to finding natural, affordable alternatives that work.Having two growing daughters makes the challenge even more difficult because I know that the decisions I make now will influence their choices in the future. Let's face it, teenage girls want to look pretty, so no matter how much I educate them about the toxic junk that is hiding in most cosmetics and so-called beauty products, if I can't show them a better way, they're probably not going to follow me down the crunchy road.
My attempt to switch (actually ditch) shampoo turned out to be a nightmare because it turns out that hard water + a natural hair care regimen can lead to disastrous results and I was a day late and a dollar short of finding the remedy
in time. Thankfully, I went about that experiment on my own, so no hairs other my own were harmed, but the incident turned my kids into skeptics and now they're always a bit cautious when they see me coming at them with an unlabeled bottle or jar of unknown origins. I can't blame them really, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying.Luckily, through trial and error, every now and then, you find something great and when you do, you want to shout from the rooftop and tell everyone you know how awesome it is. So, it's Sunday morning and here I am, on my rooftop, telling anyone who will listen about my new favorite thing...honey!
Yep, you heard me, HONEY! Sometimes the best things in life turn out to be small, simple and sitting right in front of your face before you finally realize how amazing they are!
Here's the thing, lately my 40ish-something skin has been neglected because I refuse to buy anything off the shelf unless I know exactly what's in it. The problem is that brands I trust cost a small fortune and frankly I'd rather buy a pile of organic produce to feed my family than an itty bitty bottle of stuff to slather over my face. Anyway, my skin looked worse than it ever has. It just felt gunky! It was dull and dry, then got greasy throughout the day. On top of that, I was having tons of little breakouts that seemed to take forever to clear up because my skin has recently become very sensitive to pollution when the air quality is poor which has been all too often in Utah Valley as of late.
I was at a complete loss when I saw a blog post about washing your face with honey. Nothing else, just honey. Sweet!! Something I can actually afford to buy! I didn't waste any time at all getting my hands on a bottle of the RAW unfiltered variety. I felt a little shame in not waiting a few extra days for the farmers market in order to snag something local, but the situation was dire and I needed a fix, quick, so I settled for a MADHAVA wildflower blend with the pollen and nutrients preserved. $3.99 seemed like a fair price, -a fraction of the cost of that expensive facial cleanser that I couldn't justify purchasing.
So here's how things went down later that night; I cracked open my brand new bottle of honey and squeezed a quarter-sized blob into the palm of my hand. Because I was a little excited, I forgot to rub my hands together to warm it up before trying to apply it to my face, so it went on a little like lukewarm wax. Wearing a mask of honey felt a little strange, but it smelled nice so I decided to let it sit and soak a bit before rinsing it off. Ten or fifteen minutes later I splashed my face with warm water and was surprised by how easily and cleanly the honey rinsed off. I was even more surprised by how SOFT my skin was!! I couldn't stop touching it for fear that the smooth, clean feeling would somehow vanish as quickly as it came. It didn't.
 |
| honey-faced me |
Day 2. I couldn't wait to wake up just because I was sooo looking forward to washing my face with honey again! Could it get any better? Yes indeed! My skin felt great and looked so much clearer. That night I repeated the process and noticed that all the little blemishes and acne marks were literally washing away.
They honey has a miraculous way of cleansing, moisturizing, balancing and repairing skin all at once. It is naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial, so pimples don't stand a chance!
Day 3. I noticed that after my morning wash, my pores seemed to be releasing the build-up (blackheads) and toxins that had been lingering forever on my nose, forehead and chin. I didn't have any new breakouts and my skin felt softer than ever, but it also felt clean and light.
Day 4. Honey face wash rocks! How do I know for sure? Because my girls are sneaking into my bathroom in search of the sweet stuff. I suppose it's time to splurge on an extra bottle!
Even my new glowing skin couldn't possibly make me happier than knowing that my daughters are growing into adulthood with a healthy, non-toxic beauty routine.
If perhaps you decide to give the honey facewash challenge a try (and you definitely should!), please be sure to visit the original post by Crunchy Betty where you'll find instructions and a handy honey buying guide. Yes, it really does matter what kind of honey you use because the beneficial enzymes and all the good stuff can be killed with pasteurization. Don't worry, the kind of honey you need (raw & unfiltered) is more readily available than you might think, -you just need to know what to look for and know NOT to use the corn syrupy variety.
Oh, and guess what? While shopping at my favorite natural grocery store the other day, I noticed those straw-like sticks of honey at the checkstand and realized that they would be great for honey-face-washes-on-the-go! The sticks I found were raw/unfiltered and perfectly packaged for travel so I picked up a few to have on hand.
One last note and a hope that comes with the realization of the wonders that honey provides for us; we must be thankful and sing praise to the honeybees who are in great danger of vanishing completely. Mother earth needs our attention now because the bee's (and our) very existance rely on the choices we make today.
and because we've been wanting an extra box to use upstairs anyway, we took a vote and pre-ordered one with some Amazon credit I'd been saving for a 
. I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for a truly good cup of coffee since I kicked Mr. Coffee to the curb a while back when we turned our kitchen into a plastic-free zone, but that's another story altogether.
