Characteristics
- INCI
- Honey
- Ru.
- Mel
- CAS
-
8028-66-8
This is the substance number in the Chemical Abstracts Service registry. The CAS number uniquely identifies a substance regardless of language, trade name, or synonyms.
- IUPAC
- Mel (Eu)
- Functions
- flavouring, humectant, skin conditioning
Who it's for
Description
We all know honey as the sweet, gooey stuff that is lovely to sweeten a good cup of tea and we have good news about putting honey all over our skin. It is just as lovely on the skin as it is in the tea.
The great review article about honey in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology writes that it is arguably the oldest skincare ingredientand evidence from around 4500 BC mentions honey in some eye cream recipes. Chemically speaking, it is a bee-derived, supersaturated sugar solution. About 95% of honey dry weight is sugar and the other 5% consists of a great number of other minor components including proteins, amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, and minerals.
This unique and complex chemical composition gives honey a bunch of nice skin care properties: it is very moisturizing, has soothing and antioxidantabilities as well as significant antibacterial and antifungal magic powers. There is also a lot of empirical evidence with emerging scientific backup that honey dressing promotes the healing of wounds and burns.
One tricky thing about honey though, is that it can have lots of different floral sources and different types of honey have a somewhat different composition and thus somewhat different properties. For example, thedarker the honey the richer it is in antioxidant phenolic compounds. Two special types of honey are acacia and manuka. The former is unique and popular because of its higher than usual fructose content that makes it more water-soluble and easier to stabilize in cosmetic formulas. The latter comes from the Leptospermum Scoparium tree native to New Zeland and its special thing is its extra strong antibacterial power due to a unique component called methylglyoxal.
Overall, honey is a real skin-goodie in pretty much every shape and form, and it is a nice one to spot on the ingredient list.
Frequently Asked Questions about Honey
What does honey do in skincare?
Is honey good for acne-prone skin?
Can honey help with dry or sensitive skin?
Is honey safe to use on your face?
Can honey cause irritation or breakouts?
Evidence & Research on Honey
-
1
Bogdanov, Stefan. "Honey composition." The honey book (2009).
-
2
Burlando, Bruno, and Laura Cornara. "Honey in dermatology and skin care: a review." Journal of cosmetic dermatology 12.4 (2013): 306-313.Find in PubMed
-
3
Efem, S. E. E. "Clinical observations on the wound healing properties of honey." British journal of Surgery 75.7 (1988): 679-681.Find in PubMed
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4
Jull, Andrew B., Anthony Rodgers, and Natalie Walker. "Honey as a topical treatment for wounds." Cochrane Database Syst Rev 4 (2008).
Products with Honey (2 481 total)
Most often found in Sulwhasoo products (83 items)
