I’ve never been that knowledgeable about make up, in fact my 12 year old daughter knows abundantly more than I ever will. So when she mentioned ‘setting spray’ was an essential item for a tween, I was more than a little sceptical! Looking at the bottle of suspicious liquid that you apparently spray on your face after putting on make up, sounded to me like face hairspray! Not something I wanted my daughter to continually be using. I was therefore delighted when she had worked out how to make her own with the star ingredient was…the Aloe Vera plant!
Thankfully, my Mum has a monster Aloe Vera plant that we bought her years ago, which has been growing happily all of that time. Much like a spider plant, they will grow without much intervention and frequently produce baby plants, as off shoots, from the main ‘mother’ plant.
For years I hadn’t paid much attention to using the actual aloe vera gel, which exists inside the fleshly arms of the plant. I was almost a bit scared by it! A few times however, we decided to experiment and rub it on our skin if we had burnt or cut ourselves. More recently we started braving it and putting it neat on our faces after being in the sun and the results were excellent. The gel is soothing to the skin and although a bit sticky on the hand, leaves no residue on the skin at all and soaks in as though it was perfectly designed for the skin.
Another way many people use Aloe Vera is by drinking the gel. This is done by scooping the gel out of the leaf and mixing it with water. The gel is meant to be good for digestion and for lowering blood pressure. There are apparently 75 different compounds in the gel and to be honest, the more I looked into the health benefits of this plant, the more astounded I became.
There are obvious risks to be aware of, such as consuming too much, thus lowering blood pressure too low or too much creating a laxative effect on the body.
Reaearch for yourself the amazing health benefits of the Aloe Vera plant.