Washing hair with honey only?

[Konstifik]

I love washing my face with honey, leaves the skin smooth and soft. So I thought of experimenting with it on the scalp as well.
I know that some like to dillute the shampoo with honey, or wash with honey + conditioner. But how about ONLY honey? Anyone tried that, and if so, how did you do it and what was the result?

I'm going to try it next wash, unless all I hear is bad "reviews" :) (not today though, tomorrow I've got a job interview, and I'm not going to go there with a surprise resulted hair experiment ;) )

Update: I have now tried a few washes with honey only. It did nothing for me though, it was just like washing with water only. Bleh, disappointed. >.<

[SnowWhite]

I'm also very curious... Honey as face wash works so well indeed.
Perhaps I'll try to do it tomorrow.

[Konstifik]

I'm also very curious... Honey as face wash works so well indeed.
Perhaps I'll try to do it tomorrow.

If you do, please report back! :)

[pelicano]

I use honey as a face wash now, and I love it. I find it leaves too much residue on my hair though.

[Konstifik]

I use honey as a face wash now, and I love it. I find it leaves too much residue on my hair though.

Does it leave a residue on the scalp as well?

[Intotouch]

Hi. When you put honey on your skin does it wash off with water alone?

What concerns me with honey is getting it out of hair if its by itself. Will you use shampoo or conditioner to get it out?

[Konstifik]

Hi. When you put honey on your skin does it wash off with water alone?

What concerns me with honey is getting it out of hair if its by itself. Will you use shampoo or conditioner to get it out?

It works absolutely fine with only water to rinse honey off the face. Just like an ordinary facewash. :)

(My method: Dampen the face with some water, smear honey on it, wait roughly 5-10 mins, rinse it all off)

I'm going to use water only for rinsing out the honey from the hair as well (or, I'm only going to apply it directly to the scalp, only letting the rinsed honey touch the hair length itself). If the honey doesn't come off as easy from the scalp as it does from the face, I'll shampoo it.

[pelicano]

Does it leave a residue on the scalp as well?

I'm not sure, to be honest. I think it does leave a bit of residue on the skin in general (which is probably a good thing on the face).

[CSallaround]

I actually mix a bit of honey in my moisturizer along with a bit of arganoil. I use it mostly at night cos it can feel a bit sticky, depending on how much honey you use, but my skin just feels AMAZING the next morning (absorbs completely), and it helps with any kind of blemishes I have. I don't get why I didn't get the idea earlier, cos it just works wonders for my skin.

I've never tried using honey as shampoo though, but I use it in deep conditioning treatments from time to time.

[longhairedleah]

That sounds amazing, I also use honey on my face (and wash with water only). I just can't imagine getting it onto my scalp without something to dilute the stickiness.

Maybe mixed with aloe or something? ... And do you think if I massaged oil on my scalp, it would get it out? I don't have oily skin, so I'm not sure how good it is at getting oils off....

[Shatam1]

I used to put honey in my henna but it made my hair really limp. I think it leaves too much residue on hair and it needs to be shampooed off, but that is my experience and not everyone's the same:)

[ratgirldjh]

I've done washing hair with honey only. It works quite well the first few times then my hair seemed to get build up. I think it might work for a few washes and then another wash may be needed.

Also I never tried doing an ACV rinse after - this might take care of the build up?

My hair and skin really doesn't like honey much though so this could have been my problem. I do use it for animal bites, cuts etc. though - and it is pretty much the only thing I use for these things any more - works great!

[Konstifik]

So there's a risk of build up then. I think I'll do an ACV rinse afterwards, maybe that could prevent at least some build up. Oh well, time will tell! I'll conduct the experiment in the weekend. :)

[writer_mom]

Let me know what happens :P. I am very interested in this and the honey face wash. I have skin acne issues still and I am suspecting that I am just sensitive to chemicals being they leave me dried out. Though, it might be the fact that my water is hard too. I wish you the best of luck :D

[Amber_Maiden]

Yep, I did a few washes with honey only- which amounts to a few weeks with washing my hair once a week. It works well, but I couldn't keep doing it- I have WAY too much hair and I need quite a bit to get my hair clean.

[JellyBene]

OOOO what in interesting concept! I love shampoo alternatives, will be watching this thread

[earthnut]

Honey is a humectant, and humectants can sometimes make hair frizzy, especially in very dry or humid weather. However, I think an oil+honey treatment would be fab. I've used oil+honey as a leave-in on dry hair. I only used a little, much like pure oil. I'm not sure there was much difference from pure oil though.

[jaquelines]

I add honey to my egg shampoo, I do SMT, but I think , by noticing that when I put too much in SMT, my hair gets sticky, that it would get even more stickier if I would alone.

[PolarCathy]

I did honey "washes" years ago when I couldn't do anything else with the wax while I was hardcore water-only. Did it maybe four or five times total so I don't know about buildup. It always left my hair amazing but was afraid of the lightening effect and at that time I dind't know about the microwave thing while I had first-hand experiences of the bleaching effect :/
But I needed sick amounts of honey so it was expensive and sticky. Paying for my hair to be a sticky mess? ;) Even though my hair wasn't even APL it was very very dense and I needed so much honey...

[Deborah]

I don't wash my hair with honey, but I understand that it can gradually lighten the hair color. As a brunette, this does not interest me. For a blonde this might be fine.

Somewhere I read that if you cook the honey a little it won't have this bleaching effect. Others probably can address this issue.

I have wondered though whether honey only lightens dyed hair, or if it can actually lighten one's natural hair color. Since I'm not sure that it cannot lighten natural hair color, I just avoid it.

