We believe we can call aloe vera the queen of the cosmetics industry. A staple natural ingredient in skin, body, and hair care, aloe vera boasts countless benefits . Thanks to its vitamins and minerals, it repairs, moisturizes, refreshes, and even renews skin cells. In recent years, it has become a common ingredient in many products on the market. Aloe vera creams are even among the first choices for treating sunburns and wounds.
With its use dating back to ancient Egypt, where it was used for medicinal purposes, aloe vera has a long history. The plant's native habitat is North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Canary Islands. Today, aloe vera is cultivated in every tropical climate worldwide. In fact, many of us even have an aloe vera plant in our homes.
It's possible to make your own aloe vera cream with your potted plant. How? Keep reading.
What are the uses of aloe vera cream?
Aloe vera has many benefits for skin and hair. Firstly, thanks to its moisturizing properties, it can help prevent many hair and skin problems. Because it provides the skin with the necessary moisture, excess oiliness, acne, and blackheads can be eliminated with regular use. Due to its antiviral and antibacterial properties, it cleanses your skin and helps even out skin tone and reduce redness. Additionally, the vitamins and minerals it contains promote cell renewal in the skin.
It can prevent dry skin and also prevent peeling, flaking, and flaky appearance caused by dry skin. In addition to all this, it helps prevent burning and itching caused by skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. It can even reduce the burning sensation and soothe your skin when used for sunburns.
However, if your burns and skin conditions are severe, you should not use any product without consulting a doctor.
Moving on to its benefits for hair; we mentioned aloe vera's cleansing properties. This is one of the properties that works for both hair and scalp. It effectively cleanses hair strands and scalp, removes excess oil, and thus helps create more vibrant and shiny hair. Thanks to its content of vitamins A, C, and E, it nourishes and strengthens the hair.
With its vitamin B12 and folic acid content, it can prevent hair loss and thus help you have thicker hair. It also relieves itching in the scalp, just like its effects on the skin. Furthermore, one of the most popular properties of aloe vera in hair care is its ability to cleanse the hair and scalp, relieve itching, and help alleviate mild dandruff problems.
How to make aloe vera cream?
Yes, it's possible to make your own aloe vera cream at home. First, let's talk about how to extract the gel from your aloe vera plant.
Cut a large leaf from your aloe vera plant. If you take good care of it, leaves will continue to sprout and grow, so don't worry. Place the cut section upright in a deep glass container. This will allow some of the gel to drain out. After a while, remove the leaf and carefully peel off the outer membrane using a knife. You can keep the dark green part; the part you will use will be the soft, light green gel.
Blend the gel until it becomes a smooth, creamy consistency. Mashing it with a fork will also help. Since the aloe vera gel is already soft, stir it a little to prevent it from becoming lumpy. Now you can add various natural oils with different health benefits to make your cream.
Aloe vera cream for acne
After extracting your aloe vera gel, you can add a few drops of tea tree oil, which is quite beneficial for acne, to the gel. After mixing well, you can apply your aloe vera cream to your entire face or, using a cotton swab, apply it to the acne-prone areas.
Moisturizing aloe vera cream
You can make a cream by adding moisturizing natural oils to aloe vera gel, which is already known for its moisturizing properties. Natural oils such as coconut oil, jojoba, avocado, and almond oil would be effective for this. You can choose one of these oils or use all of them.
Soothing aloe vera cream
You can also prepare a soothing and skin-balancing aloe vera cream using natural oils such as lavender oil, avocado oil, or peppermint oil. However, if you are using lavender or peppermint oil, you must balance your cream using a carrier oil. Using these natural oils directly on the skin without dilution is not considered safe. Therefore, remember to add a few drops of olive oil or coconut oil to your cream.
You might also be interested in our article on aloe vera hair masks .
Important note: Although aloe vera gel is generally considered completely safe and does not cause allergic reactions, always perform an allergy test before using it. Every skin type is unique, and if you have very sensitive skin, it may not be suitable for you. To perform an allergy test, apply a small amount of the mixture to the inside of your arm and wait 24 hours. If you experience itching, redness, or tingling during this time, discontinue use.