Aloe Vera Beauty – Nourish Your Skin Naturally
What is Aloe Vera?
Aloe vera is a flowering succulent plant popular around the world as an herbal remedy for thousands of years. One of the world’s oldest and most versatile botanicals, records of aloe exist on Sumerian clay tablets from as early as 2200 BC. An ancient Egyptian medical treatise from 1552 BC, lists the use of aloe vera to alleviate burns, skin ailments, ulcers, and allergies. Greek physician, Dioscorides (ca 70 AD), advocated aloe vera to treat wounds, mouth infections and sores, and to soothe rough itchy skin. His De Materia Medica influenced medical practice the world over for hundreds of years.
While other botanicals come and go, aloe vera’s star shows no sign of waning. On the contrary, today it appears as a soothing balm in an astonishing array of lotions, potions, and toiletries, and as a healthy ingredient in drinks, yogurt and ice-cream. So what exactly lies behind aloe vera’s enduring success?
What’s in Aloe Vera
The secret of aloe vera’s powers lies in the clear sticky gel housed within the plant’s thick spiny leaves. This gel contains more than 75 bioactive substances including vitamins, minerals, polysaccharides, amino acids, anthraquinones, enzymes, saponins, and salicylic acids as well as 200 phytonutrients. So far, science has identified multiple anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antioxidant, anti-viral, and immune-regulatory effects of aloe vera applied topically or taken internally. Though the precise mechanisms involved remain a mystery, many scientists ascribe aloe’s healing and therapeutic properties to a synergistic interaction of multiple compounds in the gel, rather than just one or two.1
Lignin is another key compound in aloe vera. Lignin’s ability to travel through layers of human skin and to carry other compounds with it, enhances aloe vera’s powerful cosmetic effects. We take a close look here at what science has so far revealed about two of these: skin hydration and anti-aging.
The Aloe Vera effect
1. Skin hydration
Hydrated skin is glowing, healthy and resilient. Dehydrated skin, on the other hand, often looks dull, red and congested. Not to be confused with dry skin, a type of skin which lacks oil, dehydration is a condition which can affect all skin types, even oily or combination. Environmental stressors, diet, and harsh chemicals in beauty products can all strip water from the skin.
Aloe vera is a remarkable natural humectant which significantly boosts hydration of the skin when applied topically.2 Containing 99% water, and rich in natural sugars (mucopolysaccharides), the gel acts as a magnet binding and actively drawing water molecules into the skin. Amino acids, such as proline, in the gel help to retain the water in the skin’s cells.
A recent Japanese study,3 attributes aloe vera’s hydrating effect to its plant sterols and adiponectin, a newly-discovered protein. These both act to stimulate the production of hyaluronic acid (HA). HA, a naturally-occurring sugar in the skin, can bind to and retain up to 1,000 times its weight in water. Because of this unique property, HA is a key ingredient in hydrating skin serums and creams.
As a humectant, aloe vera is ideal for oily or acne-prone skin types. It helps re-hydrate the skin without making the skin oilier or blocking the pores. If you have a dry skin or use air-conditioning, apply an emollient moisturiser on top of aloe vera gel to re-hydrate and seal moisture into the skin.
2. Anti-aging
Keeping your skin healthy and youthful gets harder with age. Fine lines appear around the age of 25, followed by wrinkles as collagen, one of skin’s building blocks, and elastin start to decrease. As our skin matures, the production of HA – plentiful in young skin – slows, so skin cells become less effective at binding in water (see Hydration above).
This natural aging process (biological aging) is accelerated by oxidative stress triggered by the sun’s rays (photo-aging), pollution, and life style factors such as smoking and poor diet. Oxidative stress releases molecules called free radicals which damage skin cell structure, breaking down the HA, collagen and elastin.
Studies have shown that aloe vera reduces signs of skin aging through a range of bioactivities:
3. Antioxidant:
Aloe vera leaf gel contains relatively high levels of phenolic compounds including anthraquinones, anthrones, chromones, coumarins, saponins and polysaccharides. Phenolics are strong antioxidants that protect cells against oxidative damage by scavenging and neutralising free radicals.4
Aloe gel is also rich in inorganic minerals, vitamins (A, B1, B2, B6, C and E) and enzymes. All of these act as antioxidants and cellular anti-aging agents. In one study, aloe vera leaf extract showed higher antioxidant activity than Vitamin E alone.5
4. Boosting hyaluronic acid:
HA, the natural sugar molecule which plays an important role in skin hydration, unfortunately diminishes with age (the process starts early, in our twenties!). When HA runs short, cells can no longer hold enough water, and collagen itself degenerates, leading to loss of skin elasticity. By boosting the production of HA, aloe vera can help diminish fine lines and wrinkles and improve skin elasticity.
5. Cell repair and regeneration:
Aloe vera gel applied topically has the ability to counter-act the degenerative skin changes seen with aging. This regenerative effect is attributed to the mucopolysaccharides and gibberellin, a hormone, present in aloe vera. These interact to stimulate fibroblasts in the dermis to produce collagen and elastin fibres firming the skin and smoothing wrinkles.6
In conclusion, aloe vera gel applied topically infuses skin naturally with antioxidants, enzymes and sterols to replenish supplies of collagen, elastin, and other nutrients that diminish with exposure to UV radiation and natural aging.
Even more remarkable results have been observed in recent trials where the gel is consumed orally.
What next?
Intrigued enough to test the virtues of this natural plant gel on your skin? Whether you are looking to hydrate and moisturise, stave off those fine lines and wrinkles, or soothe and smooth blemishes, aloe vera is a valuable addition to your skincare arsenal.
The science is clear: the best results come from using pure, inner leaf aloe gel fresh from the plant! Having your own plant to hand brings the added bonus of reducing your carbon footprint, eliminating packaging waste, and maybe overcoming the allure of expensive creams in very small containers.
If you can’t get your hands on a plant, make sure you buy a cold-stabilised, organic aloe vera product containing at least 98% pure aloe vera, the fewest preservatives (usually vitamins C and/or E) and without no alcohol, added colour or fragrance.
References
- Cock I.E. (2015) The Genus Aloe: Phytochemistry and Therapeutic Uses Including Treatments for Gastrointestinal Conditions and Chronic Inflammation. In: Rainsford K., Powanda M., Whitehouse M. (eds) Novel Natural Products: Therapeutic Effects in Pain, Arthritis and Gastro-intestinal Diseases. Progress in Drug Research, vol 70. Springer, Basel
- Dal’Belo, S.E., Rigo Gaspar, L. and Berardo Gonçalves Maia Campos, P.M. (2006), Moisturizing effect of cosmetic formulations containing Aloe vera extract in different concentrations assessed by skin bioengineering techniques. Skin Research and Technology, 12: 241-246. doi:10.1111/j.0909-752X.2006.00155.x
- Tanaka M, Misawa E, Yamauchi K, Abe F, Ishizaki C. Effects of plant sterols derived from Aloe vera gel on human dermal fibroblasts in vitro and on skin condition in Japanese women. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2015;8:95–104. Published 2015 Feb 20. doi:10.2147/CCID.S75441
- Cock I.E. (ni)
- Hu, Y., Xu, J., & Hu, Q. (2003). Evaluation of Antioxidant Potential of Aloe vera(Aloe barbadensis Miller) Extracts. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 51(26), 7788–7791. doi:10.1021/jf034255i
- West, D. P., & Zhu, Y. F. (2003). Evaluation of aloe vera gel gloves in the treatment of dry skin associated with occupational exposure. American Journal of Infection Control, 31(1), 40–42. doi:10.1067/mic.2003.12
