Aloe vera being the best thing you should own
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free skin care · Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:01 pm

Ok, i just found out that aloe vera gel is one of the best things anyone can have as a skin care product. Not only is it amazing for your whole body, but using it on your face as your daily moisturizer can help with lines, acne, oilyness....everything you can imagine. You can even use it on your hair!!

Look it up on the internet.... it's amazing...how come i just heard about this? Am i the only one that has been in the dark with this for 25 yrs? LOL

I just bought the hawaiian tropic aloe vera but i'm sure banana boat and all the good names are equally as good. When you think about it, we should have known this from the first time we used it. But of course silly us, we get sucked into the gimmicks at high end cosmetic counters!!

This was dermatologist recommended!

free skin care · Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:05 pm

cortigirl wrote:

Ok, i just found out that aloe vera gel is one of the best things anyone can have as a skin care product. Not only is it amazing for your whole body, but using it on your face as your daily moisturizer can help with lines, acne, oilyness....everything you can imagine. You can even use it on your hair!!

Look it up on the internet.... it's amazing...how come i just heard about this? Am i the only one that has been in the dark with this for 25 yrs? LOL

I just bought the hawaiian tropic aloe vera but i'm sure banana boat and all the good names are equally as good. When you think about it, we should have known this from the first time we used it. But of course silly us, we get sucked into the gimmicks at high end cosmetic counters!!

This was dermatologist recommended!

You should post your research on this.

I have an aloe plant. I imagine fresh is best. Smile

free skin care · Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:21 pm

Yea it's interesting... i asked my dermatologist why her skin looks soo good and she's like in her 40's and she says she's been using aloe vera gel since she was 28. So i dunno, i'll try it for a couple of weeks and let you know how good it works as i use a pretty good cream typically. Who knows, maybe it'll be more drying then i would think.

But i've read pretty good reviews online... so i guess i can only hope for the best! Smile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:43 am

how to use aloe vera with skincare routine? when should it be applied?

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:02 am

Using aloe vera anywhere on my face makes my eyes burn. Does anyone else have this problem?

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:53 am

cortigirl wrote:

Ok, i just found out that aloe vera gel is one of the best things anyone can have as a skin care product.

I just want to add a "ditto" to what Cortigirl said. Smile

It is definitely among the best things that I also have ever used on my face. I *think* I have gotten better results from it than from Sea Kelp Bioferment (SKB), but I haven't compared the two against each other rigoriously. I will do so someday--do a direct comparison by putting aloe on one side of my face and SKB on the other--but I haven't done this experiment yet...but it is on my to-do list!

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:18 am

If using aloe vera makes your skin burn then i think it might be a bad idea to continue using it!!

To use it, you use it like your skin care cream u use day and night. But like i said, i will try it out for 2 weeks and if i see that it's noticeably better then the stuff and let everyone know.

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:45 pm

You may want to read the information about these studies concerning Aloe Vera and AGEs:

Is it feasible for Aloe Vera to cause AGEs?

It is not only feasible, it certainly does happen. This is a classic example of the old adage nothing is all good or all bad. What it shows it that unless you have a wound healing problem, aloe vera is not a good thing to be using, and that it should only be used during the wound healing process. In fact, the wound healing benefit of aloe vera may well be an effect of the additional crosslinking of the collagen which makes the collagen network in the wound tougher.

Aloe vera seems to improves wound healing and inhibits inflammation, that is why so many products contain aloe vera. The major sugar found in aloe vera is mannose-6-phosphate (M-6-P), which as been investigated as the possible anti-inflammatory agent in aloe vera..

J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 1994 Feb;84(2):77-81
Anti-inflammatory and wound healing activity of a growth substance in Aloe vera.

Davis RH, Donato JJ, Hartman GM, Haas RC
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine, Philadelphia.

