Skincare is a massive industry, with new products entering the marketplace constantly. Manuka honey has been sold for more than a hundred years but only recently has it’s incredible nutritional properties become known. In this article, we reveal how manuka honey is a Skincare Marvel can enhance your skincare routine.
What is Manuka Honey?
Manuka honey is the product of bees that feed on the manuka plant, which grows in certain regions of New Zealand. The native Maori people of New Zealand have been using manuka honey as both a topical application for skin treatment and wound healing and as an ingested antibacterial agent for centuries.
Monofloral manuka honey is a Skincare Marvel, in which all of the contents come from bees that have pollinated manuka bushes, are more expensive than other forms of honey.
Manuka honey contains unique antibacterial agents that are not contained in other types of honey. The most important one is called methylglyoxal (MGO). Manuka is higher in vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants.
Benefits to the Skin
Wound Healing
The Maori people have relied on manuka honey as their main wound healing agent for hundreds of years. Researchers have found that it does so by recruiting certain cells known as fibroblasts that promote wound healing. Manuka honey applied topically to a wound will also develop a moist, protective environment that will enhance the healing process.
Anti-Inflammatory
Manuka honey has greater anti-inflammatory properties than any other form of honey. This will help to alleviate the symptoms of such skin conditions as eczema and acne. Manuka honey has the ability to help balance your body’s pH levels, while also helping to remove dead skin cells. The lower your pH level, the faster you will heal from acne.
Skin Moisturizer
Manuka honey is a natural skin moisturizer. Its high level of natural sugars makes it a humectant, drawing water into the skin. That is why you will find it used in many popular moisturizers.
Better Sleep
There is more truth to the phrase ‘beauty sleep’ than you may have thought. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body increases the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. Heightened levels of cortisol leads to inflammation on the skin with potential effects such as acne and psoriasis. Lack of sleep will also lead to increased skin wrinkles, sagging skin and fines lines.
Manuka honey promotes better sleep because it leads to a heightened release of the hormone melatonin, which is known as a sleep inducer. Having a glass of warm water with manuka honey in it a couple of hours before going to bed is the best way to increase melatonin release.
How to Apply
Using manuka honey is one of the best Skincare Marvel tips for clear skin that you could ever receive. It can be used to treat acne as a cleanse, a mask or for sot treatment. To use it as a cleanser, simply dab an amount of manuka honey about the size of a pea onto your face and spread it all over. Leave it for a couple of minutes and then wash it off and pat dry your skin.
To make a manuka honey mask, mix honey, lemon juice and ground oats into a paste and apply it to the face for 15 minutes before rinsing off.
If you see a pimple forming, simply dab a splotch of manuka honey on it and leave it to do its thing!
One More Skincare Tip
In addition to using manuka honey, here’s another skincare tip, especially if you exercise; use a foam roller after your workout. Doing so will activate and rejuvenate your skin post workout, enhancing blood flow and helping to remove toxins. Try this foam roller, which is one we have tested and thoroughly recommend.
What to Look Out For
With the huge surge in interest in manuka honey around the world there has, inevitably, arisen a plethora of fake manuka producers. That is why it is important to make sure that what you are buying is pure manuka honey that has been sourced and processed in New Zealand. The jar should prominently display a Unique Manuka Number (UMF) which tells you that it has been tested by an outside agency in order to assess its level of MGO.
The UMF rating ranges from UMF5+ to UMF24+. The higher the UMF rating, the higher the antibacterial potency of the honey. For the best antibacterial and healing properties you should buy a honey that has a rating of UMF 15+ or higher.
Manuka Honey Precautions
Manuka honey is a safe, natural product and Skincare Marvel. However, there are some precautions that all users should be aware of. When it comes to treatment on wounds, you can purchase special manuka gauzes and bandages to ensure safe and even application. You can use manuka honey directly from the jar for minor cuts and grazes. However you should not apply your home purchased Manuka honey on more serious cuts.
