You Need to See What Happened When This Woman Put Honey on Her Face

If you've ever dealt with breakouts, or skin rashes, or dermatitis—basically, anything even slightly annoying on your face—then you know how frustrating the process of curing it can be. Either you spend a bunch of money and time on dermatologist appointments, or you spend a bunch of money and anger on drugstore "miracles," or you give up and hide in a pit of self-loathing under your bed.

No? Just me? Cool. Welp, what if I told you that the fix for your skin woes is found in that sticky plastic bear in your cupboard? Because according to one woman who just posted an insane before-and-after photo on Reddit, the cure for her skin was a few dollops of good ol' honey.

In a post titled, "I cured facial sebhorreic [sic] dermatitis using a raw honey mask!" one user uploaded four photos of her skin before treatment, after one week, after two weeks, and after four weeks, with a hugely noticeable difference in each picture.

"I've struggled with an outbreak of facial sebhorreic [sic] dermatitis since April," the user writes, explaining how even multiple dermatology appointments and steroid cream prescriptions weren't giving her relief for her itchy, peeling seborrheic dermatitis, which is caused by an "overgrowth of yeast that's already naturally on all of our bodies," says dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD.

 So when the Reddit user found a small study that showed "30/30 patients had their condition disappear after using a raw honey mask for three hours every other night," she tested it out on herself. "After washing with mild cleanser, I massaged a thin layer of raw honey into the affected area and left it for three hours, simple as that," she writes. "I cannot believe how quickly and relatively painlessly this worked. I plan to continue the treatment every other or every third day until all traces of seb derm are gone, and then to continue weekly for six months, as the study indicates, to prevent it from coming back."

And if this sounds like complete bullshit to you—I get it. But there's actually some scientific proof of honey's magical powers for not only dermatitis, but for acne, too: "Honey does have known antibacterial properties," says Gohara, noting that although she usually treats seb derm with antifungal creams combined with intermittent cortisone cream, "honey could have an effect on yeast as well."

Of course, as with all medical and non-medical skin advice, remember that your mileage may vary, and though this user cleared her skin with a few dabs of honey (Nature's Nate's Honey (opens in new tab), to be exact), you may need some stronger ammo to treat your acne and rashes. Still, if you're not feeling the prescription life, try this easy DIY at home, first.

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