Aloe vera improves wound healing and inhibits inflammation. Since mannose-6-phosphate is the major sugar in the Aloe gel, the authors examined the possibility of its being an active growth substance. Mice receiving 300 mg/kg of mannose-6-phosphate had improved wound healing over saline controls. This dose also had anti-inflammatory activity. The function of mannose-6-phosphate in A. vera is discussed.

Besides glucose, other reducing sugars, such as mannose, react with proteins to form advanced glycosylation end-products (AGEs), that are active in cross-linking collagen and elastin, the process that causes skin aging...

J Biol Chem 1992 Mar 15;267:5133-8
Immunochemical detection of advanced glycosylation end products in vivo.
Makita Z, Vlassara H, Cerami A, Bucala R
Laboratory of Medical Biochemistry, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021.

Reducing sugars react with protein amino groups to form a diverse group of protein-bound moieties with fluorescent and cross-linking properties. These compounds, called advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs), have been implicated in the structural and functional alterations of proteins that occur during aging and long-term diabetes. Although several AGEs have been identified on the basis of de novo synthesis and tissue isolation procedures, the measurement of AGE compounds in vivo has remained difficult.

As an approach to the study of AGE formation in vivo, we prepared polyclonal antiserum to an AGE epitope(s) which forms in vitro after incubation of glucose with ribonuclease (RNase). This antiserum proved suitable for the detection of AGEs which form in vivo. Both diabetic tissue and serum known to contain elevated levels of AGEs readily competed for antibody binding. Cross-reactivity studies revealed the presence of a common AGE epitope(s) which forms after the incubation of diverse proteins with glucose. Cross-reactive epitopes also formed with glucose 6-phosphate or fructose.

These data suggest that tissue AGEs which form in vivo appear to contain a common immunological epitope which cross-reacts with AGEs prepared in vitro, supporting the concept that immunologically similar AGE structures form from the incubation of sugars with different proteins (Horiuchi, S., Araki, N., and Morino, Y. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 7329-7332).

None of the known AGEs, such as 4-furanyl-2-furoyl-1H-imidazole, 1-alkyl-2-formyl-3,4-diglycosylpyrrole, pyrraline, carboxymethyllysine, or pentosidine, were found to compete for binding to anti-AGE antibody. These data further suggest that the dominant AGE epitope which forms from the reaction of glucose with proteins under native conditions is immunologically distinct from the structurally defined AGEs described to date. It has been found that phosphorylated reducing sugars are more active in glycating and cross-linking proteins than their parent molecules

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1994 Aug 30;203(1):588-93 Advanced glycation of rat liver histone octamers: an in vitro study.
Gugliucci A Department of Anatomy, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The question whether histones could accumulate AGE products and whether this reaction could take place even on the native histone octamer, the basic nucleosome unit, was addressed in this study. In vitro AGE formation on rat liver native histones octamers by incubation with different sugars was assessed. We provide evidence for the in vitro formation of both pentosidine and total AGE fluorescence on histone octamers in a time and sugar concentration dependent fashion.

Ketoses (D-fructose and D-ribose) were more potent than aldoses. D-glucose-6-phosphate was three times as effective as D-glucose in generating AGE fluorescence. Advanced glycation of histone octamers led to the formation of cross links. For all sugars included in this study a similar pattern was observed: H2A and H3 bands disappear from electrophoretic runs.

Since aloe vera has mannose-6-phosphate as its major sugar, the M-6-P it contains would be active in the glycation of proteins and the formation of AGEs that cross-link proteins. In fact, aloe vera has been shown to increase the degree of cross-linking in collagen during wound healing..

Mol Cell Biochem 1998 Apr;181(1-2):71-6
Influence of Aloe vera on collagen characteristics in healing dermal wounds in rats.

Chithra P, Sajithlal GB, Chandrakasan G
Department of Biochemistry, Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar, Madras, India.

Wound healing is a fundamental response to tissue injury that results in restoration of tissue integrity. This end is achieved mainly by the synthesis of the connective tissue matrix. Collagen is the major protein of the extracellular matrix, and is the component which ultimately contributes to wound strength. In this work, we report the influence of Aloe vera on the collagen content and its characteristics in a healing wound.

