Putting honey on your face might seem like a counterproductive hoax, however the right type of honey can actually make a drastic difference in the quality of your skin and could be the answer to many acne-based woes.
Manuka honey, which hails from New Zealand, is different from the kind of honey you might use to sweeten your tea or drizzle over yogurt. This specialty honey is a more potent antibacterial (because technically, all honey is actually antibacterial) than the average grocery-store honey and provides serious health benefits from clearing your skin to reducing the time of your cold.
Manuka honey naturally and actively fights off and destroys pore-clogging bacteria, making it an excellent product to use to help heal acne and breakouts. It is also an anti-inflammatory, which calms the skin and makes your breakouts look less red and irritated. You can use it directly on your skin as a great one-ingredient mask to quickly and effectively cleanse and soothe the skin, or add a few drops of tea-tree oil for a deeper clean.
It also serves as a gentle exfoliant, sloughing away dead skin cells which cause stubborn whiteheads and blackheads. As if these benefits weren’t enough, Manuka honey is deeply hydrating and moisturizing, which aids eliminating acne scars and dark spots as well as restoring dry, cracked skin.
The simplicity of this super-honey doesn’t stop there. To use, just apply to directly to a clean, dry face, with clean hands, using same massaging method you would with any mask, and leave on for 20 minutes, remove with warm water.
When choosing your Manuka honey, be sure it has a UMF (unique manuka factor) of at least 15 or MGO of at least 250 in order to be effective. The label will clearly state the UMF and MGO grade.
Manuka honey really is a one-stop-shop for skincare benefits and while can be used alone to obtain all its benefits, it is also sometimes used in skincare products! In fact, it is the main performance ingredient in one of our NEW acne-fighting products, CLR Lotion, specifically designed to clear problematic skin, balancing oil, hydrating and reducing future breakouts.
CLR Lotion uses Manuka honey and other key performance ingredients like lactic acid, salicylic acid, niacinamide, hylafuse and an herbal compound to target pore-clogging oils, exfoliate top layer dead skin cells, and prevent build up to leave the skin refreshed and clean.
Lactic acid is a wonderful multi-tasking partner to the “do-it-all” Manuka honey in this product. Known as the “sensitive skin hero,” it removes dead skin cells, eliminates discoloration, minus the irritation. Because it creates strong cell-turnover, lactic acid also aids in fighting off signs of aging, creating younger-looking skin.
The other star ingredient in CLR Lotion, and likely the most recognizable, is salicylic acid. Simply speaking, salicylic acid is one of acne’s biggest enemies. However, because it is so effective in zapping oil and breakouts (sometimes overnight!), it can be harsh on the skin, but combined with the gentle effects of Manuka honey and lactic acid, it is perfectly balanced in CLR Lotion and adds a mild acne-eliminating boost.
CLR Lotion is now available from DP Derm as an individual product and is also featured in our NEW Problematic Starter Kit.