There are several health benefits of honey. For the beauty conscious, honey has applications in skin care, weight loss as well as hair care. (Read the articles on home remedies for weight loss using honey and home remedies for weight loss using honey and cinnamon.) Due to its anti-bacterial property as well as high content in essential minerals and vitamins, honey can be put to multiple uses for hair care. Some of them are listed below-
Honey as Hair Conditioner: Put one spoon of organic or natural or Manuka honey in one litre of luke-warm water and mix it well so as to form a homogeneous liquid. Use this liquid to rinse your hair, leave it on for 15 to 30 mins and wash it off. Note that water should be lukewarm and not hot as hot water increases hair loss as well makes the honey toxic by disintegrating it. Honey gives the hair a shiny look due to its moisturizing properties and keeps the scalp clean.
Honey for Dandruff, Itchy Scalp, Seborrhea:Due to the anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant properties of organic honey, it has remarkable success in treating dandruff, seborrhea, and other scalp conditions such as itchy scalp, inflammation, lesions. This has been well established by scientific research conducted by the Dubai Specialized Medical Centre in which American doctors concluded that honey was found to effectively treat seborrheic dermatitis of scalp and scaling of individuals.
Add two spoons of natural or organic honey and add half a cup luke-warm water and mix them well. Apply this diluted honey to scalp and massage for 2-3 minutes. Leave it one for one hour. In case of extreme infections, leave for two hours. Wash off scalp and hair later on. Doing this every week will prevent relapse of the scalp infections.Thus by improving the scalp condition, honey contributes to the control of hair loss.
Honey for Hair Growth:Mix one tablespoon natural or organic honey or Manuka Honey with one tablespoon of olive oil and one teaspoon cinnamon powder. Apply this mixture on scalp and massage for 2-3 minutes. Leave it on for around 30 minutes and then wash it off. Regular usage will promote good growth of hairs and controls hair loss
Honey for Bald Patches: Rub a piece of onion or apply onion juice on the bald patch on the scalp and massage for 3-5 minutes. Due to increased blood circulation in the area, the bald patch becomes red. Apply a small amount of honey on the area, leave for about 20 minutes and then wash off. One can also use garlic in place of onions.
One can also mix 40 ml of onion juice with one tablespoon of natural or organic honey or Manuka honey and directly apply the mixture on the bald patches. Massage gently for 3-5 minutes and leave for 20 minutes and then wash off. One can see hair growing back only in certain types of bald patches. Nonetheless, if you have a bald patch, it is worth a try and has no harm.
Honey to Rejuvenate Coloured Hairs: Sometimes artificial colours appied on the hair can make hairs rough and dull due the presence of strong chemicals in them. In such cases applying honey to hair can make them shiny, lustrous and give a new life to dull hairs. Simply dip your finger tips in organic or natural honey and gently massage them at the hair roots. Leave for 20 minutes and wash off. Continue this every day. If you have long hairs and do not wash your hair every day, then use this 2-3 times a week.
Honey in Hair Care Products: Honey is also one of the main ingredients in several natural haircare products such as shampoos, hair lotions and hair creams. You can also your own value-added shampoo at home. Just take any natural, mild shampoo. Add olive oil and organic or natural honey to the bottle of shampoo. Use this regularly for washing your hair. This provides natural conditioning to hairs.
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