How to make Aloe Vera Gel (from aloe juice)

Not everybody is so lucky to have a plant of Aloe Vera.
Personally I have one but my heart doesn’t let me chop off a leg or an arm from it. 😀
Nevertheless when you buy “Aloe vera Gel” usually it is maximum 95% made of Aloe vera, remaining 5% (and this is not a little amount!!!) are other things.
So here is a recipe to make 99% Aloe vera gel where the remaining 1% is composed of Xanthan Gum (natural gelling substance) and preservative.

Preservative is an important step. I know many people who want to do “natural cosmetics” don’t want to use preservatives, but preservative doesn’t necessarily mean “bad”. There are many kinds of preservatives right now; you can choose a paraben free and 100% biodegradable (like the Cosgard which i am using).
The importance of preservatives is that they don’t permit the growth of bacteria inside our water-based cream/gel. If you really don’t want to use a preservative then you should save your gel or cream in the fridge and use it up in maximum one week time.

Recipe:
99   gr – 100% Aloe Vera Juice
0.6 gr – Xanthan Gum
0.6 gr Cosgard (I know this doesn’t make 100 grams but 100.2 grams 😀 I can count too, but some preservatives need to be added in smaller amount and anyway 100.2 gr in a bottle of 100 ml doesn’t make a big difference 😀 that’s all)

71 thoughts on “How to make Aloe Vera Gel (from aloe juice)”

    1. I was starting from an aloe vera juice with pieces of aloe vera inside… so I filtered it in order to get only the juice out and make a smooth gel.
      If your juice doesn’t have pieces of aloe vera inside… of course there’s no need for this step 😉

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  2. Pingback: Aloe Vera Hair Gel – Recipe | It's all in my hands

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  5. Can I use “Fruit Of The Earth Aloe Vera Juice With 99.8% Aloe” and use your recipe to turn into a gel?.

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    1. you mean if you can put 1 gram in 99 grams of water, in order to have double the “power”?
      You COULD, the problem is that sometimes it doesn’t melt well enough and it can create problems.
      Also, even if you were to use this powder in a very small amount of water (let’s say 1 gram of powder in 10 grams of water) it wouldn’t still do any magic 😀
      So it is up to you I guess 🙂

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    1. it would be quite safe if you, of course, add a preservative.
      This said, it is an issue whenever you add some kind of powder or even just herbal extract to any cosmetic: the risk microbes will grow more is real (because the environment is better for them as it is for us) 🙂
      But still, since you wouldn’t get any special result at using aloe even 5 times as suggested… I wouldn’t suggest you to exceed with it 🙂
      but you can obviously make your experiments and choose by yourself 🙂

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    1. You could but you wouldn’t get what you want to get: the two ingredients are not very compatible, in fact the aloe vera pH doesn’t match with the pH of sodium hyaluronate. This leads to a much less firm gel (and less effective).

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    1. Hello Priya! 🙂
      You can, but what will be the “sanitizing” ingredient? Because I am afraid it might denaturate aloe or make the gel collapse.
      But sure you can experiment with this recipe 😀 it is not “mine” 🙂
      btw, Priya, I might be wrong but you sound Indian. I am in India at the moment and I would like to know if you have any place where to buy cosmetic ingredients in India? Any website?
      I know I could import, but I am afraid of duties!

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      1. Well, I would like to use denatured alcohol in the hand sanitizer, its just an experiment for my college project!
        I am an Indian, but am so sorry to say that I don’t know of any such place..

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      2. Denaturated alcohol might make the gel collapse. But just try. Maybe you will have to rise the amount of xanthan gum or maybe you could change the gelling agent (if it doesn’t stabilize with xanthan gum).
        🙂

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      4. There are many ‘carbopol’ ingredients. Many new ones nowadays claim that they are improved and more stable than before, but usually carbopols are not that stable and their gel collapses very easily.
        You should just make many experiments and try different ingredients until you reach the consistency you are expecting 🙂
        Change gelling agents and find the right one 🙂

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      6. Hi
        Im learning to make an aleovera gel. I would like to combine and use both xanthan gum and guar gum. How to use this? Can i combine with little glycerin and mix it with water? After two hours of mixing can i keep this mixture in double boiler and later add geoguard ect as a preservative? Id how much xanthan gum and guar gum can i add and how much preservative should i add?

