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Aloe vera is a natural, affordable, and effective skincare ingredient, especially on your face! Learn about the many ways to utilize this amazing ingredient with the 10 best uses for aloe vera on the face. From burns to sun spots to dryness, aloe vera handles many of the common facial woes.
Aloe vera is incredibly popular in beauty and cosmetics for its stunning effects on skin health.
It is quite incredible just how many benefits aloe vera has on the skin, from healing to moisturizing.
Aloe gel can be used for wounds and cuts, as a moisturizer to restore hydration in the skin, to treat sunburnt areas, and more.
I love the aloe plant as well. It’s a beautiful addition to your home as a decorative and functional house plant!
All you have to do to harvest fresh aloe vera for your skin is snip a leaf off and squeeze out the gel. (Kids love doing this, FYI!)
In this post, I’ll share the ten best uses for aloe vera on the face.
You can choose the best way for aloe vera to work for you, depending on your preferred results. I’ll explain each and how to use it in the individual sections below.
What is Aloe Vera?
Aloe vera is a succulent plant native to Africa. Inside its tubular leaves is a medicinal gel that is used for a variety of skin-related issues. Aloe vera is widely used as an at-home remedy for burns, scrapes, skin inflammation, and dryness.
Aloe vera can be squeezed straight from the leaf of a fresh aloe vera plant or purchased in a bottle at most supermarkets or pharmacies. If you have a green thumb and want to grow your own aloe vera, this is certainly the easiest way to ensure your aloe vera has simple ingredients!
Ten Uses for Aloe Vera on the Face
Aloe vera has been described as “the miracle plant” and I can certainly understand why!
If you’ve only ever used aloe vera when you have a bad sunburn, you’ll be delighted to learn just how useful this plant is! These are my top ten uses for aloe vera on the face to benefit your skin health and treat minor skin issues.
Shaving Cream Alternative
Who knew?! When you run out of DIY shaving cream, grabbing some aloe gel is the perfect quick substitute.
No need to mix it with anything, just spread it on the skin as you would any shaving gel.
Simply squeeze the aloe gel from the leaf (or bottle) and smear it on the skin you want to shave.
Top tip: Be generous with the amount of gel you use, as the idea is to lubricate the skin for the prevention of razor burns and cuts.
Healing Minor Cuts
Note: Do not apply aloe vera to open wounds. It’s only suitable for minor cuts and scrapes!
Aloe vera is excellent to put on minor cuts and scrapes as it helps keep the skin hydrated and clean and supports the healing process.
I often put a small dab of aloe gel on my children’s grazed knees, and it soothes the pain immediately.
Reduce Burn Healing Time
As well as cooling the skin down after a burn (which helps to soothe the pain), aloe vera helps burns heal faster by stimulating new skin growth.
Aloe gel is believed to act directly on collagen production in skin cells, meaning the burn clears up quicker with less scarring.
It also adds moisture to burnt skin, which is desperately needed to help prevent dryness and peeling.
Reduce Wrinkles
Partly due to the moisturizing abilities of aloe vera and also its antioxidant levels, those with aging skin can breathe a sigh of relief when using aloe gel regularly.
It helps re-plump the skin while keeping deeper skin layers moisturized, all of which add to a more youthful appearance. I even use aloe vera in one of my anti-aging face serum recipes!
Soothe Sunburns
We’ve all felt the sting of red raw skin after a day on the beach, am I right?! All I’ll say is – feel the ease when you smear aloe vera gel on and let it sink in. Aloe vera is exactly what your sunburned skin needs to relieve pain and encourage healing.
For even more cooling relief, make sure to refrigerate your aloe gel so it’s ice cold when you apply it. The relief! It’s indescribable.
And it helps reduce peeling too! It makes the perfect addition to after sun spray.
Hydrate Skin
In summer, and indeed in winter, we’re all susceptible to skin changes as we cope with the harsh realities of extreme temperatures and humidity.
Which is exactly where aloe vera comes into its own.
It’s such a great natural moisturizer; being gel in texture, it sinks in and is readily absorbed by the skin, leaving little to no residue.
The use of aloe vera has been shown to result in plumper, healthier, moisturized skin. Try it on your skin and see for yourself how better nourished and hydrated your skin feels.
Even Skin Tones
Aloe vera can help with uneven skin tone, particularly if you’re battling age spots or sun spots, as well as sun pigmentation and dark spots.
Apply aloe to your dark spots a couple of times a day to encourage an even skin tone and bright, healthy skin.
Help with Minor Skin Conditions
Aloe vera contains anti-inflammatory properties, meaning it works great on troublesome skin prone to breakouts, eczema, itchiness, or insect-bitten skin.
Apply it regularly to aid with many of the common minor skin conditions you may run into. Just be careful not to use aloe gel if there are signs of an infection on the skin.
Treat Acne
Aloe vera has antibacterial properties that can help treat and prevent acne. It’s anti-inflammatory properties help calm the inflamed skin and soothe redness. Aloe vera is best applied directly to pimples and breakouts 3 times per day.
If you have mild to moderate acne, give aloe vera a try! It’s a simple ingredient to soothe irritated skin and reduce acne.
Face Cleanser
Lastly, aloe vera is a wonderfully simple facial cleanser!
Just use the gel, apply it gently in a circular motion (avoiding the eyes), then rinse off with warm water, or use a cloth to wipe it away gently.
If you want an aloe cleanser that’s packed with even more skin-beneficial ingredients, try DIY Face Cleanser with Aloe.
Expert Tips
Keep it simple: You’ll notice that many of the aloe vera gels at the store have a long list of additional ingredients. To avoid any unwanted ingredients and get the full benefits of the aloe, I recommend finding a brand with as few additives as possible.
Grow your own: If you want to skip the store altogether, consider growing your own aloe vera plant! It is worth noting that if you use aloe vera gel regularly, you’ll likely need more than one plant.
Do a patch test: Before using a new ingredient on your skin, I always recommend doing a patch test on your inner arm first. Watch for adverse reactions before continuing use.
Be consistent: Keep in mind that for many of the skin benefits listed above, you’ll need to use aloe vera consistently to see results. While aloe can have immediate benefits to your skin, such as moisturizing, some of the benefits will take longer, such as evening skin tone and reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
FAQs
Results will vary based on your skin type and the results you’re after. That said, many people notice a remarkable difference after just one use! Aloe vera can leave your skin brighter, plumper, and moisturized.
Yes! Aloe vera is great as an overnight skin soak/moisturizer.
Yes, aloe vera is generally safe for all skin types. Still, it’s always a good idea to do a patch test before applying it to a large portion of your skin. Always discontinue use if you experience any adverse reactions to it.
Key Takeaways
To summarize, aloe vera is a fantastic, natural source of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, all of which give major skin-boosting benefits, helping moisturize, nurture, and calm the skin.
Try it on yourself, and by all means, experiment with it.
Aloe gel has multiple uses, and all of the suggestions in this pos have worked well for me! I hope that you find the same benefits.
Greetings, I have been following your blog for some time now. Thank you! I have recently made a ‘face exfoliant’ , so to speak, since it is the first thing I have ever made, using sea salt, jojoba carrier oil and lavender oil. It works wonderfully for me (I am in my 40ies), but, I am worried about making one for my niece entering puberty, since there are studies claiming that lavender oil is estrogenic and others claiming the opposite. I haven’t been using it for long enough to have an opinion and I was hoping that you do have some experience in using it on yourself and your children, regarding these hormonal balance issues. My other question is : are there any troublesome effects of using aloe vera gel with any of the essential oils, in terms of kind of essential oils.