Aloe Vera: A Must-have Herb for Skin and Hair Care

One of the most beneficial plants for skin and hair health is aloe vera. Easy to make your own and inexpensive to buy, aloe vera gel should be a key component in every skin and hair care routine.

Benefits of Aloe Vera

The plentiful benefits for skin and hair arise from aloe vera’s many nutrients and therapeutic properties:

• Smooths fine lines by stimulating collagen production—vitamins A and C

• Softens skin by preventing moisture loss—vitamins B12 and E

• Promotes healthy skin cell growth and recovery—vitamin B12

• Improves the elasticity of skin—antioxidant properties

• Unplugs blocked skin pores—salicylic acid

• Reduces dandruff—selenium

• Eases an itchy, flaky scalp—anti-inflammatory properties

It is easy to make your own aloe vera gel if you have a plant and I give directions to do that below. One of the limitations of a home-made gel is the short shelf life. Once the gel is exposed to air, the oxidation process starts and nutrients start to lose potency. It lasts only about a week in the refrigerator and up to two months if you add a preservative. It’s a lot of work to go to for a daily routine, so if you’re not into that, purchasing a high-quality gel is the best option.

Use caution when selecting a commercially-produced aloe vera gel, as the gel you find in most stores has a low percentage of aloe vera and has added alcohol to preserve it. Look for high quality aloe vera in health food or vitamin stores or online that is at least 90% aloe vera. The other 10% of the ingredients will be antioxidants that help preserve the gel and add to its benefit.

I add a touch of aloe vera gel to most of my skincare products, but the product that features it most prominently is Lavender Mousse, made with lavender-infused jojoba oil and aloe vera gel. Lavender is a classic skin herb that calms inflammation and stimulates collagen production, while jojoba is so close to our own skin’s sebum that it is readily absorbed and acts as a protectant and cleanser. In addition to being a lovely face cream, it can also be used for sunburn relief, as aloe’s anti-inflammatory properties helps to cool minor burns.

DIY Aloe Vera Gel

To make your own aloe vera gel, follow these steps:

1. The plant should be a few years old before you harvest the leaves. Choose thick leaves from the outer sections of the plant and remove no more than four leaves at a time.

2. Cut the leaves close to the stem. Most of the beneficial nutrients are at the base of the leaves.

3. Wash the leaf, removing any dirt.

4. Cut off the tip of the leaf and stand it tip-side-down in a cup or bowl for 10-15 minutes to drain the latex-containing resin which is irritating to skin.

5. After draining, wash off any resin that remains on the outside of the leaf.

6. Cut off both of the leaf’s serrated edges, then using a small knife or vegetable peeler, peel off the thick outer skin on one side of the leaf.

7. Scoop the gel out of the leaf, being sure not to include any pieces of the skin.

8. If you want a smooth gel, blend it until frothy and liquified. It will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

9. To keep it for up to two months in the refrigerator, add a preservative—either powdered vitamin C or E. For every 1/4 cup of aloe vera gel, add 500 mg of powdered vitamin C or 400 iu of powdered vitamin E directly to the blender.

Sources:

Gladstar, Rosemary, Medicinal Herbs: A Beginners Guide, 2012

Healthline.com, “How to Make Aloe Vera Gel”, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-make-aloe-vera-gel, 2019

Powerful Pain Herb: Saint John's Wort

What is Saint John’s Wort?

Saint John’s is a beautiful flowering bush with tiny yellow flowers loved by bees. I often find my bushes abuzz when I go to harvest.

Saint John’s Wort is a miraculous herb. Used as a topical, it can:

—soothe inflamed and irritated nerves
—block pain signals to the brain
—heal cuts and scrapes, strengthening skin tissue integrity
—relieve rashes and burns

Saint John’s is considered a common weed and I see it in empty lots and along the roadside. It blooms from June to August.

How Do You Harvest Saint John’s Wort?

An unusual aspect of Saint John’s Wort is that it must be prepared fresh. It is almost useless as a dried herb. I can’t speak to how it is prepared as a supplement since I only use my herbs topically. It is possible that when it is consumed internally, the fresh rule doesn’t apply or that supplement makers have found a way to retain the freshness in their preparations.

I harvest the tiny flowers and buds during prime blooming time right into a jar and prepare to infuse it immediately. Pack the jar as much as you can and fill it right to the top.

How do you prepare Saint John’s Wort?

I infuse Saint John’s into alcohol that acts as a preservative to the fresh flowers and prevents spoilage.

Step One: Infuse as a liniment

Add 80-proof vodka to cover the herb. Vodka is the best spirit to use for a liniment because it is colorless and odorless. 80-proof is the strength used for a topical to avoid harsh skin reactions.

Step Two: Set Aside

Place on a shelf out of the sunlight for one month. As Saint John’s infuses, the liniment becomes a lovely shade of red.

Step Three: Strain

Place a cheesecloth or piece of muslin into a strainer set over a bowl or large measuring cup. Pour contents of jar into strainer, straining out the herb and leaving the infused liniment in the bowl or cup.

