Aloe, a sturdy succulent that grows in warm climates, is one of the most well known ingredients in natural skin care. Its cooling, moisturizing properties make it popular in formulations that are meant to soothe, quench, and replenish dry or damaged skin and hair. It is often found in sunburn treatments, calming masks, and hair gels. Aloe ingredients are widely varied in texture, solubility, and shelf life. Here’s an overview of popular Aloe ingredients.
Aloe Vera Gel is the simplest of Aloe ingredients, being plainly juice from the plant. Contrary to the name, Aloe Vera Gel actually has a consistency closer to water than to jelly. Aloe Vera Gel makes a great substitute for water in most aqueous formulations. Try using Aloe Vera Gel in facial masks, lotions, creams, hair gels, hair sprays, rinses, conditioners, and toners. Aloe Vera Gel has a shelf life of around one year, but like water, it is susceptible to contamination, so treat it with care, and use preservatives accordingly.
Aloe Moist is a form of Aloe Gel that has been formulated (with the help of additives) into a thick, viscous jelly. It boasts the similar properties as Aloe Vera Gel, but can be used in s different range of formulations. It is popular for use in body glitter or cooling gels, hair gels, and fragrance gels.
Aloe Vera Leaf Powder is dried and pulverized Aloe Leaves. It is not soluble in water, but makes a nice exfoliant for soaps, scrubs, and facials. Aloe Vera Leaf Powder can also be used to create oil or water infusions.
Aloe Vera Butter is a combination of Aloe Extract and Coconut Oil. This unique ingredient allows the inclusion of Aloe properties into oil based formulations such as body butters, and lip balms. It can also be used as the oil phase of emulsion formulas such as lotions or creams. Another great way to use Aloe Butter is in cold process soap making. Aloe Butter will behave similarly to Coconut Oil in soap, but it does have its own unique SAP value.
Shealoe Butter is made from a combination of Shea Butter and Aloe Vera Juice. This specially created ingredient has a very unique texture. Shealoe Butter is light and fluffy, and melts immediately on the skin. It is a pleasure to use as is, or can be incorporated into a wide range of formulations including scrubs, lotions, body butters and more.
Aloe Vera Oil is similar in nature to Aloe Vera Butter, as it consists of Aloe Extract and a carrier oil. In this case, the carrier oil is Soybean. Aloe Vera Oil can be used in oil based formulas as well as emulsions, and makes a great addition to cold process soaps. Use Aloe Vera Oil in scrubs, body butters, balms, creams, massage oils, and more.
Spray Dried Aloe Vera Leaf Powder is a dehydrated form of Aloe Vera Gel. It comes in two concentrations, 100x and 200x. It can be added to dry formulations such as milk baths, powders, and facial cleanser mixes, or it can be reconstituted with water, hydrosol, or other aqueous ingredients. After reconstitution, Spray Dried Aloe Vera Leaf Powder can be used similarly to Aloe Vera Gel.
Hi. If I wanted to replace the water in my lotion recipe with aloe, should I use aloe vera juice or gel? Is the gel thicker…and if I did use the gel, would the lotion already be thick enough to not need stearic acid? Thanks so much! Robin
In general, Aloe Gel and Aloe Juice are interchangeable. However, Aloe Juice is often sold as a food product, and in some cases could be watered down. Also be sure to check the label of your Aloe Gel or Juice for additives or preservatives. Contrary to the name, Aloe Gel is actually very thin, with a more juice-like consistency than you might expect. A thicker version of Aloe Gel would be Aloe Moist, which has a more jelly-like texture.
Hi- are there benefits to using aloe vera powder in lotions? I want to mix it with oils and butters and have no water in the lotions. Or should I just leave the aloe out? I want to make a lotion without water so I do not have to use preservatives.
Thanks.
Hi G. If you are making a balm (oils, butters, and wax) the best way to incorporate Aloe would be to do so with an oil-based ingredient, like Aloe Butter or Aloe Vera Oil. Aloe Powder is a whole powdered herb and won’t dissolve in a balm or a lotion recipe. Having said that, adding Aloe ingredients to your recipe can help them be extra soothing, calming, and cooling on the skin.
Hi I am using aloe vera juice for making hair serum
Aloe vera juice it self contain preservatives and i am adding
Coconut oil, jojoba oil in it wht kind of preservative shall i use
To preserve it atleast for 6 month. Thank u
Hello,
To make aloe butter, i need coconut oil and aloe extract. What percentage of each should i use?
Thanks
Loved
Hi there. We don’t have a recipe available for making Aloe Butter. I would suggest experimenting by infusing ground Aloe Vera Leaf Powder in Coconut Oil. We have instructions for creating infused oils here: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/library/infusion.asp
Hi Taher. Preserving an oil and water mixture for more than six months will definitely require a preservative. In order to be sure the product has a specific six month shelf life you’ll need to have it challenge tested as well. You might want to consider consulting a lab in order to create a stable formula. Here are some links to help you find out more about using preservatives: https://naturalbeautyworkshop.com/my_weblog/preservatives.html
Hi. I want to use aloe powder in my body butters, and infused oils. How do I go about that. And can I use vitamin e as a preservative. If not what can I use that is natural. How do I mix anything with aloe very powder. I believe everything is with oil. I won’t put it in my sugar scrubs because I’m scared water contact it will mess up. Please help.
Hello Amanda, Our Aloe Vera powders are water-soluble and would be included within a formulation’s water phase. For an all oil formulation, we recommend using our Aloe Vera Oil (Extract) or our Aloe Butter instead.