The Benefits of Aloe Vera: Skin Care, Digestion and More

By Nancy Chute
Published on January 1, 1976
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PHOTO: FOTOLIA/AFXHOME
Aloe vera is a natural remedy used for burns, scrapes and digestive health. The herb can even be used as a natural cosmetic and easily grown in any home garden.

I grow my own treatment for minor, burns on a kitchen windowsill where it’s always fresh and ready for emergencies. This living remedy, aloe vera, is also a great plant to have around for scrapes or rashes and, as it turns out, many other ailments too.

The benefits of aloe vera are not an old wives’ fantasy. Its healing qualities are medically recognized and many creams, ointments, and cosmetics made from its juices are sold in this country and all over the world. Still, it’s less expensive-and more effective-to grow your own!

The plant’s secret is the clear jelly stored inside its thick succulent leaves — a juice which forms a protective coating over a cut, burn, or abrasion and so promotes healing. Best of all, this natural ointment needs no processing to be effective. Just break off a leaf, slit it open, and smear the gel liberally on an affliction. Then keep the area moist to draw out the pain.

Unused portions of the healing greenery will stay fresh wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator, where it will remain ready for repeat applications or for the next crisis that comes along. In cold weather a severed leaf also keeps well on a bathroom windowsill while a rash or pimple is being doctored.

Aloe Vera and Burns

Our first “burn plant” quickly fascinated our children. They saw me use its juice to treat minor mishaps with hot saucepans and became anxious to make the thick jelly work its magic for them, too. Soon, a scraped leg from a bicycle accident gave them the opportunity. I felt like a witch doctor as I slit a leaf lengthwise and carefully patted the gel on the abrasion but the victim claimed that the treatment worked wonders.

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