Homemade Skin Care Recipe: Make your own Aloe Vera moisturiser/serum Base

Tip description / details:
You can so easily avoid buying "old" aloe vera juice/gel by harvesting from your own organically grown aloe vera plant.

Ingredients:
Freshly cut aloe vera leaves from your pot or garden,

How to prepare:
With a sharp knife just cut off the leaves close to the base of the plant and rinse thoroughly. You will notice the leaves have a flat side, and a curved side. Place the leaves curved side down on a cutting board. It is easiest to just thinly fillet the flat side with a sharp knife, exposing the gel all the way along the leaf. Then use a spoon to cleanly scrape the gel out of the leaf and process the gel in a blender until it is smooth.

How to use:
Use this straight on your skin for a light refreshing moisturiser/toner. Or use it as a base to add your hydrophilic active ingredients. If you make too much to use up in one week, you can add appropriate preservatives (I use Germaben II) and store the unused amount in the refrigerator. Only take out small amounts as and when you need it.

Results (observed by submitter):
It is a base for an anti-oxidant serum which I use every morning. Because it is water-based and very light, subsequent creams, sunscreen and makeup layer very well over it.

Costs involved:
The cost of an aloe vera plant