want to have the skin to match. There are many products out there to help you achieve a smooth, clear, and healthy complexion. These can be costly, however, and involve many ingredients that may or may not be good for your long-term health. Honey, thankfully, is your all-natural solution to this skin care conundrum.
1. Microbial Properties and Wound Healing
Honey’s antimicrobial properties have been widely recognized for their ability to combat skin infections. Studies suggest that Manuka honey, specifically from New Zealand, aids in wound healing, with some countries approving honey in medications for wound care. Honey can be particularly beneficial for certain types of burns. When applied to the skin quickly post-burn, honey can stop the skin from continuing to burn and prevent scars from forming.
2. Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Honey contains anti-inflammatory properties that can benefit skin conditions like acne and psoriasis. Research has shown that various types of honey, such as stingless bee honey, possess strong anti-inflammatory effects. If you have problems with dry or inflamed skin, consider giving honey a try. If you are on specific medications or medicated creams for conditions such as psoriasis or eczema, be sure to consult your healthcare provider before making any changes.
3. Clear, beautiful skin
Perhaps you are looking to better control acne breakouts, or maybe you are hoping to improve the signs of aging in your complexion. Lucky for you, honey can do both. As already mentioned, honey has natural antibacterial properties. These can help to combat acne bacteria and provide a better microbiome on your skin to promote healthy bacteria. This can help to prevent future breakouts and also help to heal acne scarring. Honey also has some pretty poignant anti-aging properties, as well. Studies have indicated that honey can help improve skin appearance by preventing wrinkles, maintaining youthful skin, and preventing skin infections that lead to premature aging.
How to Use Honey for Your Skin
After cleansing the skin, honey can be applied directly to the skin or mixed with other ingredients to create a cream or ointment. Raw honey, containing pollen and bee propolis, may offer additional benefits compared to processed honey, which may have additives and reduced antioxidant effects. It is essential to remove honey from the skin before bedtime to prevent dirt buildup and potential skin issues.
Incorporating honey into your skincare routine can be as simple as using it as a gentle cleanser or as an ingredient in a DIY face mask. For a basic cleanser, mix raw, preferably organic honey with a small amount of warm water. Massage this mixture onto damp skin, then rinse thoroughly. As a face mask, combine honey with other skin-soothing ingredients such as yogurt, oatmeal, or aloe vera to create a hydrating and soothing mask. Apply the mask generously over your face and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes, then rinse with water. The antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of honey make it suitable for acne-prone or sensitive skin, while its natural humectant qualities help to moisturize and soften the skin. With its versatility and skin-loving properties, honey can be a beneficial addition to any skincare routine.
The Gut-Health Benefits of Honey
The real secret to healthy hair and skin (and to health in general) lies in your gut. Honey is, yet again, here to help you with that, too. Honey, a functional food with a unique composition, antimicrobial properties, and bifidogenic effects, has long been recognized for its potential to provide specific health benefits, especially when it comes to your gut microbiome. With its complex chemical composition enriched with fructose, glucose, prebiotic agents, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, honey has demonstrated potential to address many health problems, including gastrointestinal issues. Many of honey’s antimicrobial properties have been attributed to its hydrogen peroxide and non-peroxide components.
Mycotoxins and Gut Health
Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A, are global contaminants found in about a quarter of the world’s crops. They pose detrimental effects on both human and animal health. Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus produce aflatoxins, while ochratoxin A is a metabolite of Aspergillus ochraceus. The ingestion of these mycotoxins can induce histopathological changes in the liver and kidney, leading to genotoxicity.
Honey’s Protective Effects
Research has shown that substituting sugars with honey in processed food can inhibit the harmful and genotoxic effects of mycotoxins, as well as improve gut microflora. In a study involving mice, honey treatment reduced the genotoxicity of mycotoxins given orally. Not only that, but the intake of honey supplements improved histopathological changes in the liver and kidney caused by aflatoxin ingestion.
Impact on Intestinal Microflora
One crucial factor in our digestive health is the presence of healthy bacteria throughout our digestive tract, including in the mouth, throat, stomach, small and large intestines. The addition of honey to the diet significantly increased the counts of colonic probiotic bacteria, indicating a significant improvement in gut microflora, aka the good bacteria. This suggests that honey can have a beneficial effect on colon health, improving function and potentially helping in the fight against colon-related disease, such as colon cancer.
The Bottom Line
Honey is an incredible substance that is as delicious as it is good for us. The benefits of honey extend to healthy hair, skin, and gut, making it a product that every household should have on-hand. Be sure to purchase organic honey whenever possible, and if you can find it, choose raw and/or manuka honey over commercially processed kinds. Keep in mind that children under 1 years of age are not yet old enough to consume honey, and most children should likely stick to pasteurized honey as their immune systems may not be strong enough for raw honey yet.
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