A little honey face mask Recipe, and a lot about oils.

Honey face mask 🍯

2tsp raw honey

2 drops lemon essential oil

2drops lavender essential oil

2 drops copaiba essential oil

Leave this on your face for 20 minutes and do your best to avoid young hands touching it. Remove with a warm washcloth, slowly off the face and try not to pull on the skin too hard as this agitates it and causes wrinkles.

Besides you are relaxing and so the littles must now chill with you. 😂 (that will work out for sure)

Okay, getting real, Ive struggles with acne for my whole life, even when I was vegan for almost 4 years, I would still have massive breakouts. I know my skin intimately and know what may cause flare ups but sometimes they happen without warning. Even if I’m drinking massive amounts of water. I would wear theater grade concealer all though middle and high school while dealing with intensely painful and embarrassing acne. (given to me by my drama teacher who felt bad for me, thanks Mrs.Botzki!) Once I discovered essential oils at 19 though, I’ve been working towards a deeper understanding with my own intuition when it comes to preventative care.

However it has recently been revealed to me through research how intimately connected our olfactory senses and our emotions are, they are intimately linked. From airports to bakery’s our emotions will be effected from smell depending on where we are. It is so natural and so intimately linked that I took 19 YEARS to catch up to this. How about you?

Anyway, Let’s get into these particular oils and how they behave with the largest organ on our body, our skin. Why would we want to use these oils and not frankincense or geranium or any other oils proven to be effective at treating acne as well? Honestly because oils are and investment and a privilege to own. I am slowly building up my collection! So on this quest to non frustrating skin care I have to use what I’ve got.

Recently, I purchased the DōTERRA Healthy Essentials Kit. It delivered to my house so quickly and I have already received so much relief from it. I cannot fit all of it into this one post but Ican tell you that I am blown away, and hoping one day to purchase more.

Lavender essential oil

Lavender essential oil is known for its healing benefits. This is a common story in aromatherapy circles yet I feel compelled to share in case you have not heard. In 1910 the French chemist who would resurface the ancient wisdom of oils globally, René-Maurice Gattefossé , burned his hand quite badly and was developing gaseous gangrene. To relieve his incredible pain he shoved his hands into the nearest container of liquid near him. Luckily for him it happened to be lavender essential oil. He would later go on to write about how his burn not only healed in an incredible amount of time but also how it healed with minimal scarring. This is only one story of lavenders healing in the skin, and with deep penetrating quickness. These antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties are what I’m looking for. I have scarring as well as acne even still. I was elated to add this to the face mask, as it has aided me greatly in my personal journey. I also used it in my moisturizer. I did that because it is known to aid dry skin in healing itself. Preventative care in general is all about getting to the issues before they ever have a chance to develop into something noticeable. In all seasons, my skin is incredibly dry, so this wonderful oil helps my carrier oil go a long way.

Lemon Essential Oil

This I used because it is astringent, this oil will not ask dirt politely to leave your pores. It evicts the dirt in rude way, which is the point of this face mask. It is also antibacterial, antifungal, conditioning for the skin, and all around a powerhouse. Which is why if you use this in a face mask you’ll want to avoid going out into the direct sun for 24 hours as you will be photosensitive, so treat yourself like a dainty princess and read that book you’ve been wanting to for an extra hour or so. If you must go out, be sure to put on a great moisturizer before leaving the house and also use makeup with an spf of 20 or more if you do wear makeup. This will aid the skin, but essential oils are powerful. Take it easy and do your best to stay out of the sun ultimately.

Copaiba Essential Oil

Copaiba is an incredible essential oil in and of itself as it contains the highest amounts of beta-caryophyllene or BCP out of ANY essential oil. Making it able to communicate with your endocannabinoud system. This oil will not only aid your skin, it will aid your immune system while doing so. Copaiba is one of the most anti inflammatory natural substances on earth so it will reduce blemishes and also tightens the skin. It encourages pore protection as well so it is especially effective in this face mask.

Honey

Using raw honey on the face to ease ailments is a practice that is thousands of years old. Raw means natural, unheated, unprocessed, straights from the bees honey. Honey deserves an article all to itself but independently it contains a high dose of glucuronic acid, which then once it exits the glass jar and touches air converts to glucose oxidase. This Oxidase turns to hydrogen peroxide on the face, which is so good for balancing out the bacteria naturally present on your skin. Your pores will thank you by becoming smaller after 2 weeks of just plain honey treatment on your face. Manila honey is a miracle for this, but do your best to keep your hair RIGOROUSLY pinned back as hair is oily in its own way and will destroy the hard work you’re putting in to aid the healing of your beautiful skin.

Always cleanse your face before applying a face mask, and make sure your skin is free of dirt and oil before applying this. It gives these oils a chance to get into your pores and also aids your skins natural oils (sebum) to produce in a more balanced way.

Now I can advise you to scroll up to reference why I used lavender in my moisturizer for this particular night, however I will also admit that I have trouble falling asleep, and staying asleep. So I also utilized lavender for its calming and peaceful effects on the skin before bed.

Peppermint essential oil

The menthol in peppermint treats inflammation and swelling of bacterial acne. It decongest the pores and is a well known protector of skin after treatments. The tingling effect is so nice too! It is quite effective in treating blackheads which are especially noticeable on my skin in late autumn/ winter when I become incredibly fair.

One area where I notice is overlooked from time to time is carrier oils. Essential oils are powerful but they are essences of plant materials, if you poured them out of the bottle you may be surprised to discover they are actually not very oily in consistency. They are potent and misuse of them or applying oils ‘neat’ meaning without a carrier oil can harm you and give you a nasty rash at very best. Please be mindful with these incredibly powerful and healing plants provided to us by the earth. If you use a carrier oil, you will be providing time for the oils to spread their goodness to every inch of your skin, wherever applied. Time is so important in preventative care and this is especially true with the potent and awesome essential oils entering so many homes right now. With that said, I’m going to go into the carrier oils I used in tonight’s moisturizer and why I often use these carrier oils.

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba oil is not an oil itself but a wax. Sebum, your skins natural oils are a waxy and oily substance. Jojoba will send the signal to your skin to balance out its own sebum production due to this similarity. Jojoba is a great choice for anti-aging and is noncomedogenic, great for a before bed moisturizer. Jojoba oils is also effective in treating acne on its own.

Argan Oil

Argan oil has long been used by Moroccan women to protect from sun damage, and is a powerful moisturizer. For beauty purposes (and especially for those of us with acne prone skin) argan oil has an abundance in fat soul able vitamin E. Long term use of argan oil may protect against skin cancers, like melanoma.

These oils are what aided me tonight and I will be using them once a week in this way. Ive been using these oils for years and although I still sometimes struggle with frustrating breakouts it is nothing compared to what I dealt with while using over the counter conventional skincare products. Preventative care takes patience and an understanding in the wisdom of plants. This takes research and reading material. If you have a favorite book on essential oils, carrier oils, or the powerful wisdom of oils please share in the comments below. Thank you for your time.

I will state here that none of these tstatements are known to be true by the FDA, I am speaking from personal experience and hope that by sharing this, I alleviate frustration for others dealing with the complicated skin condition of acne.