Honey is the magical golden liquid your skin, hair and body needs. Here’s why

In today’s day and age when creams and serums are available in abundance, a lot of research is being conducted on the best new possibilities in skincare and beauty. Despite such a modern setup, the ‘golden liquid’ aka honey retains its relevance as an age-old product of nature with multiple benefits.

Honey is derived from honey bees that collect the essence of one of the most beautiful creations of nature - flowers. This essence of nature’s beauty has stood the test of time through thousands of years and continues to be immensely useful in skincare even today. There is a well-described role of honey in various traditional medicine systems, including Ayurveda.

 From a ‘modern scientific’ understanding, honey is not just useful from an external application perspective but also for the purpose of cleansing and supplementing internal health, which is essential for long-lasting beauty.

Honey contains hydrogen peroxide and many other physical and chemical properties, which makes it a wonderfully broad-spectrum anti-microbial agent. It is active against bacteria, viruses, and fungi without causing harm to the microbes that are healthy for us. In fact, it is rich in food for good microbes, hence it works well as a pre and probiotic also. This is an amazing enigma of nature, an antibiotic with probiotic properties!

What are some of its benefits for skin, hair, and the body?

It hydrates the skin by absorbing moisture, and yet, with its crystalline nature, can be used to exfoliate dead skin. Another paradox is that it’s a scrub that doesn’t dry, rather, moisturizes the skin!
The antibiotic properties of honey work well to prevent infections. The antioxidant and moisturizing properties keep the wound healthy and allow it to heal well.
To enrich one’s hair, it can be mixed with oils and applied to the hair and scalp. While washing hair, equal amounts of shampoo and honey can be mixed. This will have an anti-dandruff and a conditioning effect on the hair.
It works beautifully as a carrier for various different medicinal plants. For example, honey and turmeric combination, or honey and lemon juice can be used for pigmentation or dull skin. Honey with cinnamon can be used for acne breakouts.
Honey can be combined with various herbs for oral consumption. Further, it also enhances its absorption. Honey and ghee combined in equal quantities e.g. 1 tablespoon of both mixed together have nourishing and cleansing properties for the body

Can it nourish the body from the inside?

For internal use, there are well-documented benefits of honey that aid in digestion and healing gastrointestinal disorders, and offer cardio-protective effects. It is also an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant medicine. Honey is rich in bio-flavonoids and phenolic acids, which are nature’s best antioxidants. They help protect the body from the harmful effects of pollution, food, and emotional toxins.

When we look at honey from an Ayurvedic perspective, honey with its sweetness, helps build up ‘ojas’ or our vital immunity and essence. With its warming property, it has a ‘vata’ and ‘kapha’ dosha pacifying properties.

It is also important to know that if consumed in large quantities, honey can aggravate ‘pitta’ dosha. Hence, it needs to be consumed in moderation - one teaspoon at a time or one tablespoon total in a day. For ‘pitta’ body types, it should be consumed in much lesser quantities.

Although it can be consumed all through the year, autumn weather which is the time for ‘vata’ excess and low pitta is the best time to consume honey. Also, there is a saying, “Uncooked honey is nectar, cooked honey is poison”. Hence, one should avoid heating honey.