Homemade Aloe Vera Gel
Once a month, Heather from Tea With Me will be guest posting here on Show + Tell by focusing on a specific herb and showcasing their properties and medicinal uses. Not only do I love Heather’s photography and insight but her writing style draws me in every time! Enjoy and be sure to welcome Heather in the comment section!
Does anyone remember Excel’s Inferno gum commercials? I would always sing “Burn baby burn excel inferno!!” and K would correct me constantly. As we dive into summer, it’s inevitable that someone is going to get sunburned, especially when you are as fair as I am.
Known as Cleopatra’s beauty secret aloe vera is almost a mystical healing plant famously known for its capability to heal sunburns, but it also boosts immunity and has anti-inflammatory properties. Originally found in North Africa you can find your own little plant in most nurseries.
Would you be surprised if I told you aloe vera gel was clear? If not, why put a gel with green dye and perfumes on the largest organ you have? Not only does it have dye, but that green Banana Boat goop has SD Alcohol 40, Glycerin, polysorbate 2, and more. Making your own homemade aloe vera gel could not be any easier.
What You’ll Need:
- Aloe Vera Leaf
- Coconut Oil
- Vitamin E (optional)
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Spoon
- Bowl/Blender
Since the amount of gel from a leaf can vary please use a 2:1 ratio between the aloe vera and coconut oil.
Note – A blender will make the lotion a lot smoother than smashing the aloe vera gel with a spoon or mortar and pestle.
Clean your hands and workspace thoroughly, you don’t want to have your homemade aloe vera salve contaminated. Choose a large succulent leaf from the base of the mother plant and slice off. Lay it down on the cutting board and slice the length of it without cutting all the way through.
In between the skin and the gel, there is a yellow residue; I find it helpful to let this drain. Once that is done peel back the edges and scoop out the gel with a spoon.
Add it to either a blender (if you wish to have it smoother) or mash it with a spoon and a bowl (or mortar and pestle). Mix in coconut oil and vitamin E, which is optional, and rub on to the burned area. If you have leftovers store in an airtight container in the fridge, aloe vera gel/salve always feels better cool on hot skin!
Coconut oil is a very effective moisturizer especially for dry skin. Like aloe vera, coconut has healing properties for skin problems such as eczema and others. If you will be using the entire amount right away feel free to skip the vitamin E. It helps preserve the salve a little longer in the fridge.
A Consideration
A weekly email where I share things that made me stop and consider. Never sponsored, no affiliate links.
Comments (48)
-
-
-
Deanna
My mother always snipped off some of her aloe plant and rubbed it on my cuts and scrapes when I was a child. Now, as an adult plagued with eczema, it’s funny that it never occurred to me to use aloe for healing. I’ll be looking for a plant this weekend.
Looking forward to future posts from Heather!
-
Thanks for the comment, Deanna! I hope it helps. And I agree with you – so excited about future posts from Heather.
-
Awww thanks Deanna!
The bf suffers from eczema as well and when he tested the product he noticed the rashes on his fingers actually felt better the next day.
-
-
Pingback: Aloe Vera Salve | Tea with Me
-
-
-
I have very bad eczema, and have my whole life. I never thought to use aloe for that! Thanks for the little recipe and suggestion. I’m gonna try and find a plant soon…or maybe my mother-in-law has one!! :)
-
Hi Shaina, I would love to hear how your eczema heals with the aloe. K is my test subject, but I’m sure he will get tired of me asking how the aloe is working lol
I’m not a 100% sure about this, but you could always try finding pre bottled aloe vera gel at a natural health store or you could try soaking your hand a bit in some aloe vera juice. I read somewhere that they used to pour the juice into baths and soak in it for sunburns.
In premade aloe vera gel you usually find – colouring, preservatives, a thickener (the above recipe is thinner than premade stuff), and a few other things to make the product “feel nice”. If you go the pre-bottled way, look at the ingredients and make sure it’s relatively pure aloe. If it’s green I wouldn’t want to be putting the dye chemicals on to open eczema wounds.
