Brighter, Softer, Hydrated Skin? Here's How Honey Can Help

There’s something magical about honey. 

Mysterious bees go about their work, largely unnoticed by us, working hard to produce a sweet, golden liquid that not only tastes amazing but is chock-full of medicinal qualities. It’s pure alchemy! When we combine that with the other nutrient-rich ingredients like the fresh goat milk and coconut oil in our super popular Oatmeal & Honey Goat Milk Soap, the result is pure magic. 

It may sound like a sticky situation, but honey is actually a liquid gold when it comes to your skin! But what exactly makes honey so amazing? To find the answer we need to first follow the flight of the bumblebee and take a look at how honey is made. 

From Pollen to Liquid Gold: How Honey is Made

Between the botanicals from plant nectar and bees tending to their hive, there’s a bounty of flora and fauna goodness packed into this nature-made sweetener. To start, special bees called foragers travel from the hive and visit flowers to drink up nectar. Along the way, tiny unique hairs on the bee’s legs also collect and deposit pollen. They get to work pollinating plants and then carry the pollen and nectar back to their hive as a food resource. Think about this the next time you see a honey bee tending to a bloom — there’s likely a hive somewhere within a 2-mile radius. Just check out the saddlebags of pollen this little honey bee managed to accumulate!

Back at the hive, worker bees chew on the nectar for 30 or so minutes, enzymatically breaking it down into simple sugars. Thanks to the ingenious honeycomb design and the constant fanning of bees wings — which bring the hive up to a toasty 95 degrees! — the nectar is evaporated and distilled into honey. After beekeepers or processors extract the honey, it’s strained to remove any lingering particles and debris. 

At Bend Soap Company, all of the products we craft that contain honey use pure honey, meaning that nothing else has been added to the honey during its journey from the hive to bottle. You’ll feel the difference in how it hydrates and smells — especially in our lip butters and milk baths.

The History of Honey in Skincare & Wellness

When looking back to the history of honey, this magical ingredient has literally been around forever.  Bees have not only been integral to our agriculture as pollinators, but they’ve also been referenced as symbols of royalty dating as far back as the ancient Egyptian times with hieroglyphs depicting Egyptian beekeepers from as early as 2400 BC. And while Cleopatra is known for taking long soaks in milk and honey baths to keep her skin soft and youthful, the use of milk and honey was actually a royal skin care treatment used by several other famous beauties. 

🛈 Pro Tip: Looking for your own queen-like skincare treatment? Add a few hands of Oatmeal & Honey Milk Bath to your next bath to take the sting out of any long day and leave your skin feeling exfoliated and hydrated. Prefer a bar soap with a little more scent? Grab this Honey Grapefruit Goat Milk Soap. 

Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero, allegedly washed her face 7 times a day with a milk and honey lotion. Madame du Barry, the last mistress of King Louis XV of France, also routinely used honey as a face mask which involved lying down to rest after applying the mask. Sounds like the perfect way to end the day, right?

The Greeks praised honey for its sweetness and quickly recognized it’s natural antiseptic and antibacterial properties, using it in medicinal remedies to treat anything from burns to sore throats. The Romans discovered that stomach ailments and digestive issues could be relieved with honey. Allergy relief is also a popular use for honey as natural honey contains a small amount of local pollen. For many people, ingesting local, raw honey can decrease seasonal allergy symptoms. 

How Honey Benefits Your Skin

There are many different reasons to love honey, but when it comes to skincare, honey has amazing natural moisturizing properties. The natural enzymes in honey help condition and soften your skin in a way that very few other natural ingredients can. Not only that, but honey is also a fantastic cleanser. Remember those antiseptic and antioxidant qualities we mentioned? You can use honey to keep your pores clear and avoid pesky blackheads. Raw honey is also a natural exfoliator, which means applying it to your face takes off dry, dull skin and reveals new skin cells underneath. This makes it the perfect addition to our collection of salt and sugar scrubs. Honey even works wonders in our natural deodorant, keeping odor and stickiness at bay. 

As if all that isn’t enough, honey also has natural soothing abilities and has been used to treat sunburns, fight infections, acne-causing bacteria, and even lighten scars. It’s ultra-hydrating properties make it an ideal ingredient to help give new life to overworked, dry, chapped skin. So if your pout is feeling parched, the honey in our lip butters — which are 100% all-natural and made with ZERO artificial or drying ingredients — will offer your lips a surge of hydration. One swipe and your lips will be soothed and protected from any outside elements like rain, sun, or snow.

Key Honey Takeaways 

We’ve outlined some of the key reasons why honey is a home run addition to your everyday routine: 

• It’s full of enzymes and antioxidants that can help soothe all types of skin. 

• It has moisturizing and skin softening properties that are perfect for all types of skin, but especially those with sensitive skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis.

• Honey’s antiseptic qualities can help fight off acne-causing bacteria, reduce scarring,  and fix sunburned skin.

• When it comes to skincare, honey can offer your skin a brighter glow and gentle exfoliation.

Back to You 

Get a little sticky with us! Grab a Bend Soap Company product containing honey and experience the power of this natural nectar. Shop all of our products made with honey here.