SKIN CARE AND ALOE VERA:

THE NAKED TRUTH

Healthy skin is a concern for many people, especially in a modern world full of chemically concocted pollutants and irritants that encourage outbreaks as well as damage skin. A multi-billion dollar industry has sprung up to provide people with a plethora of skin balms, lotions and even prescription pills to help combat skin problems and the population readily forks over their hard earned cash in order to find at least some sort of relief for their skin dilemmas. While many large pharmaceutical companies choose fight fire with fire by cooking up something the lab, others have jumped onto to the “natural” bandwagon releasing lines of hypoallergenic soaps, creams and lotions derived from natural sources. One of the hottest natural additives today that is now being added into everything from hand sanitizer to laundry soap is, ironically, something that has been already been used for centuries. This substance is the Aloe Vera plant.

Many Americans keep an Aloe Vera plant in their home to aid in soothing burns and healing cuts, using the succulent as a natural first aid salve. The Aloe Vera plant has a long history of being a kitchen ornamental that people prefer to keep around whether they actually use it or not simply because their parents and grandparents did also. What many people do not know is that Aloe Vera’s healing properties have potential way beyond just being a substitute for a band-aid and a mother’s kiss (although it is hard to top a “boo boo” kiss). Besides cuts, scrapes and burns, this miracle plant can also help control acne, psoriasis, frostbite and blisters as well as help maintain healthy beautiful skin.

Aloe Vera has strong anti-bacterial, anti-fungal as well as anti-viral properties. Being a succulent with watery innards that could easily harbor bacteria if exposed the Aloe Vera contains large amounts long chain sugars called mucopolysaccharides (or MSP’s for short) that help fight off microbial invasion. These Polysaccharides are essential in helping heal damaged cells, and something that people stop developing on their own after adolescence. Besides these long chain sugars, Aloe Vera also contains a large amount of phytosterols, which are plant lipids that help improve skin elasticity eliminating the effects of scarring and wrinkles. The gel of Aloe Vera plant also has amazing moisturizing properties and also possesses the ability to oxygenate the skin tissue helping it heal faster. On top of all this, this little miracle plant also contains 200 other active biological agents including glycerol, vitamin E and zinc. Imagine, you can get all this for a couple of bucks at a plant and garden center. While big name corporations are catching on to the healing properties of aloe and are incorporating it into everything from disposable shaving blades to mouthwash, it is still in the pharmaceutical companies best interest to keep the population in the dark about the many healing secrets that this desert lily has. If people found out that treating your face with Aloe gel might actually do a better job in treating your acne than a prescription drug that essentially burns your face does, how the heck would they make any money?

Skin Care and Aloe Vera: The Naked Truth, written by Yulia Berry.

Yulia Berry is an independent health researcher and author of the best selling e-book on aloe vera, "Aloe - Your Miracle Doctor". She distributes a weekly newsletter regarding home remedies and has written another popular e-book "Pharmacy In Vegetables" and dozens of natural health articles published on hundreds of websites worldwide.

For information on "Aloe - Your Miracle Doctor", click here.