Aloe vera gel is a real beauty miracle when it comes to caring for dry or slightly burned skin! Here you will learn how to make aloe vera gel yourself.

Sunburn, dry skin, or mosquito bite? There is also a remedy for these little evils! Aloe vera has been a medicinal plant for thousands of years, which is also used to care for our skin. The healing gel is contained in many (often not so cheap) cosmetics, but can easily be obtained from the plant itself. Here's how to do it!

Make aloe vera gel yourself: you have to know that

• If you want to obtain aloe vera gel yourself, your aloe vera (real aloe) should be at least three years old and have twelve leaves.
• The leaves of aloe vera store nutrients and contain, for example, minerals, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes. The thick leaves are made up of three layers: they consist of the outer bark, the inner gel and the juice.
• The gel has many positive properties: it can heal injuries to the plant and has an anti-inflammatory effect on us, promotes wound healing and strengthens the immune system. It can be used especially for sunburn, itchy skin, slight burns and insect bites.
• Before you can get to the gel, however, the outer leaf layer with the yellow juice must be removed: the leaf bark and the yellow juice contain aloin, which has a strong laxative effect and can cause poisoning if overdosed.

Make aloe vera gel yourself: how it works

You need:

• Aloe vera (plant should be at least three years old)
• Knife (sharp)
• spoon
• Glass
• Lockable container for storage

Note: The knife, spoon and container for collecting the gel must be sterile.

Manual:

1. Use a sharp knife to cut a sheet of aloe vera relatively far down at the base . 
2. Place the sheet face down in a glass. Let it stand vertically in it for about 90 minutes so that the yellow, poisonous juice runs out.
3. Then cut two to three centimeters after the cut surface to remove the remaining residues of the aloin.
4. Cut the sheet lengthways and cut it open. You can now carefully scrape out the aloe vera gel with a spoon.
5. Place the gel in a sealable jar and store in the refrigerator.
6. Once refrigerated, the aloe vera gel can be kept for one to two weeks.

This is how you make the aloe vera gel durable

• The aloe vera gel can be easily mashed or chopped in a blender. Put the pureed gel in an ice cube container and put it in the freezer. Later you can thaw the frozen mass one by one.
• Before mashing, add either 10 to 20 drops of tocopherol (vitamin E oil) or one gram of vitamin C powder to 100 grams of aloe vera gel. Then keep the pureed gel in the fridge. Both tocopherol and vitamin C powder have an antioxidant effect and thus serve as a preservative. This makes the gel stable for up to six weeks.