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Aloe vera is used to heal burns and treat skin conditions, but can it also benefit your hair? Experts share their insights.
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Aloe vera is a succulent plant known to hasten wound healing and is often used to treat sunburns. Most of us have likely spread aloe vera across our sunburnt backs after a long day at the beach, but how many of us have thought to apply this natural substance to our hair?
With a push for more transparency from beauty brands and a desire for clean products, many people are turning to more natural substances for beauty, skin, and hair care. In fact, a 2021 survey reveals 40% of consumers say there are brands they love but refuse to buy from because they don’t trust the company that owns the brand.
I for one am intrigued by the idea of ditching the hair care products with 20+ ingredients for a substance found in nature. You don’t even need to go all hunter gatherer and find the plant in nature; all it takes is a trip to your local grocery store! The other day while grocery shopping at Whole Foods, for instance, I found large aloe vera leaves and even a bottle of natural aloe vera gel. Aloe vera may be the missing element to your current hair care routine.
In this article, Mason Josh, principal stylist at Josh Wood Atelier, and Terri Rehkopf, owner and founder of Ippodaro Salon, weigh in on the benefits, uses, and appeal of aloe vera in hair care.
Benefits of Using Aloe Vera on Hair
One quick search on the web will tell you there are countless benefits to using aloe vera on your hair. WebMD notes numerous benefits of aloe vera, such as strengthening hair, controlling grease, relieving an itchy scalp, and potentially promoting hair growth.
Terri Rehkopf, owner and founder of Ippodaro Salon, notes vitamins and pH levels as benefits of using aloe vera on hair. Rehkopf explains, “Aloe vera contains vitamins and minerals that help to nourish the follicles and strengthen the hair strands, reducing hair breakage and allowing the hair to grow stronger and healthier. When you want to maintain a healthy scalp, it is important to keep the balance of pH levels of the scalp and hair, [and] aloe vera has a similar pH to that of the scalp.” Therefore, aloe vera works in harmony with your body, rather than altering pH levels.
Beauty and personal care products are known for being underregulated, which can cause us consumers to worry about what ingredients (and chemicals!) we are putting on our skin and hair. Josh Wood Atelier’s principal stylist, Mason Josh, points out a benefit of using aloe vera in your hair care routine is the fact that it is a clean product. Mason states, “It’s amazing, aloe vera is a natural product so it has no added chemicals or artificial ingredients that strip your hair. It’s great for clients who want to know exactly what is going into their hair.”
Cons of Using Aloe Vera on Hair
A natural product that is said to strengthen and nourish hair, reduce breakage, control grease, and possibly hasten hair growth sounds perfect, but is aloe vera too good to be true? In truth, little risks are associated with aloe vera use. One potential concern, however, is an allergy to this succulent plant. While the open access journal Clinical and Translational Allergy reports that serious allergic reactions to aloe vera are quite rare, you may choose to err on the side of caution and perform a patch test on your skin before applying aloe vera to your entire head, hair, and scalp to see how your body reacts.
How to Incorporate Aloe Vera Into Your Hair Care Routine
There are numerous ways to incorporate aloe vera into your hair care routine, from using it as an alternative to conditioner to a pre-shampoo hair treatment. Mason recommends using aloe vera in place of conditioner or in the form of a mask, stating, “you could use aloe vera as a treatment, like a deep mask where you leave it in the hair for a minimum of 5 minutes and up to 30 minutes.”
Rehkopf seconds the idea of an aloe vera hair mask, explaining how one can easily create their own aloe vera hair mask using household ingredients. “You can create homemade hair masks by combining aloe vera gel with honey, coconut oil, yogurt, or avocado. Mix this all together until it becomes a paste, then apply it to your scalp and hair. You can leave it in for about 1 hour then rinse.” An additional way to enjoy the benefits of aloe vera is to mix the substance in with your conditioner and follow your normal hair washing routine.
Aloe Vera and the Environment
Aloe vera is a product of our natural environment and is a clean ingredient as opposed to chemically-enhanced hair care products we see too often on store shelves. This non-poisonous plant can be found in nature all over the world, from North Africa to Gulf States to Mexico to India to parts of Australia. Aloe vera also not only benefits our hair, but aloe vera benefits our planet as well. This powerful plant helps purify the air, limit erosion via the plant’s vast root system, and support biodiversity by supplying nectar to insects.
As someone who struggles with hair breakage and a dry scalp in the colder months, I am excited to add aloe vera to my hair care routine. I no longer view aloe vera as simply a treatment for sunburn; I view it as a natural substance that can strengthen and nourish my hair without creating a pH imbalance and introducing harmful chemicals to my hair. Gone are my days of tirelessly researching strange-sounding ingredients and letting brand marketing convince me what products I need. I’m letting Mother Earth take care of me and my hair with aloe vera.