Aloe Vera is one of the unsung heroes of the summer. Although a member of the cactus family, it does absolutely everything but irritate your skin. It's soothing gel-like juices cool the skin and reduce all matter of afflictions, from sunburn and redness, to dehydration and inflammation.
Hailing from dry and hot climates such as India and Africa, it has been used as a holistic medical treatment for years, and even centuries. In the summer, it's the perfect ingredient to add to your beauty routine and keep your skin gorgeously hydrated and soft.
How Aloe Vera Benefits the Skin
Aloe Vera itself contains over 200 vitamins, antioxidants and amino acids, making it a skin-loving powerhouse. Its incredibly soothing and calming properties make it the perfect ingredient to quench sun-drenched skin and leave it feeling comfortable and beautifully glowing.
This mix of vitamins and minerals helps to improve the collagen and elasticity of the skin, working to reduce wrinkles and leave the complexion youthful, soft and smooth. As a result, it also helps to ease the symptoms associated with acne, as it helps to reduce inflammation and promote healthy cell renewal.
- Start your skincare routine with the Alpha-H Aloe Vera Cleanser. It's an incredibly delicate and gentle texture that soothes stressed out complexions, and nurtures very sensitive skin types.
- Follow with the Pixi Glow Tonic. Even sensitised skin needs exfoliation, and this gentle Glycolic Acid toner also contains Aloe Vera to help hydrate as it detoxes.
- Follow with the Skin79 Jelly Mask, which is a gel-like formula, helping to immediately cool and calm sore and sun-drenched skin.
- Once a week, use a detoxifying mask enriched with Aloe Vera to draw out impurities without compromising on the health of your skin. Vichy's Pre Refining Clay Mask ticks all the boxes.
- Finish your routine with a nurturing eye cream that moisturises the delicate eye area and reduces puffiness. We love the Antipodes Kiwi Seed Oil Cream for a luxurious treat.
Why Aloe Vera is good for Sunburn
Although there is no way to cure sunburn directly, you can help to heal the damage and encourage the skin to repair itself.
Aloe Vera contains a blend of Glycoproteins, which helps to reduce the inflammation and pain associated with sunburn, so as to help ease swelling and irritation. As it's also rich in polysaccharides, it encourages the skin cells to repair themselves, and for new ones to form so as to replenish the missing hydration.
The result is soothed skin, which feels comfortable and hydrated as it begins its renewal process.
- Sukin's Aloe Vera Gel contains Organic Aloe that helps to care for all irritated skin types. The natural formula soothes dry and dehydrated areas, making it the perfect summer essential.
- After a day in the sun, moisturise the SASCO Aloe Vera Body Lotion into your skin for immediate and cooling relief. It contains Aloe, Sunflower Oil and Vitamin E to strengthen sunburnt skin and leave it feeling comfortable and replenished.
- If your complexion is feeling particularly sore after a day in the sun, try Pixi's H20 Skin Drink. It contains Aloe and Green Tea to repair damaged skin cells and help keep it protected against further environmental damage.
Why use Aloe Vera to wash Hair
As you can't see the direct damage from the sun to your hair, like you can your skin, you sometimes forget to give it the necessary care it needs.
In the summer months, choosing haircare products that contain Aloe Vera help to condition sun-drenched locks will give them the nutrients they need to stay soft and tangle-free throughout the warmer weather.
The gel substance in the Aloe Vera plant has a similar composition to that of Keratin, which is the protein naturally found in your own hair cells. This helps it to penetrate the hair shaft easily and impart its wealth of vitamins and antioxidants to the hair so that it remains soft and conditioned, no matter what the sun, sand or sea throws at it.
- TIGI's Totally Beachin' Cleansing Jelly Shampoo is excellent as a post-beach wash thanks to its blend of ingredients, including Aloe Vera, which helps to rinse away impurities and dirt, and soothe sun-drenched scalps.
- If you love to swim in the pool on holiday, but don't like the tangled knotted hair to match, try Paul Mitchell's Clarifying Shampoo Three. It removes chlorine deposits, and leaves your locks feeling clean, healthy and fresh. The addition of Aloe Vera helps soothe stressed out locks.
- Finish your cleansing routine with the Kérastase Cristalliste Conditioner, which helps to seal in hydration and keep your hair shiny and gorgeous.
