You use WHAT to wash your face?!?!

Welcome to number two of my hippy, tree hugging blog posts. This post is all about how, again stemming from lack of money, I ditched chemical laden face washes and moisturizers and moved to all natural ingredients.

As I mentioned in my previous post on DIY Laundry Detergent, our two job household dropped down to one and we were looking at ways to save money. Besides making our own laundry detergent, we've started washing our face with honey. You read that right- sticky, sweet honey. When I tell people this, I usually get a reaction similar to if I had just said I like to kick puppies (I don't!). Yes, our family washes our faces with honey!

I came across a Facebook status update from a college friend that said something along the lines of "I just finished the two week Crunchy Betty Honey challenge and I'll never go back to regular face wash again!" I was immediately intrigued because face wash is EXPENSIVE! After questioning her about this, she sent me to this post from the Crunch Betty blog. Basically, you ditch your regular face wash for two weeks and wash your face with honey in the morning and right before bed! After reading all the glowing reviews from others who have tried this, I decided that the Woodman and I would as well. He was a little skeptical, as was I, but what could it hurt? We researched a little more and found out that honey is a natural, antibacterial substance. It kills all that bacteria hiding in your pores and causing pimples. It (while this sounds really weird) helps to dry up all the extra oil on your face and at the same time is very moisturizing! And to top it all off, it's completely natural!

So off to the grocery store we went to buy honey. You want to get raw and unfiltered honey. The honey in the plastic bear has been heated during processing and kills off all the good stuff that you want on your face. The raw honey is more expensive, but all you need is a little bit on your fingers and a bottle like shown in the picture above will last the Woodman and I about 2-3 months. We just keep this bottle in our shower. Be sure to keep the outside of the bottle free of any honey drips. You might end up with an ant problem in your shower like we did, not that I speak from experience!

The challenge listed on the Crunchy Betty site was to wash your face with honey twice a day for two weeks. Here are the directions to wash a makeup free face- put a small amount on your fingers, rub the sticky goodness all over your face, and rinse away (it comes off surprisingly easy!). You can just put it on and rinse it off, or leave it on for the duration of your shower and then rinse. I noticed a difference after the first wash! My face felt firmer and softer. After two weeks, my skin was the clearest I had ever seen it since puberty hit. The small patches of eczema that I had all over my face had cleared up and the skin was super soft. We were sold!

Now, if your face isn't makeup free, you need to add a few more ingredients.

In the first bottle is olive oil. Put a small amount of oil on a cotton ball and use as an eye makeup remover. A few swipes over your eyelids is all you need. To wash your face, put a small amount of honey onto a wet washcloth, and then put some baking soda onto the honey (the middle bottle). I keep the baking soda in a salt shaker for this purpose in my bathroom cabinet. Gently rub the honey and baking soda all over your face (avoid the eyes), and rinse! The baking soda will exfoliate your face and hurts if you rub too hard. The third bottle is apple cider vinegar (ACV). After drying off your face, put 2-3 drops on a slightly wet cotton ball and rub all over your face, steering clear of your eyes. The baking soda will dry out your face and the ACV is a toner that will even everything back out. 

The final step is moisturizing. Now, with using honey, you won't need much, if any at all. I like to use a small amount especially during the winter. After going through all these steps to clean your face without any chemicals, you don't want to ruin it in the last step with store bought lotion. 

To moisturize, we use a very small amount of coconut oil. Just get out a little bit and rub all over your face. It'll feel a bit greasy at first, but it'll soak in after a few minutes. I could write a whole other post on the wonderfulness that is coconut oil! It can be used in so many different ways. When I go to describe all the uses, the SNL skit Shimmer Floor Wax commercial comes to mind (it's a floor wax....and a dessert topping!) 

There you have it! In an attempt to be more frugal, we have eliminated all chemicals from our face washing routine. Give it a try for two weeks and let me know what you think!