It was observed that Aloe vera increased the collagen content of the granulation tissue as well as its degree of crosslinking as seen by increased aldehyde content and decreased acid solubility. The type I/type III collagen ratio of treated groups were lower than that of the untreated controls, indicating enhanced levels of type III collagen. Wounds were treated either by topical application or oral administration of Aloe vera to rats and both treatments were found to result in similar effects.

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:51 pm

Hi Lisacollins00,

This is very interesting stuff! Some questions I had:

One of the articles said that "Aloe vera increased the collagen content of the granulation tissue as well as its degree of crosslinking as seen by increased aldehyde content and decreased acid solubility." Is all cross-linking necessarily bad? It would be interesting if Aloe both increased collagen, but produced more damaged collagen!! Measuring aldehyde content and acid solubility sound like very indirect measures of measuring the degree of cross-linking--could they also indicate other possible changes to the collagen? Could it just be explained by the differences in types of collagen present? Also, the fact that type III collagen (the younger, less mature collagen) is increased relative to type I collagen sounds like a good thing, no? Would you be willing and have the time to explain this and break it down for us? I'm be super-curious! Thanks so much! Smile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:34 pm

cm5597 wrote:

Hi Lisacollins00,

This is very interesting stuff! Some questions I had:

One of the articles said that "Aloe vera increased the collagen content of the granulation tissue as well as its degree of crosslinking as seen by increased aldehyde content and decreased acid solubility." Is all cross-linking necessarily bad? It would be interesting if Aloe both increased collagen, but produced more damaged collagen!! Measuring aldehyde content and acid solubility sound like very indirect measures of measuring the degree of cross-linking--could they also indicate other possible changes to the collagen? Could it just be explained by the differences in types of collagen present? Also, the fact that type III collagen (the younger, less mature collagen) is increased relative to type I collagen sounds like a good thing, no? Would you be willing and have the time to explain this and break it down for us? I'm be super-curious! Thanks so much! Smile

Based upon the information that I have read about crosslinking, it appears that excessive crosslinking is surely not a good thing for the skin.

Researchers have found that excessive crosslinking can lead to the reduction of elasticity in the skin and make the skin more rigid which ultimately can lead to more wrinkles.

In reference to the type of collagen, what really matters is the fact that one of the main constituents of Aloe Vera is a sugar which glycates proteins wherever it finds them. So it can happen in any type of collagen. It is just been seen more in Type 3 collagen based upon the wound healing studies.

Also, it might sound like it's a good thing that the Type 3 collagen is increased, but if the Type 3 collagen that is increased is "damaged" collagen due to glycation and excessive crosslinking, then I would think that it would not be a good thing in the long run.

free skin care · Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:31 am

Just before I discovered EDS someone online recommended useing Holland & Barrett organic Aloe Vera gel mixed with a pinch of H&B Vitamin C powder (Abscorbic Acid).

I still do this in the mornings but the "mask" is much too dry to wear under makeup, so I wash it off. Then its OCM and vaculifter Smile

Wondering if this method is ok to do?

free skin care · Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:03 pm

Hi LisaCollins00,

This is such cool stuff that I didn't really know much about before!

I just read through a bunch of the abstracts of some various articles. So it does sound like that there is normal and healthy cross-linking (such as between collagen molecules in order to increase the tensile strength of the skin) and there is abnormal, unhealthy cross-linking (such as that which results from AGEs). Now I get what you are saying about excessive cross-linking Smile

lisacollins00 wrote:

It is just been seen more in Type 3 collagen based upon the wound healing studies.

I also saw a book excerpt that said that the amount of cross-linking varies by collagen type, but that the type III collagen (which the aloe promotes) is more resistant to the bad kinds of cross-linking. Is that what you are saying above?

lisacollins00 wrote:

Also, it might sound like it's a good thing that the Type 3 collagen is increased, but if the Type 3 collagen that is increased is "damaged" collagen due to glycation and excessive crosslinking, then I would think that it would not be a good thing in the long run.