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      7. Hello. What is the result you are expecting from mixing the two gums?
        What do you want to get from mixing for two hours? Keeping the mixture in a double boiler before adding the preserving system sounds risky in the way that the double boiler would make a lot of the water evaporate and you wouldn’t be able to know at what concentration you are adding your preserving system. Also, heating up aloe vera doesn’t sound like the best idea, I always avoid heating up a formula unless an ingredient in the formula requires it.
        I have never used guar and xanthan together, so I don’t know how much of these two gums together would give a good result. Xanthan seems ok at arounf 0.5%, though the consistency of xanthan isn’t the best as it creates a quite slimy gel.

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  12. Hello. Thanks for your helpful posts. Im wondering if i use sodium carbormer – do u use it before? When i put into water it didnt disperse. I dont have carbopol utrez 21 here so i could only use sodium carbomer. Can you help me out? How to completely disperse it in the water? Thanks alot. Any answer will be greatly appreciate.
    Thanks,
    Allie

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    1. I have never used sodium carbomer as nobody sells it here.
      Can you please explain better how you added it to the water?
      Had you already added the aloe?
      Because aloe is quite acidic and sodium carbomer doesn’t seem to agree with it so it would be better to let the carbomer hydrate in a portion of water, then add aloe powder (or did you use juice?) to the remaining water and mix them together only after the sodium carbomer has hydrated.
      It sounds a bit weird only cause this type of carbomer should hydrate quite easily compared to utrez 21! 🙂 or at least this is what a website selling it says!

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  14. I made this today using commercial aloe vera juice meant for human consumption. I didn’t use a preservative because it already had it. Hope that works! I also added a 400 IU capsule of vitamin E, a few drops of jojoba oil, and a few drops of essential oils. Mixed the whole thing up with a stick blender. Came out great! Thanks for posting!

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    1. Aloe vera juice meant for drinking doesn’t have a preservative that allows it to be stored out of the fridge for any long time at all: once the bottle is open, you should store it in the fridge and drink it in a few days.
      So you should definitely add a preservative.
      The oils you have added (vitamin E, jojoba oil and the essential oil) might resurface in a few hours because there is no emulsifier but that’s not a big problem.

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      1. Thanks for the additional information. I called the company and they said their aloe vera juice is good for 5-6 months in the fridge once opened. So I make a batch, put enough for a few days in a dispenser and keep the rest refrigerated. Haven’t had any problem with the oils separating. I guess with the small amounts of oils I’m using, the xantham gum is enough of an emulsifier.

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      2. The xanthan gum is not an emulsifier, but it might just keep the particles of oils suspended in the gel for long enough that they don’t resurface before you finish the gel. 🙂
        Yes, make a small small batch as often as you need 🙂

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      1. I dont remember. It was long ago. I am on holiday right now and can’t precisely remember the preservative ingredients right now. I hope I remember to reply in a week, when I am back.
        If I forget, please write me again and I’ll be happy to reply!
        Sorry, but I kinda know my memory 😀

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  15. What other and natural preservatives you can use(besides Cosgard)?
    E.g.what essential oils you coul recommend?

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    2. The ones I have added in the last posts! I am not home right now so it is difficult for me to check on the phone. Anyway it is a combo of two ingredients 🙂 please check the last formulas I have made! 🙂

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  16. Can we add sodium benzoate instead of Cosgard ? What will be the Shelf life of this 1 litre Aloe Vera gel?

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  17. Would colloidal silver work instead of the Cosgard if you use the freeze dried Aloe Vera powder and the colloidal silver as the “water”? Colloidal silver kills bacteria, is natural and is good for inside you or out. I’m not sure how it works with shelf life. I know the colloidal silver has to be in glass jars/bottles that are dark – not clear and it will last for many months. Also it should NOT be refrigerated or in heat. The manufacturer of my equipment says it should be at “room temperature” I just started working with the Aloe Vera so I don’t know what type of environmental constraints it has. I test everything on myself since I am a diabetic and a celiac/ gluten intolerant person.

