Honey: Oh so sweet for an itchy scalp

I peered into my inbox today and I am going to have to dedicate some time to answering more questions! I have about 3 weeks of unreplied emails but I will reply!



This weeks I am starting with Lydia of fab blog Breakink New Ground



She says 'I would like to see more info on your blog about castor oil, molasses and honey!'



Castor oil was a little bit of a disappointment to be honest - see this post. However honey is more interesting! Quite often I see people talking about the humectant properties that honey may have. However, the science I have found is more encouraging for glycerin as a humectant. Natural hair treated with a humectant is unlikely to break prematurely meaning you will have to apply a substantial force to break it. Relaxing hair however takes away the effectiveness of the humectant in preventing hair breakage. (J. Soc.Cosmetic Chem, pg 39-52 , 1985).



Honey is however great for many reasons and some may apply to hair. One study on dandruff treatment gave some great insights into this (Eur J Med Res 2001, pg 306-308,2001). They used a mix of 90% crude honey in water applied on the affected area and left for 3 hours. They showed that honey



1. Stopped itching in one week

2. Stopped scaling in one week

3. Skin lesions (places where the skin had been cut) healed within 2 weeks

4. Patients thought that hair loss associated with the dandruff had improved

5. Honey treated patients showed no relapse after 6 months



Honey is thought to do this because


1. It has antibacterial and antifungal properties

2. It has antioxidant properties



So there we go, honey is good stuff!