Step Four: Store

Using a funnel, pour infused liniment into a glass bottle. Label it with the contents and date, then store it in a cool, dark place. Liniments should keep for up to 10 years.

Sore Muscle Solution

Saint John’s Wort is the ideal herb for our Sore Muscle Solution liniment.

Saint John’s Wort is perfect in Sore Muscle Solution because it works directly on the nerves to block pain signals to the brain. Whether you have overworked muscles or a strain that needs rest, Saint John’s will provide the needed pain relief. Combined with menthol-rich essential oils that calm inflammation, Sore Muscle Solution is an effective topical remedy for everyday muscle aches. I make it as a roll-on or as a lotion to suit individual preferences.

Create an Herb-infused Oil in Five Easy Steps

A simple salve is made of oil and wax, and is a lovely moisturizer on its own, but add some healing herbs to the mixture and you have a pain treatment, a sedating balm, or a rash-clearing ointment.

To create a healing salve, you first need to make an herb-infused oil to use in the recipe. Here’s how:

Step One:  Choose an herb

Excellent herbs for infusing into oil to calm itchy, rashy skin include Calendula, Heal All (aka Self Heal), Lavender, Lemon Balm, Plantain, Roman Chamomile, and White Clover.  For topical pain relief look to California Poppy, Catnip, Comfrey, Cramp Bark, Meadowsweet, St. John’s Wort, and Valerian.  Valerian and Catnip also have sedating properties.

Fresh Calendula flowers

Step Two: Harvest fresh or use dried herbs

An herb-infused oil will keep longer if made with dried herb, but fresh herbs extract the most medicine.  Introducing moisture from fresh plants will increase the risk of spoilage, however, so dried herbs are generally used for oils.  Milky oat seed, St. John’s wort, and motherwort are nearly useless when dried and should always be used fresh. 

Calendula flowers on a hydrator rack

 You can dry herbs yourself, or purchase dried herbs.  See the purchasing information at the end of this article if you are looking to buy dried herbs.

 The equipment you will need includes two jars, a strainer, a measuring cup, and  a square of muslin or coffee filter.  In addition, if using dried herbs to make your infused oil, you will need a grinder (a food processor or blender will work), kitchen scale, and 100- to 190-proof vodka.

Step Three: Infuse the herb into the oil

  Maceration method for fresh herbs:

• Loosely fill a jar with fresh herb and cover with the oil of your choice (see the carrier oil descriptions at the end of the article). 

• Label the jar with the herb and the date.

• Put the jar on a shelf for two weeks, shaking the jar or stirring it daily. You can put a cheesecloth lid on the jar to allow moisture to escape, just be sure to stir it every day.

Weighing dried herb on a scale

Alcohol-Intermediary technique for dried herbs

(From “Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies” by Maria Noel Groves)

• Grind herb coarsely and weigh it on a kitchen scale.   Choose the size of the jar based on the amount of herb:

1 ounce of herb              8-ounce jar

2 ounces of herb            16-ounce jar

3-4 ounces of herb         Quart jar

•  Add 1/2 ounce of 100- to 190-proof alcohol (vodka works best because it is odorless) for every ounce of herb and stir or shake to mix it thoroughly with the herb.  Cover tightly and let sit for about a day.

• Pour the prepped herb in a blender or food processor and add 7 ounces of oil (see the carrier oil choices at the end of the article) for every ounce of herb. Blend for about 5 minutes.

Straining herb-infused oil

Step Four: Strain Oil

Place a strainer over a measuring cup. Make sure the measuring cup is large enough for the amount of oil you are going to strain. Line the strainer with a square of muslin or a coffee filter. This allows the tiniest speck of herb to be strained out of the oil. It will take an hour or longer for the oil to strain, so get comfortable. After all the oil has been strained, pick up the muslin or coffee filter and squeeze out the last little bit of oil. (Have a hand towel ready—your hands will get oily!)

Step Five: Store the Oil

Pour the strained oil into a clean glass jar. Label the jar with the type of oil and date, cover it tightly, and store in a cool, dark place.  The cooler the temperature, the longer the oil will keep.  Dried herb oils can keep for a year or two.  Fresh herb oils will last several months to a year.

 Dried herb purchasing information:  Purchase from local organic sellers first, then look to the Internet.  Raven Moon Emporium (https://ravenmoonemporium.com/) and The Grower’s Exchange (https://thegrowers-exchange.com/) are two online producers that I have used.

 Carrier oils:  Good skin oils readily available from your local store include avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil (that is an oil at room temperature rather than a solid), olive oil, and sunflower oil.  If ordering online, the best oil for your skin is Jojoba, which closely resembles your own skin’s natural oil and is readily absorbed.  Apricot oil and grapeseed oil are also good choices.  Coconut oil, jojoba oil, and olive oil have indefinite shelf lives, so are preferred for long-term uses.  I avoid almond oil because of the California almond industry’s misuse of water resources.