Yes, that would be great to know whether the collagen cross-linking that is enhanced by the aloe is of the good kind or the bad kind...but it is encouraging to hear that studies have shown that aloe increases collagen synthesis and shift the balance of collagen more in favor of type III collagen. I've only had great results with it, but I guess we will find out the real answer when someone does a long-term in vivo study of the effect of aloe on skin aging.

Out of curiosity, have you had good, bad, or mixed experiences with aloe? Do you use it just for promoting wound healing?

Cheers and thanks so much, again! Smile

Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:57 pm

Miz aloe gel with a moisturizer you are using. Just add more aloe gel then your moisturizer making it more of a gel consistency and spread over!! Also having a bottle of aloe gel in the fridge is great to soothe your skin!

free skin care · Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:06 pm

So is using aloe not a good thing in the long run but ok on open wounds? I just bought a bottle of Naturopathica daycream which I really like but it has a lot of aloe in it.

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:02 am

I have tried Aloe gel as a moisturiser before. It feels too sticky for me. But my mum use fresh aloe for burns, she rave about it.

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:40 am

Skippie wrote:

Using aloe vera anywhere on my face makes my eyes burn. Does anyone else have this problem?

Aloe vera gel makes my whole face burn sometimes Confused

free skin care · Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:47 pm

There has been allot of research carried out on the affects of Aloe Vera and it is supposed to be great for burns. I'm big on Aloe Vera, has always had a place somewhere in routine. Right now it is being used as a conductive gel but have also used it as a serum. In fact you can purchase it in a liquid form off Lotion Crafter and just add it straight to your toner Smile

Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:58 am

I start to use aloe gel from my plant and I like result so far. I keeping it in a glass jar in refrigerator door. But how long you can really keep aloe gel?

free skin care · Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:55 am

I'm not sure how long it can be kept like that, but fresh is always best.

Anyway the silly inexperience trainee at our spa gave me a facial with extractions and in doing so made it bright red. I spread a thick layer of aloe gel on it before going to bed last night and it really does burn especially the eyes. It dosent contain fragrance so maybe it's not the best thing after all.

free skin care · Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:23 am

Aloe doesn't do anything special for me. I actually find it drying used consistently. It is fabulous for burns though so I always have some on hand.

free skin care · Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:40 am

I like the idea of using aloe vera, but I do NOT trust the crazy bright green jugs of it you see in the sunscreen isles. I'm thinking that the burning some of you have mentioned might be from the addition of alcohol to the product - definitely something I don't want on my face. Fragrance is obviousy unnecessary and dangerous on wounds.

By the way, don't they have to list the addition of colour etc to products? I'm in Canada so I'd assume there are laws about this kind of thing. The bottles just say a.v. and sometimes alcohol?

Find a trusted brand from a health food store or use it straight from the plant.

Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:50 pm

Yes fresh is always better)) I found also some helpful tips on youtube, how to use and have always fresh plant aloe vera gel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNflu0cPwWc
I didn't experience any dryness on my skin after using aloe gel (plant) I have a combination skin with some acne and aloe actually work good for me as a healing moisturizer.

free skin care · Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:27 pm

I have fresh plant aleo vera but it's not work for me. It make my skin red.

Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:46 pm

I have read a lot of good things about Aloe Vera and i do want to use it, but everytime i put it on my skin it dries weird, it feels like a mask, it doesnt absorb as much as it leaved a layer on my skin like a dry layer.. which one do you ladies use? i would love to find one that absorbs..

Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:24 am

I use aloe vera all the time on my face and it helps with redness, acne, and oily skin. I love using it, but it dries my face out if I use it for more than a couple nights. I also love it because it dries fast and will stay on all night unlike rubbing off like most lotions. Also, I love it for every time I get sunburnt. Very Happy

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