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Honey For Skin Care: Why We Love It
September is National Honey Month, making it the perfect time to talk about one of our favorite natural skin care ingredients: honey. While most people think of honey as something to drizzle into tea or over breakfast, around here, we think it deserves a spot in your skin care routine, too.
Honey has been used on the skin for centuries—and for good reason. It's a beautifully simple ingredient that brings several things to the table. It naturally attracts and helps retain moisture, and contains naturally occurring antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.
Those are exactly the kinds of qualities we love in an ingredient.
That's why honey has earned a starring role in two longtime In the Weeds favorites: Dollface Face Scrub & Mask and LOL Organic Sugar Body Scrub.
But not just any honey.
At In the Weeds, we use organic, raw, unfiltered honey, and whenever possible, we love sourcing our honey locally.
So, what makes this sticky little ingredient so special?
What Makes Honey So Good for Skin?
Honey is one of those ingredients that can do more than one job in a formula.
It helps attract and retain moisture. It naturally contains antioxidant compounds. It contains compounds with antimicrobial properties. And it pairs beautifully with exfoliating ingredients like sugar.
That’s a pretty impressive résumé for something you probably have sitting in your pantry.
But what we really love about honey is how well it fits our approach to skin care: effective ingredients without unnecessary complication, and exfoliation without being overly aggressive.
Let’s break it down.
Natural Humectant
Antioxidant & Antimicrobial Compounds
Gentle Pairing with Exfoliation
Honey is a Natural Humectant
One of our favorite things about honey is that it's a humectant, meaning it helps attract and retain moisture.
That's particularly important when we're talking about exfoliation.
Both Dollface and LOL use sugar to physically exfoliate the skin and help remove the buildup of dead skin cells that can leave skin feeling rough and looking dull.
But our goal has never been to scrub your skin into submission.
We want to remove what your skin doesn't need while helping it hold onto what it does: moisture.
Honey helps us strike that balance.
Instead of focusing only on exfoliation, we're pairing it with an ingredient that helps leave the skin feeling soft and conditioned.
Think of it as exfoliation with a softer landing.
Honey & Skin That's Prone to Breakouts
Here's another reason we love honey: it contains naturally occurring compounds with antimicrobial properties.
That makes honey a particularly interesting for skin that tends to experience occasional breakouts.
When customers come to me dealing with occasional breakouts, one of my favorite simple skin care suggestions is a raw honey mask.
Apply a thin layer of raw honey to clean skin, let it sit for a few minutes, and gently rinse it away with warm water.
No complicated routine. No attacking your skin because it dared to break out.
Because breakout-prone skin doesn't necessarily need harsher skincare. It can still be sensitive. It can still be dry. And stripping it of moisture or aggressively scrubbing it isn't always the answer.
Sometimes simple ingredients really are that good.
Why Raw, Unfiltered Honey?
There's a reason we're particular about the honey we use.
Highly processed honey is typically heated and filtered for consistency, clarity, and shelf appearance. Raw, unfiltered honey undergoes less processing, allowing more of the naturally occurring components of home to remain.
Honey naturally contains antioxidant compounds and other plant-derived components, in addition to its moisture-attracting properties.
For us, it comes down to a pretty simple philosophy:
If we're choosing an ingredient because of what it naturally brings to a formula, we want to keep it as close to its natural state as reasonably possible.
Why Honey + Sugar Works So Well Together
Sugar provides physical exfoliation, helping loosen and remove dead skin cells from the surface.
Honey brings moisture and conditioning to the equation while adding those naturally antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds.
And sugar has another quality we love in an exfoliant: it gradually dissolves as you use it.
Together, honey and sugar give us a combination that can polish away buildup without making "scrub harder" the goal.
We want to polish your skin, not punish it.
"We want to remove what your skin doesn't need while helping it hold onto what it does: moisture." - Lika
Why We Put Honey in Dollface
Dollface Face Scrub & Mask was designed to be more than a basic face scrub—and honey is a big part of what makes that possible.
The combination of sugar and raw honey gives you two ways to use Dollface.
You can gently massage it onto damp skin for physical exfoliation, or leave it on for a few minutes and let it work as a mask before rinsing.
That second option is one of my favorites, particularly when skin is feeling blemish-prone.
Remember that simple raw honey mask we talked about earlier? Dollface essentially takes that idea and builds it into your regular skincare routine.
Scrub when your skin needs exfoliation. Let it sit when you want a mask. Or do a little bit of both.
One jar. Two jobs. And one very hardworking ingredient.
And Then There's LOL...
Because acne apparently didn't get the memo that it's supposed to stay on our faces.
Backs, shoulders, chests, and other areas of the body can deal with breakouts, clogged pores, and rough texture, too.
LOL Organic Sugar Body Scrub was created with exactly those concerns in mind.
Honey was a natural fit because it allowed us to pair exfoliation with an ingredient we already loved for skin that can be prone to blemishes. But there's another reason it works so beautifully in LOL: body scrubs can sometimes be aggressive.
There's a temptation to think that if a little exfoliation is good, scrubbing harder must be better.
Your skin would like a word.
LOL combines sugar and raw honey with lemon and lavender to give the body the same kind of thoughtful skin care we tend to reserve for our faces.
Different parts of the body. Different products. Same philosophy:
Breakout-prone skin deserves care—not punishment.
Why We Love Local Honey
We also love using local ingredients whenever it makes sense.
Not because "local" magically changes what honey does for your skin, but because we believe there's value in knowing where our ingredients come from and supporting the communities around us.
Choosing locally produced honey means a shorter journey from hive to product while supporting local beekeepers—and the incredibly important pollinators behind it all.
During National Honey Month, that's something worth celebrating.
Simple Ingredients Can Do Big Things
One of the philosophies behind In the Weeds has always been that skin care doesn't have to be complicated to be effective.
Sometimes an ingredient humans have been using for thousands of years still deserves its spot on the shelf.
Honey attracts and helps retain moisture. It contains naturally occurring antioxidants. It contains compounds with antimicrobial properties. It pairs beautifully with exfoliating ingredients. And it allows us to formulate products for breakout-prone skin without forgetting that skin still deserves to be treated gently.
That's why you'll find organic, raw, unfiltered honey inside Dollface and LOL.
It's not there because it sounds sweet.
It's there because it earned its spot in the jar.
Happy National Honey Month. 🍯🐝
Handcrafted with organic sugar, raw honey, organic lemon juice, and essential oils, this formula gently resurfaces, clears, and deeply nourishes your skin in one simple step.
A rich, whipped blend of exfoliating sugar, soothing oils, and pure essential oils designed to leave your skin soft, hydrated, and glowing. Whether you're targeting ingrown hairs, keratosis pilaris, or just dry, rough patches—this natural body exfoliator is your new shower essential.
Elevate your skin care routine with our exclusive bundle, featuring 3 of our most nourishing face care products. Designed to cleanse, exfoliate, and hydrate, this trio will leave your skin glowing and refreshed.
About Us
In The Weeds creates handcrafted, cruelty-free skin care using premium botanicals, butters, and essential oils. Every product is formulated with intention—free from parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrance (EDCs), and aluminum.
We believe in caring for your skin—and the planet—with equal intention. 🌿
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