:)
-
-
-
This is such a good idea, making you’re own aloe vera gel! I want to go out and buy an aloe vera plant now. Heather, your photos are gorgeous.
-
Pingback: Wheat Grass Surprise
-
ryyth
thanks allison for this great post. i would love to know a few things more about it:
1. could you tell me how to get vitamin e? did u mean vitamin e capsule?
2. how long can this gel be stored in fridge?
3. if the yellow residue mixes with the gel, will it affect the quality of the gel?thanks again.
-
Arya
You can either get vitamin E oil, or use the gel from capsules.
-
-
Arya
One thing I didn’t do was heat up the coconut oil before hand. Doing so makes it 20x easier! I used a morder and pestle, and it worked great, thanks for the recipe! For those of you who don’t know, the easiest way to heat it up is by filling the sink up with hot water, then putting the jar in until the oil looks…l well, oily. Thanks again, Arya
-
-
-
-
Hello! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the excellent job!
-
-
cassandra
if using as a antinflammtory how many time sould be used in day
-
-
Jean
Hi Heather,
I might need a bit more instruction about this. I warmed the Coconut oil gently then mixed it with the Aloe Gel but it wouldn’t blend together. The Coconut oil solidified on the top and the gel was underneath. Your advice would be appreciated??
Jean -
-
It’s really interesting how aloe vera can be mixed along with other ingredients. Thank for posting this! The coconut oil, I believe is a great remedy too for other skin diseases like fungus and bacteria.
-
-
This is seriously an exemplary post. Thanx for sharing.
My mother used to tell me benefits of this MIRACLE STUFF “Aloe Vera”. And here I got a great way to prepare in home itself. Good Idea to make fresh and natural ALOE VERA GEL. :) -
-
Bee MAnalang
Thanks for this post , I’m searching natural remedies for my son’s allergy /eczema and this is it ! He’s been sick and tired of dr’s meds . Will try this out .
-
-
Ping
Mine became frothy after blending and it did not dissipate. Why is that? Is the froth part of the cream?
Also, the result is a sticky gel and not like those non sticky commercial gel consistency, right? -
ana
i did my aloe vera gel.It became like waters.and in fridge it becamed red.i didint used vitamin e.Can i use it now.or i have to do another gel.
-
-
-
rachel
Can this be applied on hair?
-
I didn’t know that Aloe Vera can be used for treating eczema.thank you for all this is very valuable information in your post.I also like to share some of my information on that would be a great value to all your readers.
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/benefits-of-aloe-vera/
-
Just desire to say your article is as surprising.
The clearness in your post is just great and i can assume you’re
an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let
me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the rewarding work. -
Thanks for sharing such a great information about aloe vera. It really seems to be a wonder plant.
-
Sarah
Thank you for the herbal recipes!! It’s rare to find all natural recipes that don’t end up having man-made, processed ingredients. Do you have any suggestions for reference books on herbology/botany?
-
-
Incredible, marvelous website . gulet charter turkeystructure! The length of time have you been blog intended for? you made blogging and site-building look straightforward. Your entire look within your website is amazing, as perfectly for the reason that written content!
-
-
Zoe
Your website is fantastic! I am in need of a bit of advice. I made my first batch of aloe vera gel today and I used both the Vitamin C and E because another website (which I will never again refer to) suggested both. My dilemma now is how to fix too much oil in the mix. Can it be fixed or is this one a do over?
-
Kaye Loffler
Thank you so much for the recipe, and I will use it. I have often sliced a part from my plant for burns etc in the past, mind you when I remembered that it was in my garden. I have just been up north of Australia on holiday and was plagued with sand flies. I had gone to the chemist for a cream while in Broome. N.T. After two tubes I really don’t think it helped. I still scratched continuously until I thought of my aloe vera. I am positive it stopped all itching immediately. I often give plants away from my main plant as they continuously grow small babies as I call them.
Heidi
This is great! We have the biggest aloe plant ever. The leaves are as big and long as my arms! I’ve been meaning to figure out how to make something of this sorts, so the tutorial was just what I needed!