Making aloe vera gel at home couldn’t be any easier if you have a mature aloe vera plant.
So first what you need to do is cut off some leaves from the aloe vera plant. Try to pick the leaves that are closest to the ground because then the plant won’t be too irritated and it can continue thriving. Then leave the cut-off leaves into an upright position for a few minutes to let the darker resin drain out. This part is important because the resin can be a bit irritating on the skin if it finds its way into the gel you’re making.
Here’s what the resin looks like:
After the resin has drained, wash the leaves and start peeling off the thick skin of the aloe vera leaves with a knife, leaving you with the transparent gel. If you have really long and thick aloe vera leaves then you can cut them into smaller pieces first to make the peeling and removing the gel easier.
Place the gel into a blender and also add a few drops of either grapefruit seed extract, vitamin C powder, vitamin E oil or some essential oil to help preserve the gel for longer period. Then blend everything, pour into a clean glass jar and you’ve got yourself some fresh aloe vera gel which will keep for several months in the refrigerator. Don’t mind that it has some foam on top at first, this will settle down later : )
If you want to know more about what wonders you can do with Aloe, check out this link.
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I’ve done this in the past, just blending pure aloe vera from a leaf I bought at the store. I put it in my very curly hair, and it is AMAZING. However, my hair is black, and once it dries there are small white flakes everywhere. Is there a way I get get rid of those fibers? Maybe once I’ve blended it, I could strain it?
Hi Tasha!
Thanks for your feedback : )
Yeah, after just blending the aloe vera there still are small fibers in there, which don’t really disturb if you’re just putting it on your skin but I guess in the hair they could be quite unwanted. I would also probably try to strain the gel through a really thick sieve, I’m thinking that the fabric ones would possibly work best : )
Thanks, I’ll definitely try that.
Did anyone ever try straining the gel? I, too, have very curly hair and would love to make my own natural gel!!
Thank you for playing along with Make Grow Thrift
Aloe Vera can be used for so many applications it is a wonder we all don’t have a garden full of these amazing plants.
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Lovely!
I was wondering, how much of GSE or EO’s you would put in to help preserve the gel? I would probably use GSE but, was wondering how much is necessary to ensure the gel keeps for months?
I’m not clear why you are doing this. The best healing properties of Aloe disappear after 20 minutes of exposure to the air away from the protective skin. In other words, you are wasting your time as well as wasting aloe. You should always use aloe fresh. ALWAYS.
You don’t need a whole leaf most of the time when you need aloe anyway. All you need is to snip off an inch. It gives you all the healing gel you need to cover several inches of surface area. For a full back sunburn, I only needed half a leaf. Just keep snipping on one leaf until it’s gone, then move on to a new leaf when you need to. THAT’S how you keep from using too much aloe. Unless you are a seriously clumsy ox that gets severe burns all the time, as in several times a day, a well tended aloe will grow faster than you will ever use it. Safety first. But use your aloe fresh for best healing.
Can you substitute food grade citric acid for the vitamin C powder or essential oil or grapefruit seed extract? That’s all I could find at my co-op. But I know it is commercially/chemically produced and processed….
Someone above mentions putting in their hair–do they leave it in or wash it out? Very excited to make this–I have a monster Aloe plant that keeps giving off babies….thanks for you GREAT blog!
Hi,
Thanks for this great post. I was wondering, if aloe resin really needs to be drained? Is it beneficial for skin?