There are a lot of Aloe vera products in the market which claims to provide solutions to all your problems. But most of them contain artificial colors and preservatives along with aloe vera gel. If you have bought any aloe vera product you would have seen that they are green in color but actually, the gel is transparent. That green color is to provide the natural tone associated with the gel. These artificial colors can damage your skin.
The preservatives added into these products to prolong their life can also harm your skin. It would be best if you could plant an aloe vera in your home and extract its gel directly from it. This way you can be totally ensured about its quality and it will totally benefit you. If you can’t plant it then you can ensure the following checks before buying aloe vera products from the market.
1. Buy products with acemannan or beta 1-4 acetylated:
The IASC, International Aloe Science Council states that products containing acemannan or beta 1-4 acetylated glucomannans can truly be called as Aloe vera products. Acemannan is a naturally occurring polysaccharide that is present in Aloe vera and thus can be used to identify natural aloe vera. Products not containing Acemannan could not be considered as truly aloe vera based products.
2. Avoid bright green colored products:
Any product with aloe vera gel which looks bright green in color and has an instant cooling effect on your skin could possibly be synthetic color and alcohol. This could cause damage to your skin if used for a long time.
3. Check the ingredients of the product:
You should check the ingredients of the product first and foremost. If aloe vera is not the top ingredient on that list then its not the right one since the list is in descending quantity of the ingredients.
4. Read the label at the back of the product for harmful chemicals:
Look for added preservatives and chemicals along with aloe vera in the product. If any of them matches with these items then you should keep it away from your skin.
5. Aloe vera’s natural appearance is transparent:
You should avoid bright green colored aloe vera products since aloe vera is transparent appearance. Also, the percentage of aloe vera in the product should be at least more than 25 percent for the product to be effective.
6. Also, natural aloe vera gel is odorless, so if you smell any strong fragrances then better don’t use that product.
If you want, you can plant aloe vera in your house to stay at bay from the harmful products available readily in the market. Planting aloe vera would be a really great step but knowing how to extract the gel from the plant is equally important as applying it on your face. Keep the following crucial points in your mind before preparing aloe vera gel:
1. Wash your hands properly with cleaning agent before proceeding further on making the aloe vera gel. This could, in turn, keep your aloe vera gel from getting spoiled by the impurities present in your hands and thus making it last longer.
2. Cut a fresh stem from the bottom of the stem. Cut it from the node starting point of the stem.
3. After cutting the stem, you can notice a yellow color liquid flowing from the stem. Its called latex and should not be applied to the skin, This could cause skin irritation if present in the aloe vera gel. Keep the stem upright for 45 to 60 minutes so that the latex can get out of the stem totally. When you can notice that all the latex has left the stem, then start preparing the gel.
4. Cut open the aloe vera stem with a clean knife, remove the green covering of the plant. With the help of a spoon take out the gel from the plant. By this time you would notice that the gel is transparent in appearance and totally different than the products available in the market with green color.
BONUS TIP: You can add Vitamin E tablets to this extracted aloe vera gel to increase its life. By adding Vitamin E tablet to it, the gel can last up to 7 days. This would also increase the benefits of this plant. To mix both these ingredients, add them to a mixer or grinder jar and mix both of them. Store it in the refrigerator to increase life.
Summing up, take these precautionary steps before buying or making aloe ver gel to get the most benefits out of this magical plant.
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