How does Aloe Vera Help

I confess I’m typically sceptical about products that claim to be anti-ageing, much as I would love to unearth something that would knock 20 years off me! It’s all too easy for manufacturers to prey on the insecurities of women – and men – who look in the mirror and target on lines that are appearing, chins that are doubling or wrinkling, and hair that is going grey. We gleefully – or is it desperately? - are allured into the claims that accompany the most recent ‘elixir of life’ to appear on the market, but disappointment in next to no time follows and we watch and wait in anxious anticipation for the next wonder product, medication or cure to supply our aspiration for eternal youth.



For my part, I would not put myself under the knife, even although there are areas of my face and body that could do with a bit of ironing out. Apart from anything else, I’d be too nervous I might make things worse! I’ve witnessed the stretched and distended features of celebrities who have taken anti-ageing therapies a step too far. In spite of this, that doesn’t suggest I’m reluctant to trying non-invasive, natural products to help increase my overall health and to keep my body and hair in the best condition possible.



I’ve used many top-of-the-range skin care products, as well as inexpensive high street brands, but hadn’t deliberately used anything containing aloe vera, apart from as an after-sun. Then I happened upon a booth advertising nothing but aloe vera products and was encouraged to appraise them. The saleswoman waffled on somewhat about aloe being the same PH as our skin, with the capacity to seep in deep down to the dermis layer, but at the time I was only really interested in whether or not it would make my skin feel nice. It did. Not only that, but after several weeks of using the product I bought, I noticed my skin was a good deal clearer and healthier-looking.



Without a doubt, Queen Cleopatra is remembered to this day, more than 2,000 years after her demise, as the most good-looking female of all time. Women still learn and chase her skin care formulas. While it is likely she almost certainly did bathe in beer and milk, Aloe Vera, was undoubtedly indispensable to her day by day regimen for soft, glowing skin.



The properties of aloe vera have led to its being called the Burn Plant, Remedies Plant, Plant of Life and Wand of Heaven. Together with those properties are that it is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-septic, anti-pyretic (burns) and anti-pruritic (itching). It also includes some 75 essential nutrients, including nutritional vitamins, minerals and amino acids.



Going back to anti-ageing, I learned that aloe vera has been added to numerous cosmetic products over the years because of its recognized rejuvenating action. The sales person who sold me my cream had talked about anti-ageing and I’d given her my ‘Oh yeah’ smirk, but now I was reading how manufacturers would give their back teeth to come up with a synthetic substitute for aloe that would provide the equivalent advantages - the reason being that they can’t supply enough aloe itself.



Aloe vera works in a number of various ways, and I might lose you at this stage because it’s a bit complex. Endure with me though, because this will help you understand how aloe vera is anti-ageing – and yes, I’m won over. To start with, it contains polysaccharides (carbohydrate molecules), which act as moisturisers to hydrate the skin. Secondly, aloe vera is easily absorbed into the skin, right down to the dermis layer, where it stimulates fibroblasts (cells) to reproduce themselves quicker. It’s the fibroblasts that produce collagen and elastin (naturally occurring in youthful skins), so older skin becomes less wrinkled and regains some elasticity.



Aloe gel heals and reduces swelling – Aloe vera contains a promotional growth dynamic, which accelerates the curative process and sustains the processes associated with immune response. Aloe inhibits the inhibitory result of certain antiseptics (drugs), and can help to cure wounds much quicker. Aloe inhibits the release of bradykinin and histamine – tissue hormones, unrestricted in response to the shock of tissue injury. These two hormones activate an acute redness in a small time after accidents or bites. And saponins contained in Aloe work as an astringent and decrease swelling, redness, and bruising.



I’m still mostly sceptical where anti-ageing products are concerned, but I’m a convert in the case of aloe vera. I’ve been using it now for seven years and my skin has definitely improved in feel and depth. What’s more, I’m at that age when those dreaded liver spots threaten to appear, but I’ve observed that they never really come to anything on my face. Dr Peter Atherton, a foremost world authority on aloe vera says in his editorial Aloe Vera – Myth or Medicine: ‘The best exhibition of this effect that I have ever witnessed, was shown by Dr. Ivan Danhof, an United states surgeon who has worked with topical aloe applications in the makeup business for 30 years. When testing new creams and lotions, being right-handed, he always applied the material with the fingers of his right hand to the back of his left hand in order to test its consistency, scent and penetrability. He now declares that he has one aged hand and one young hand and in actual fact the contrast when he puts his hands together to show the backs, side by side, is pretty remarkable. One hand is the standard hand of a seventy-year- old with thinning, wrinkled skin covered in a selection of spots, whilst the other, his left hand, is clear and soft and looks 30 years younger.’



I’ve been much less meticulous where my hands are concerned, but now I’m going to plaster them with aloe, day in, day out, so that they too look 30 years younger. Well, wouldn’t you?