Raw Honey: Secret Acne Weapon

For some women, the hormonal changes of pregnancy come with unwanted breakouts.   I've been using raw honey on my face this week, which has drastically improved it's quality.  Raw honey has antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties and contains enzymes that make it effective for some folks.  They sell this brand of local (to DC), raw honey from Baltimore at Whole Foods, though you have to get through the honey comb at the top to get to the fluid honey:

I didn't have acne until I went away to college.  A combination of stress, a horrible water supply, and unhealthy food likely contributed to the problem.  I started washing my face with harsh cleansers, which would work for a few months, but then I'd have to find something else that worked.  A couple of years ago, I read an article about over-washing your face.  I realized that I washed my face two to three times per day, which was likely irritating my skin and stripping my it of natural oils that it needed to create a healthy balance. So, I stopped washing my face so much, aiming to only wash my face to get the makeup off at night or in the morning.  My acne immediately went away and I only broke out in conjunction with my menstrual cycle before I got pregnant.

So, I was disappointed when I started to breakout again, as I can imagine anyone would be.  Sean mentioned that peeing a lot is good, because every time I drink water and pee, it balances my hormones.  My first acne remedy was to then drink as much water as possible in hopes that it would balance my hormones and relieve some acne.  I was already drinking 80 ounces of fluid per day, mostly water, so I bumped it up to 100 ounces of fluids per day, and I really can't make myself drink anymore. And while things were starting to even out, I was still breaking out.

Two weeks ago, Sean told me the story of his coworker who started putting raw honey on her face to get rid of her acne, and that it was working for her.  I sat on that a couple of days.  We were out of raw honey and needed to order some.  I put it off and put it off, until I finally picked up a small jar of local, raw honey from Whole Foods.  Again, I put off using the honey again and again.  There just wasn't enough time to sit around with honey on my face.  But, last Saturday, I had a fancy dress party to go through and there was a huge zit on my temple, so I grabbed the raw honey and slathered it all over my face for 5 to 10 minutes.  When I washed it off, my face looked clearer and the big zit on my temple wasn't so scary.

My friend, Cortney, had come over to get ready for the fancy dress party, and she mentioned that she's a fan of this gal on youtube who has been using honey on her face for awhile.  She had really bad acne under the skin, and after trying everything with nothing working, she put raw honey on her face.  Voila!  Her face is now acne-free and baby-smooth.  I asked Cortney how long she leaves it on her face, and she said a couple of times per day as long as she can, sometimes having more time than others.

Every since I started to use it, my face has been clearer and smoother.  It's so soft! So, I'm definitely going to keep working with the raw honey as a possible natural remedy for these pregnancy breakouts.