This week in my continuation of my series on making your own aromatherapy skincare products I thought that I would take a look at honey.  Honey, in its raw form, can be used in a variety of different aromatherapy skincare products.  Here’s a look at why and how you should add honey to your products.

Benefits of Raw Honey

If you are going to use honey in your aromatherapy products, you should first make sure that you choose raw, unprocessed honey.  Honey that you find on the grocery store shelf is usually processed – and does not contain the natural benefits of raw honey.

Raw honey is made by honey bees from the nectar of flowers; the main components of honey are fructose, glucose and water with sucrose, maltose and traces of other sugars and undetermined constituents.

Raw honey varies in its therapeutic properties depending on the type of honey and where it was produced but most raw honey is:

•  anti-bacterial
• anti-inflammatory
• skin healing.

Recipes for Honey in Aromatherapy Products

Honey can be used in hair treatments, sugar scrubs and face packs, in addition to other homemade aromatherapy products.  Here’s a few recipe ideas for honey and aromatherapy.

Honey Aromatherapy Sugar Scrub

For a 2 oz sugar scrub:

• 1.5 oz brown sugar
• 0.2 oz jojoba oil
• 0.2 oz almond oil
• 0.2 oz raw honey
• (optional: essential oils)
• simply mix the ingredients together in a bowl and store in a jar ready for use.

Honey Aromatherapy Hair Treatment

This recipe was first listed on Aromatherapy Recipes for Dry, Winter Hair but here it is again, with a slight variation in the essential oil that I used:

• 1 oz raw honey
• 1/2 oz sweet almond oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 drops of ylang ylang essential oil
• Beat together the egg yolk, honey and sweet almond oil; add in the ylang ylang essential oil
• Wet your hair a little bit and then apply the mixture to your hair
• Put a shower cap on your hair and leave on for about 30 minutes
• Wash and dry your hair in the usual way.

Honey Aromatherapy Face Pack

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon raw honey
• mix all of the ingredients together (use the egg yolk for normal & dry skin and the egg white for oily skin)
• apply the mask to your face and leave it on for 20 minutes before washing it off.

Honey is reputed to have anti-wrinkle properties.  The use of honey for skincare and medicinal purposes is not a new concept; from early Egyptian times, honey was used for more than just a food source.  So, it makes sense that honey should be one of the natural ingredients for your homemade aromatherapy products!

References:

• Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy and Massage, Len Price UK: Riverhead
• BBC News website: Manuka Honey
• Author’s training and experience

If you are interested in making your own aromatherapy products, you might be interested in the Sedona Aromatherapie Make-Your-Own Kits in the webstore.  All kits include comprehensive instructions with the basic ingredients to get you started on your own aromatherapy product making adventure!

For a more comprehensive introduction to the world of aromatherapy and aromatherapy product making, watch out for the Sedona Aromatherapie accredited Foundation Course in Aromatherapy, scheduled for a late Spring 2012 release date.  Enjoy!