Aloe Vera Skin Care

Aloe Vera is a succulent plant that originated in the arid areas of North Africa and the Middle East. It is one of several hundred Aloe plants that are natives to many of the arid regions of the world, except Australia.
The beneficial part of the Aloe Vera plant is the sap, more commonly known as Aloe Vera Gel. This is a clear jelly like substance found in the leaves of the Aloe Vera plant.
Benefits of Aloe Vera
For thousands of years the healing benefits of aloe vera has been known by the people of North Africa and the Middle East. Aloe Vera Gel was used by traditional medicine practitioners to treat sun burn, serious burns, cuts, wounds, infections, dry skin, and many other skin problems. Drinking Aloe Vera Gel also was used to treat all types of mouth, gum and dental problems, improving digestion, and general infections.

Aloe Vera Skincare
Aloe Vera greatly improves the effectiveness of natural organic skincare products such as moisturisers and cleansers, as Aloe Vera Gel helps the body heal any minor skin damage for the sun, the ravages of time and our stressful modern life.
Some of the common uses of Aloe Vera in skincare include
• Treating minor burns, rashers, abrasions and other wounds;• Moisturising and rehydrating dry, cracked and damaged skin;• Improving the texture and complexion of skin;• Smoothing of wrinkles and stretch marks;• Treating acne and other minor skin disorders; and• As a hair wash to reduce dandruff and other scalp problems
Aloe Vera Products
Over the past 20 years the Aloe Vera market has expanded greatly. Originally only available through health food stores and naturopaths, Aloe Vera products are now available across an array of outlets including pharmacies and supermarkets.
Although this growing awareness of Aloe Vera’s healing properties has greatly increased the number of Aloe Vera products available, not all of these new products are as good as they seem. Some contain such small amounts of Aloe Vera Gel that it has little or no therapeutic value. Others use clever marketing tricks such as using the word Aloe as part of their brand name, despite having no Aloe Vera in the product.
How do you tell a good Aloe Vera product?
This can be difficult, but some things you can do are:
• Read the product label and ingredients section.
• All products must now list ingredients using Latin name. The Latin for Aloe Vera is Aloe Barbadensis.
• If Aloe barbadensis leaf gel, extract or juice is the first or second product on the ingredients list that means that there is a higher percentage of Aloe Vera in the product.
• Avoid products where Aloe Vera is not mentioned until much later in the ingredients list. This means the product has little Aloe Vera in it.
• Look for products that are Certified Organic
Some of the common natural and organic products that include Aloe Vera include Gel, Moisturizer, Cleanser, Wash, Creams and more.