[PolarCathy]

I have wondered though whether honey only lightens dyed hair, or if it can actually lighten one's natural hair color. Since I'm not sure that it cannot lighten natural hair color, I just avoid it.

It did lighten my natural hair yes. And now I know I can microwave it for a few seconds but back then I didn't know it.

[Amber_Maiden]

I don't wash my hair with honey, but I understand that it can gradually lighten the hair color. As a brunette, this does not interest me. For a blonde this might be fine.

Somewhere I read that if you cook the honey a little it won't have this bleaching effect. Others probably can address this issue.

I have wondered though whether honey only lightens dyed hair, or if it can actually lighten one's natural hair color. Since I'm not sure that it cannot lighten natural hair color, I just avoid it.

If you cook/microwave the honey it looses its peroxide content and won't lighten your hair.

[ratgirldjh]

Yep, I did a few washes with honey only- which amounts to a few weeks with washing my hair once a week. It works well, but I couldn't keep doing it- I have WAY too much hair and I need quite a bit to get my hair clean.

^^^ LOL This is so true!!! I ended up getting cheap honey and then I had to dilute it or I would use like 1/4 or more of a honey bear (cheap local wildflower honey :D) each wash! My hair was several inches from waist at this time.

Can't wait to see how you like it. The cheaper honey worked better for me than the 100% unfiltered raw honey - probably because the 100% unfiltered raw honey has tiny particles of beeswax in it! Not good for cleaning hair! :) Plus the cheap honey is a little runnier... but I still needed to add some water to get it to spread well.

[lolot]

i dont wash it but put it as an humectant after washing my scalp with shampoo, i like it because my head tends to get dry and it leaves my scalp and hair soft

[lolot]

I don't wash my hair with honey, but I understand that it can gradually lighten the hair color. As a brunette, this does not interest me. For a blonde this might be fine.

Somewhere I read that if you cook the honey a little it won't have this bleaching effect. Others probably can address this issue.

I have wondered though whether honey only lightens dyed hair, or if it can actually lighten one's natural hair color. Since I'm not sure that it cannot lighten natural hair color, I just avoid it.


when i read about honey lightening i thought it wasnt possible so i used it and my dyed hair started to get light so i putted only in my virgin hair to lighten it and match a bit the color, i did this for once a week during 5 months, and nothing, my virgin hair did not get any lighted at all

[Words]

I really like washing my hair with honey, but I have been WO for a while now. I'm kind of tired of washing with only water, so my next wash will be with honey. :) It makes my hair so soft!

[earthnut]

Member hoolahooper did honey only for a while. Here is here post about it from the WO thread: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1112893&postcount=934

[natural_shine]

I do o honey hair mask once in a while, but to wash my hair with honey...

NO

Because: I think it's a big nasty thing to WASTE. And with honey, the nastyness is way bigger, because... just think about how much the poor little bees worked for that honey. Wasting it is so wrong!

[Konstifik]

Original post now have my result after a few washes of honey.

[Konstifik]

I do o honey hair mask once in a while, but to wash my hair with honey...

NO

Because: I think it's a big nasty thing to WASTE. And with honey, the nastyness is way bigger, because... just think about how much the poor little bees worked for that honey. Wasting it is so wrong!

Let me tell you, if the honey had worked on my scalp as it does on my face, it would be my most treasured hair product in the whole world, as I have huge problems with my scalp and nothing so far has soothed it even the slightest bit.
If the honey had worked on my scalp, I would never in my life consider it a waste. It would have improved my life quality a lot. But even if it doesn't work for me, it might work for someone else, and that wouldn't be a waste either. :)

[Katze]

I've done it because brown sugar is even more precious and hard to get than honey here (I can only get the real, moist brown sugar from a special Portuguese/Latin American store) and I wanted to try crystallized honey on my scalp in place of a sugar scrub.

Like you I get great results from honey masks on my face; I've been doing them for decades. Honey on my hair - eh, I don't remember it being particularly remarkable, and as someone said, it is much too precious a product to use if not needed (bees dying worldwide, honey prices going up...). For some reason I never used it again.

SMTs, however, are wonderful for my hair. The conditioner seems to be enhanced by the honey, and they always help calm my itchy, crusty, sensitive scalp.

The bleaching thing is something I simply cannot believe in, based on the evidence I have personally seen. Honey has not bleached the sun damage spots off my skin; my eyebrows have gotten darker, not lighter, during years of henna use, and SMTs have never bleached my hair. Nor have any of my dark colored towels, bathroom rugs, or pieces of clothing been bleached by honey, as they would with real hair bleach products.

I know many LHCers disagree with me but because I did controlled experiments many years ago on my and DH's hair, I believe am entitled to say that I do not think the negligable amount of peroxide in honey can actually bleach hair.

[natural_shine]

I agree with you about honey.

I do honey masks cause it makes my hair shiny, but it hasn't lighten it at all, though I have virgin hair.

I think people who claim that honey has done some lightening... it's just autosuggestion working in their mind. And for the pics... sory, as far as I can see, it's just a mather of light and/or pisition of the camera.

[Vrindi]

Last night, I did my first honey shampoo. I mixed 1-2 tablespoons of raw honey with warm filtered water and a few drops of tea tree oil. I've been having dry, itchy scalp, so I thought this would help. Then I massaged the mixture into my roots, let it sit a few minutes, and rinsed it out.

Instantly, my scalp felt better. It's less irritated today. I feel like my hair is nice and clean (although I over-oiled the ends--oops!). I'm going to continue with the honey washes to see how it goes, with a sulfate-free shampoo when needed. I'll update.

Here is the link that inspired me to try this:
http://marialivingandlearning.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/wash-your-hair-with-honey/