I decided to talk about my experience with honey and touch on a few questions that inevidably come up whenever I mention honey to my friends and family.
First question:
...but isn't honey sticky?
Answer:
Yes, yes it is. But once you add water to it or a water based product, the sticky quality of honey seems to simply "melt" or mix right into the product. It no longer has that sticky, viscous property and tends to blend quite nicely. Don't believe me? Try it. Take a dab of honey and play with it on your hand. Touch it, feel the sticky nature of it. Now...add a few drops of water to it, rub the water into the honey...does it still feel sticky? Well, maybe it does if you have more honey on your hand than water, but if you try my suggestion of mixing 1 part honey to 4 parts water or a water based product, you should find that the stickiness has essentially dissolved - or rather evolved into something perhaps a bit sweeter;0).
Second question:
...but won't it attract bugs?
Answer:
Well technically, yes. It could potentially attract bugs, but no more so than any other of the lovely products on the market that include honey as an ingredient or for that matter any other sweet "smelling" ingredients. For example, Darcy's Botanical Avocado Honey Twisting Creme, Oyin's Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner, Qhemet Biologics Olive and Honey Hydrating Balm, or MyHoneyChild Honey Hair Creme. I always have to smile when people ask me this question, because more often than not, if I asked them if they would be willing to try the above products, they would more than likely nod an unequivocal "yes!", without even really thinking twice about it. But if I suggest they try adding a little honey to their leave-in conditioner, the same people tend to cringe, look with skepticism, and then concede that adding honey on their own to their own leave-in is just perhaps, a little more than frightening.
But does honey really attract bugs? Well, I guess it would depend on where you are. Are you lying on an ant mound in the middle of summer at a picnic? In that case, yes, yes you probably will attract bugs. Are you sitting in a field, at dusk just after you've stirred up all the knats by running a kite? Then yes, yes it probably will attract bugs. But I suppose it would be no more so than the amount of bugs you would stir up after lathering up with a heavy layer of Victoria Secret's Pure Seduction, and then going out to play soccer in the depths of a cow field. Obviously, there's no honey involved in the Victoria Secrets product, but sweet things attract bugs...shoot, stinky things attract bugs, LOL.
In my experience, however, since I have not engaged in the aforementioned activities or at least not to the extent that I have described, I can not say with 100% certainty that if you put honey in your hair, or apply perfume to your skin, or if *ahem* the "natural" smell of you emanates from your pores that you won't attract bugs. Anything it possible. Personally, I've never put my head on an ant mound, but I have run a kite in a field and stirred up the knats. I've done this with honey in my hair and without. So I can tell you that the knat "attack" was equally irritating either way. I stirred them up...they were not happy...I irritated them...they irritated me, honey or no honey, I was in their domain...they took revenge... case closed. For the most part though, Just doing my daily routine, that is my daily tasks out and about, I can tell you quite earnestly that I have not attracted any bugs to my hair by applying honey as my leave-in. I have, on the other hand, been almost eaten alive while playing golf after lathering my legs with Vasoline Intensive Care Aloe Fresh. The mosquitos didn't care a whole lot about my TWA, LOL, but they sho was happy knawing on my freshly lotioned calves:0).
Third question: Isn't honey a humectant? Won't it dry my hair out?
Answer:
Well, it is possible that it might dry your hair out. I mean, anything is possible. For example, technically, cowashing is supposed to add more moisture to your hair and be a much healthier alternative to shampooing for curly hair. That is cowashing or low pooing or no pooing rather than cleaning my hair with products that contain SLS. But in my case, however, cowashing was a complete disaster. First off, I started shedding like a vitamin deficient Siberian Husky. In particular, I noticed my scalp feeling extremely sore and even noticed thinning along my hair line. NOT GOOD. Once I started shampooing again with an SLS product, my shedding slowed substantially and came into a more normal shed range (everyone sheds). Additionally, after I started shampooing, the soreness of my scalp became virtually none existent, and all of a sudden I had a lovely hallow of baby hairs spouting up all over my head to replace the large amount of hair I had lost due to shedding. Now, I could have continued to cowash and avoid SLS shampoo simply because everyone else seemed to think that cowashing is so fabulous. But thankfully, I didn't do that, I listened to my hair, and things turned out just fine. Lesson learned.
What does this mean as it pertains to honey? It means every head is different. My hair may love honey. Yours may not. Where honey allows my hair to stay moisturized for days, on your hair it might cause dryness , or frizz or any number of other things. There is always a chance it might not be a good fit for you. If you have been on your hair journey for even a short period of time, I'm sure by now it's become painfully clear that what works for one might not work for another. And especially if you tend to have "quirky" hair like mine - coarse, low porosity, and mega thick. To me, however, honey is such a natural and gentle alternative that it seems worth it to see if it's a good fit. Chances are you can try it once and know whether it's going to work for you. If it's a no go, then no harm done, but, oh Hunny OH, if it's a good fit. I think you're going to be truly thrilled.
Thanks for reading!
Ciao!!!
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