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    1. Hello Mary,
      Sorry but colloidal silver cannot be used as a preservative of cosmetics.
      Actually even Cosgard doesn’t seem to be the best option since Aloe vera is very difficult to preserve.
      It needs a powerful cosmetic preservative, which aren’t just going to kill bacteria (gram positive AND negative), but also mold, fungus, and so on. Preserving a cosmetic is much more complicated than I ever imagined 🙂

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  18. Hi!

    Can I make this without the preservative? If so, how long will it last? Hoping for a quick response as I’m hoping to make this today!

    Thanks,
    Anya

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    1. To say how long it will last you need to get it tested. I cannot say, cause there are also so many variables: the purity of the water you use, cleanliness of the surfaces and so on and so forth. I wouldn’t keep it longer than a couple of days in the fridge like food items.

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    2. Hi Annie,
      Have you used carragenan instead of xanthan gum yet and what were your results and measurements and consistency?

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  20. How about the shelf life?
    Can we keep this recipe in the room temperature for 6 months?
    Please tell what are the preservatives able to add this recipe and measurements ?
    Plz reply

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    1. The only way to know the shelf life is by testing the product. There is NO preserving system that works in the wat “add this to 1% and the product will be ok for 6 months”.
      As a rule of thumb I’d say 6 months are a long time.
      Aloe is known to be difficult to preserve because it is organic so my suggestion is:
      Use very clean and possibly sanitized tools to make this and make a small batch that will last you a very short time (couple of weeks).
      Anyway it is so easy to make that you can quickly make it again 😉

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  21. is there any other way to make natural aloevera gell..(I am ok to use preservatives to store it for 6 months). I wish I could have complete guide to make it.. I read your post and extremely happy that its almost five years and still you are actively replying. 😊 . You deserve many more sharing bro.

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  23. Can I use vegetable glycerin as a preservative as I can’t find “cosgard”

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    1. Hello Stephanie. Glycerin is not a preservative. It cal help preserve only if it is huge at very high concentrations because it helps preventing the growth of pathogens BUT it would mean you would have to make this out of glycerin more or less… And still you couldn’t be sure that it does, cause aloe is a very tasty food for bacteria 😉
      So my suggestion is, always include a proper preserving system 🙂 Cosgard is not even that effective (I know now)

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  24. Hi, can we add preservative before xantham gum? I find it easier to mix preservative before xantham gum as it is much runny, once we add xantham gum and become gel it is harder to ensure the preservative perfectly blend in the aloe vera gel.. Thanks

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  25. Hi
    What ll be the shelf life if I use geoguard ect preservative and xanthan gum. Can I use this hell for skin and hair?

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    1. Hello,
      To know the shelf life you would need to get your product lab tested, there is no other way to be able to guess the shelf life. It also depends on the procedure you use to wash your items, the purity of the water you use and so on… So the best bet when making cosmetics at home is always to:
      1) clean all the items you are going to use VERY WELL
      2) spray all the cleaned items with 75% isopropyl alcohol and let dry
      3) make a small enough amount of product so that you can finish it in a quick time (making 100 grams each time is much better than making 1 Kg all at once).

      Yes you can use it for skin and hair but check the pH

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  29. Hi mam instead of cosgard can i use Geogaurd ECT as a preservative. And pls let me know how to calculate shelf life of these diy products.

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    1. You can use Geoguard.
      You CANNOT “calculate” the shelf life of products. That’s why you should always make very small batches and use as fast as possible.
      The shelf life of commercial products isn’t “calculated”, but it is actually properly tested by making a batch and then testing it with different temperatures that make it faster for bacteria and yeast/molds to grow and then microbiologically testing the product to see if it is safe.
      That’s how the shelf life of a product is tested. A homemaker cannot test it.

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  30. This might be a question you might not have an answer to. But do you know how you would make a drink with aloe vera pieces in it using xanthan gum?

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