Skincare products are not magic. The process begins with a base, to which various ingredients are added to make the final product. The vast majority of skincare products are water-based, with the first ingredient listed as water, aqua, purified water, or H2O, combined with other ingredients to make individual products such as moisturizers, exfoliants, cleansers and so on (check your bottles ladies - if the ingredients are not listed on the bottle then they will appear on the packaging).

Unfortunately for you, water is not a great base for a skincare product. Water doesn’t get absorbed through the skin. Moisturizers don’t put water into the skin. Moisturizers prevent evaporation from the skin, thus keeping it hydrated. If your skin absorbed water, going swimming would be a nasty proposition – osmotic pressure would cause you to bloat up until your body equalized with the outside environment!

Scientifically speaking, the molecules of water are just too big to be absorbed directly into the skin. That’s why choosing water as a base ingredient in a skincare product just doesn’t make sense.

There have been many laboratory studies done on Aloe vera. In fact, it is one of the most researched natural skincare ingredients. Unlike water, aloe absorbs into your skin synergistically, delivering nutrients while hydrating and repairing. These abilities are well documented, and have been researched by the scientific community since at least 1935.

To sum things up – aloe just makes sense as a base for a skincare product. Why pay for a product that has a base ingredient your skin can’t even use!

 

That being said, all aloe is not created equal. When aloe is harvested it must be processed and stabilized within six hours to avoid chemical breakdown, reducing efficacy. Make sure you buy products containing bioactive aloe. In addition, find out if the company uses pharmaceutical grade, IASC certified aloe in their products. An effective aloe based skincare product should deliver the therapeutic benefits of aloe to your skin, working synergistically with powerful humectants, protectants and botanicals to rejuvenate and reveal a clear and luminous complexion.