Aloe Vera

What the water content means in practice

A humectant draws moisture and holds it at the surface for as long as it is there. Water evaporates, and it takes the humectant's effect with it unless something is laid over the top to slow that down. This is why aloe is almost always formulated alongside a fat or a film former rather than on its own, and why a thin aloe gel left bare on the skin feels pleasant for twenty minutes and then feels like nothing at all.

• It works while it is wet. The sensation of cooling is evaporation, which is also the countdown.
• It needs a lid. Something occlusive over the top is what converts a brief effect into a longer one; that is the job described on the shea butter page.
• Position on the label tells you the dose. Listed near the front it is the base of the formula; listed near the end it is a token.

Rinse-off gives it about a minute

A good share of these are sugar scrubs, and a scrub is on the skin for the length of time it takes to work it over an arm. Whatever aloe is in it gets roughly sixty seconds and then goes down the drain with the sugar. That is not a criticism of the formula, because the aloe is there for slip and for feel during use rather than for anything lasting, but it does change what you should expect from it.

• Scrubs, the largest share. Aloe as a texture and slip ingredient; the abrasive mechanics are on the sugar scrub page.
• Jelly face masks. This is where it has real contact time, which is why aloe belongs in a mask more naturally than in a wash.
• Serums and an exfoliant. Leave-on formats, where the water phase stays put long enough to matter.

What it is reasonable to expect

Aloe has a long domestic reputation and a much narrower cosmetic role. As a leave-on humectant it makes skin feel softer and calmer for a while, and in a mask it does that with enough contact time to be noticeable. What it is not is a treatment. Anything involving a burn, a rash or a diagnosed condition is a question for a doctor, and a cosmetic product is not the place to look for an answer to it.

• Comfort rather than repair. The soothing feel is real; a claim beyond that is not one this page will make.
• Sunburn belongs with a doctor. Cooling something is not the same as treating it, and severe burns need proper attention.
• Patch test if your skin reacts easily. Aloe is well tolerated by most people and not by everybody.

Sorted by how long it stays on

Sorting by contact time is the fastest way to read this shelf, because that single variable decides how much the aloe in a given jar is actually doing.

• Longest contact. The jelly masks, which sit for the length of a mask rather than a wash.
• Medium contact. The serums, applied and left.
• Shortest contact. The scrubs, sugar based and otherwise, where the aloe is a feel ingredient during use.
• Often beside jojoba. Water and a light wax ester cover different halves of the same problem; the second half is on the jojoba oil page.