Aloe for beauty: the easy ways to use it
The dark horse of “natural” beauty ingredients is definitely aloe. Everything from honey, turmeric, to even bee venom has had it’s time to shine. Now that people have finally realized aloe for beauty is a real thing, aloe filled products are hitting the shelves. Aloe can be a powerful ingredient, but it truly shines when you use the real stuff. Sure, you can use aloe for some pretty impractical stuff (we’ve seen articles on the joys of aloe goo as eyebrow gel, no thanks), but we’re covering the ten ways you can actually use aloe for beauty.
1. Soothing Stressed Skin
Everyone knows the calming, cooling sensation of applying aloe gel, especially to a fresh sunburn! But, do you know why it feels so good? Basically, aloe gel is mostly water, but the non-water components is what gives it that cooling sensation. The “dry matter” in aloe gel is mostly made of polysaccharides that help to bind the water to your skin giving you that cool feeling.
2. Light Moisture for Oily Skin
Aloe vera gel is actually almost entirely water. It consists of 99.1% water with the rest of that .09 as dry matter. But the gel texture is what really makes aloe gel suitable as a moisturizer for oily skin. The hydration you’ll feel isn’t strong but it is enough to help even out a combination skin type or help with an excessively oily T-zone.
3. Ease Pain
We all know the anecdotal evidence that applying aloe can ease the pain of minor burns and injuries. But, besides your grandmother telling you so, science also agrees. Granted, this test was using aloe to judge on healing and pain in canker sores (which do hurt quite a lot) not sun burns. But, the evidence found that against the control group aloe gave the patients significant pain reduction and worked equally as well as standard treatment.
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4. Aid Burn Healing
Obviously we all know that aloe feels nice on burnt skin. But besides it’s killer pain reducing properties, it also helps to speed up recovery time. A systematic review of burn healing found that using aloe gel to treat burns resulted in almost a nine day faster recovery time over the control group. This makes it an excellent option for treating minor burns at home.
5. Fight Acne
Although there can be many factors that contribute to acne like hormones, allergies, and stress, no one can deny that bacteria doesn’t help. Luckily, aloe vera gel has antibacterial properties. Added to it’s lightly moisturizing benefits, and it’s ability to help heal wounds (ie a popped zit) and aloe may just be your acne fighting all in one.
6. Anti-Aging Properties
Aloe is both hydrating and contains antioxidants in the form of vitamins A, C, and E. All of which makes it a good choice for natural anti-aging benefits. One study found that taking aloe internally (more on that in a bit) made a significant improvement in both wrinkles and skin elasticity.
7. Eye Makeup Remover
If you have sensitive eyes, finding an eye makeup remover that works for you can be a huge pain. So long as you aren’t allergic to aloe (which would be a bummer) you can use aloe gel as a simple eye makeup remover. Just apply a little gel to a cotton pad and swipe over your eyes. Sure, it’s not going to get off your toughest waterproof mascara, but regular mascara doesn’t stand a chance.
8. Fight Against Dandruff
Just as aloe gel can be helpful for soothing the skin on the rest of your body, it can also help for your scalp! If your dandruff is caused by a fungal infection, ring worm, or other more intense medical reasons, make sure you see a dermatologist first. But, for those with a simple case of dry, irritated scalp, aloe gel may just be the fix you need. From it’s moisturizing benefits we covered earlier, to those polysaccharides which can stimulate skin growth and repair, aloe is a dry scalp helper.
9. Decrease Inflammation
Skin inflammation from acne, small wounds, or even cold sores can be truly painful. We already know that aloe gel has pain reducing benefits, but it also helps in the inflammation arena too. A study found that using aloe gel had reduced inflammation equal to and in some cases better than 1% hydrocortisone cream.
10. Hydrate from the Inside Out
We’re finally covering ingesting aloe vera. Here’s the thing, aloe gel, we know is great externally. And we do know that it can help internally too! Just read up above how it aided in reducing wrinkles. It also has properties that can help blood circulation, internal inflammation, and constipation. But you can’t just take an aloe leaf to the blender. Aloe leaves have a layer of aloe latex between the hard green outside and the aloe gel on the inside. This latex is dangerous to ingest and is definitely a bad idea. Ingesting aloe internally can also interact with certain medications, so we suggest having a chat with your doctor before chugging a big glass of aloe juice.
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