We Answer Your Questions About Honey for Rosacea

The use of honey for rosacea has attracted interest in the past year. In its natural form, honey contains antibacterial and antifungal properties. Honey has many antioxidants within the sweet syrupy liquid. These antioxidants help battles signs of aging by preventing the effects of free radicals. Here are answers to some of your questions regarding the use of honey to treat rosacea.

What Kind of Honey is Best?

You want unprocessed honey. This means you don't want to use the honey you find in teddy bear bottles. It must be in its natural form. If you can get honeycomb straight from the hive, that's the best form to use.

There are also different types of honey. A study released by the Canadian Center of Science and Education examined three types - Acacia, Manuka, and Wild Carrot. It was found that manuka honey had the highest levels of the antioxidants. Manuka honey is getting easier to find, though it's pricey.

How Do You Use It?

If you can find pure manuka honey, spread a thin layer on the face, let it sit for half an hour, and rinse off. Some people who are looking to use honey to treat rosacea will mix it with some coconut oil and use it as a moisturizer. In my area, odorous ants are a problem in the spring and summer. I won't put honey on my face and leave it there. If I do, they come crawling up my body to find it when I'm outside gardening. I only use it as a facial mask that is rinsed off after half an hour.

What Rosacea Products That Include Honey Are Available?

One of the best moisturizers I've found is ResQ Organics With Manuka Honey Skin Treatment. It has no parabens or ingredients that irritate my skin. Main ingredients are aloe vera, coconut oil, hemp seed oil, and manuka honey.

Manuka Hney

I also do daily manuka honey face masks. InnisFree It's Real Squeeze Mask: Manuka Honey is a good one. The honey is the only ingredient. I do it before getting into the shower each morning. The honey is pretty sticky, so I avoid a lot of clean-up by washing it off in the shower.

How About Honevo for Rosacea?

You can't buy Honevo on Amazon. You must order it straight from HoneyLab in New Zealand. I did buy a tube when it first came out. It's a medical grade kanuka honey - supposedly more powerful than the similar manuka honey - product that is designed to help with rosacea. After weeks of use, I found it helped slightly, but not enough to pay for the Honevo and shipping from New Zealand. That's when I switched to manuka honey.

My own opinion is that Honevo has promise, but it's too expensive for me. I buy a tub of manuka honey at my local Costco for $40. It saves me the shipping. If you don't have a Costco membership, no problem. Wedderspoon 100% Raw Manuka Honey KFactor 16 is sold on Amazon for close to the same price. If you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll even get free shipping.