After reading about all of the amazing natural properties of pure maple syrup from my review of Mohawk Valley’s Maple Syrup (click here to read) I had the thought that I usually get when it comes to super foods.. What happens if I put it on my face?

A quick Google search revealed that maple infused beauty boosters are hitting the market, in a big way. Most notably in their role as skin healthy anti-wrinkle agents!

To use maple syrup in a skin care routine, simply substitute your favorite at home beauty recipes that feature honey with maple syrup on occasion.

Your skin actually LIKES when you mix up its “food”. Your skin is an organ, and just like your stomach, it benefits when you rotate its source of nutrients. In fact your skin can actually get chemically reliant on your cleansing agents – even natural ones! – if you don’t change it up now and again. So next time you reach for the honey for skin care, give your skin a maple syrup treat instead!

For this blog post, I’m focusing on a very popular – and very simple! – face mask that usually involves honey and aloe vera gel. But we’re going to substitute maple syrup! Check it out!

Maple Syrup For Skin Care

Similar to honey, Maple Syrup is packed with antioxidants. When used as a topical treatment, it packs a powerful anti-aging punch.

This natural sweetener features over 54 antioxidants that can help delay or prevent diseases, skin aging and skin wrinkling caused by free radicals. Pure maple syrup has the same beneficial classes of antioxidant compounds found in berries, tomatoes, tea, red wine, and flax seed – all super foods! (Canadian health organizations maintain that maple syrup IS a super food!)

Along with antioxidants, a recent study conducted by University of Rhode Island researcher Navindra Seeram, confirmed that maple syrup contains more than 20 health enhancing compounds, including minerals such as manganese, potassium, zinc, calcium, and skin-healthy vitamins A and B – all of which provide serious doses of anti-cancer and antibacterial properties.

Maple syrup also works as a great humectant for the skin. What this means is that maple syrup contains hygroscopic substances that help to keep skin moist. The chemical properties of maple syrup attracts and retains the moisture in the air nearby via absorption, drawing water vapor into and beneath the skin’s surface.

The humectant properties of maple syrup also work to increase the solubility of other ingredients, increasing their ability to penetrate the skin. (Since this face mask recipe uses aloe vera gel, the beneficial properties of aloe vera are amplified!)

Aloe Vera Gel For Skin Care

Aloe vera gel has been used as a healing salve since the ancient Egyptians called it the “plant of immortality” thousands of years ago. The aloe vera plant contains over 75 different nutrients including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, sugars, anthraquinones or phenolic compounds, lignin, saponins, sterols, amino acids and salicylic acid.

Aloe vera gel also contains a plethora of antioxidants including beta carotene and vitamin C and E, all of which help improve the skin texture and work to keep the skin hydrated. Aloe vera has some humectant properties, but when coupled with another powerful humectant, the aloe vera penetrates the dry skin cells deeply and works to keep them moist.

Aloe vera gel is especially beneficial for fighting wrinkles, as it contains polysaccharides like acemannon and other chemical constituents that stimulate skin regeneration and healing. It is also rich in phytochemicals known as mucopolysaccharides, which are rich in organic silicon. These compounds link with collagen, promoting the formation of new tissue. Aloe also has anti-inflammatory properties, calming skin inflammation caused by free radical damage.

Aloe vera gel also acts to prevent and help reverse skin damage from sunlight exposure!

How This Face Mask Fights Wrinkles

As the body ages the skin becomes thinner, drier and creases eventually begin to form. You always have the option of treating aging skin with Nexacell or a barrage of other anti-aging products. Before waging your war on wrinkles, it’s important to note that part of this skin aging process is simply inevitable. As you get older, cells produce more free radicals and collagen is broken down and there is nothing store bought, homemade, or found in a doctor’s office or lab that can change that simple fact.

But the good news is, you CAN slow, lessen and / or prevent some of the damage and appearance that comes with natural skin aging!

Keeping the skin lubricated and providing adequate nourishment, as well as compounds that will stimulate healing and the formation of new healthy cells can work wonders to fight wrinkles – and lessen the amount and appearance of wrinkles you may have.

Pure maple syrup and natural aloe vera gel has all of these wrinkle fighting properties. This face mask is a powerful natural moisturizer that works to smooth and soften the skin. It is also very nourishing, easily penetrating the skin with amino acids, minerals and enzymes.

You Will Need:

1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon of aloe vera gel

Mix the two ingredients together, and then either brush onto your skin with a cosmetic or food brush, or massage gently into your face with clean fingers. It goes on smooth and clear, your face should look slightly shiny and wet, like you just splashed water on it.

It’s sticky, and you’ll smell like you should be eating pancakes, but it’s otherwise light and inconspicuous. (Basically, you won’t freak anyone out if you answer the door in your bathrobe with this face mask.)

After about 5 minutes or so your mask should begin to dry and harden, and you’ll be able to feel it tightening up, pulling on your skin and tightening your pores.

Leave the mixture on for a total of 15-20 minutes, then rinse off with warm water. For extra moisturizing, you can follow with a regular moisturizer.

This face mask leaves skin smooth, glowing, and wrinkle-free! Give it a try!

Also, if you haven’t already, check out my Pure Mohawk Valley Maple Syrup Giveaway and enter to win! Raffle ends on till February 14, 2014!