Sweet Face: Honey is Magic

It feels terribly wrong dabbing honey on my forehead before bed. I feel messy and dirty because there's food on my face. I've been conditioned to think acne medication isn't messy, but leaving little white dots all over my face isn't the most tidy look, either. And unlike acne medication, honey seems to be making a noticeable difference.

My skin was starting to show my stress from the last week, and I developed the beginnings of two deep pimples on my face. My instinct was to poke at them, but I dabbed honey on it instead before bed. Woke up to find the swelling gone and only a little hint of a pimple left. Wow, this stuff is magic.

We're up to 2.5 weeks, and I'm not missing soap.

Sweet Face: Ten Days In

I've had a busy ten days that involved staying in other places, very early mornings, questionable diet, and my wallet getting stolen. Despite the stress of a serious break in routine (which usually wreaks havoc on my skin), I managed to stay on top of my new coconut oil and honey regime.

I took a small amount of coconut oil with me when I stayed on couches away from home and used it to remove makeup, wash my face and shoulders, and to moisturize my skin. I didn't have time to do another honey mask, but I figured I'd keep up with the oil anyhow.

I am happy to announce that my painful pimples and cuts have started to heal, and I only developed ONE new pimple in the last week, and that went away in two days.

This is a HUGE improvement already. I usually develop new pimples every other day- especially during a stressful time. And because I itch at them without thinking about it, they usually get infected because I break the skin, and thus take a very long time to heal.  It's RILLSEXAY, I tell ya.

So I took photos. On the left is my painful, wounded, deep cystic pimpled cheek (the worst it's been in a while) six days ago. The pimples showed no signs of healing, I clearly itched at them and turned them into wounds, and they hurt noticeably throughout the day. On the right is a photo I took just this morning. The skin is healing, and there are no hard bumps or swollen pimples anymore. Six days might seem slow when it comes to healing, but not if you're like me and have a tendency to itch at the painful pimple over and over again. Often these things will not heal for two weeks or more, and I'm showcasing my shame for days on end.

I'm going to do another honey mask tonight and keep going with my coconut oil regime. No soap seems to be a good policy for my skin so far.....

Sweet Face, Day Three

My brain doesn't yet like the idea of not washing my face.

It takes a bit of mental gear shifting in the morning when muscle memory has me reaching for my usual facewash. But rubbing a little coconut oil into my face and rinsing it off in the shower seems to be working well. I also use a small amount on a washcloth to remove makeup at night.

I've always thought of myself as someone with oily skin, which means I regularly use products that strip oil from my skin. I used to put a lot of moisturizer or oil on my skin after a shower because I felt itchy and dry from washing. That dry feeling became associated with being clean, so it's a little confusing to my brain to step out of the shower  clean yet not itchy. Since my first honey masque the other night, I haven't had that "oh god, I need moisturizer" feeling to which I am so accustomed. I carry chapstick with me everywhere because weather changes make my lips feel dry, yet using coconut oil as moisturizer has kept my lips soft for the last 48 hours. This stuff might be magic.

Tonight I'm going to do another honey masque to see if I can speed up the healing process for face acne. This time I'll do it on my shoulders and back too.



More soon!

Sweet Face, Bro

I have bad skin. There, I said it.

I don't mean that I occasionally get pimples or worry about laugh lines. I mean that I am approaching 30 and I still get deep painful acne nearly every day on my face and shoulders and back. I am so irritated by it I can't leave it alone... which means I am a 28 year old with red sores on my face and body on a regular basis. It's a constant source of shame.

I've tried every acne medicine I can find. I've tried tea tree oil, and I've tried medicated face wash. It helps for a few weeks before my acne adapts like an evil alien species, and continues to rule my skin with a heavy hand.

A friend recently sent me an article about the miracle of raw honey for acne-prone skin. A little research lead me to the idea of using honey and cinnamon as a face mask, and forgoing soaps and cleansers in favor of coconut oil. Now I know there's a lot of hype about coconut oil these days, but there also seems to be a lot of examples of people with acne problems who rave about it. I figure it can't hurt any more than this massive chin pimple does.

Reading natural skincare blogs (and all the comments- I broke my usual rule about never reading the comments) showed me that people predominately use coconut oil in two ways. First, they use it to replace soap. They remove makeup and "wash" their faces with it in the shower before rinsing with warm water. That surprised me. Second, they rub a small amount into their skin as moisturizer. This makes sense to me. I gave up moisturizer in favor or jojoba oil about a year ago but never noticed a serious difference in skin quality. So while I wasn't weirded out by the idea of putting oil on my oily skin, I was a little tired of not seeing progress.

So this leads me to my first 30 days experiment: The Sweet Face challenge!

I am giving up soap and medicated acne solutions for 30 days, and replacing my daily washing regime with a mixture of raw honey, cinnamon, and coconut oil. My face and body acne will face off with natural ingredients in a BATTLE FOR CLEANLINESS.

I accidentally started last night when I experimented with a couple face mask recipes using honey. So the clock began Feb 2nd. I'll keep you posted!