Homemade face packs with honey

Shahnaz Husain *

Sweet to the soul and healthy for the body, the nectarous humectant is one of the natural ingredients that has been used for cos-metic purposes for ages. Honey hydrates the skin, encourages healing, fades acne marks, makes the skin firm, and adds a dewy glow. It improves the texture of your skin and helps you look more youthful and glowing.

Honey contains proteins, amino acids, vitamins, en-zymes, and minerals, and boasts antimicrobial proper-ties which help in fighting premature ageing and pro-vide immense hydration to the skin. Honey has antibacterial and wound-healing proper-ties that make it one of the safest natural ingredients to apply on the skin.

There are different ways we can make honey a part of our beauty routine and one easy way is doing a honey facial at home. This one isn't just effec-tive but pocket-friendly too, way cheaper than a facial treatment at a salon.

1---Honey Turmeric Face Pack Turmeric is known for its antioxidant properties and ability to combat ageing skin. It brightens the com-plexion and reduces dark blemishes. Mix a tablespoon of honey with a pinch of tur-meric powder in a bowl and apply the paste on your face.

Avoid applying the mixture on the eyebrows or eyelids. Gently massage and leave it on for a minimum of 10 minutes then wash it off with lukewarm water and a face wash. This is great for an instant glow and to help heal and soothe acne. Alternatively Mix 1/2 ta-blespoon of honey, 1/2 tablespoon of turmeric and 1/2 tablespoon of bicarbo-nate in a bowl until you get a smooth paste.

Apply to your face and leave for 10-15 minutes. Remove it using light, circular move-ments as this will gently exfoliate your skin. Rinse off with lukewarm water. Mix 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of tur-meric powder,1/2 table-spoon of lemon juice in a bowl and make a paste .

Apply the paste on the face and leave it for 10-15 min-utes. Wash off with plain water. You can use it twice a week to get glowing skin

2--Honey and Aloe Vera Face Pack----Aloe vera has been known to have therapeutic benefits for the skin since ages. Aloe vera comes with anti-inflammatory benefits that help to soothe dry, irri-tated skin quickly, and give relief from the irritation and itching of the skin, that comes with dryness. Aloe vera contains a high amount of water, which helps to moisturize and hy-drate the skin without making it oily.

This mois-turizing benefits of aloe vera helps to repair our skin texture and makes the skin soft, smooth and glowing. Mix 2 tablespoons of fresh aloe vera gel with 1-2 tablespoons of raw honey in a glass jar and apply the mixture on the face. Apply the resultant mixture all over the face as well as neck and massage gently with your finger tips for few minutes.

Keep it on face for 20 minutes and wash off with cold water. Reapply this DIY face mask with honey and aloe vera twice or thrice in a week to get naturally glow-ing skin.

3----Honey Almonds Face Pack This is a good face pack for dry and normal skin types. Almond nourishes the skin and honey hydrates and moisturizes the skin. Soak almonds in milk overnight and use chilled milk in the morning to mash the soaked almonds and make a paste. Combine a tablespoon of honey with 2 tablespoons of freshly made almond paste and spread it evenly over your facial skin.

Rinse it off after 20 minutes to see glowing and soft skin. You can also replace fresh almond paste with al-mond oil in this 4 Strawberry and honey face mask for clear glowing skin The antioxidant proper-ties of the honey-strawberry face pack will give a radiant glow to your skin and natu-rally hydrate it from within. Grind two pieces of strawberries and add 1 ta-blespoon of raw honey and 1 tablespoon of yogurt in it.

Blend well and apply over the cleansed face with the help of your fingers. Allow this mask to sit on your face for 20 minutes and rinse off using normal water. You can use this three to four times a week before going to sleep.

Alternatively, just clean 3 strawberries and mash them nicely. Add a tablespoon of honey to it and squeeze the fresh juice of half of a lemon to make a smooth mixture of me-dium consistency. Apply it to your skin and wash it off after 15-20 minutes.

5---Banana and honey face mask Banana is well known to bring brightness to the skin. This face pack gives a healthy nourished glow to the skin and is suitable for dry, normal, combination, and ageing skin. Smash one small piece of banana and add 1 tbsp raw Honey and 1 tbsp raw milk in it.

Mix well and apply this mask over cleansed face. Leave it on for 20 minutes and wash off using normal water. You can use this two to three times a week before going to sleep for better results. Alternatively, mash a ripe banana and add a tea-spoon of honey to it to form a paste.

Add half a teaspoon of sugar granules and apply them to the skin before the granules melt. Leave the pack on for 10-15 minutes. Massage the pack on the skin in gentle circular mo-tions. Rinse thoroughly with warm water.