Have you ever wondered how you can get an even skin tone on your face naturally? I had, and it took me a really long time to figure it out.
I wasn´t aware that I had a dark forehead, not until I married my husband and he started teasing me about it. Only then I paid attention and realized that my forehead was indeed dark while the rest of my face was fair. In fact, my forehead was way too dark compared to the rest of my body.
I had tried using some whitening products to lighten up my facial skin but while they did lighten up my skin, the forehead was still darker compared to the rest of my face.
All I wanted was to get an even skin tone on my face but I was dealing with a decade-old sunburn. Looking back through all my old photos when I was still living in Thailand and in the Philippines, I pinched myself for not even noticing how my forehead was fried under the sun.
I loved staying under the sun wearing only sunglasses with no sunblock lotion to protect my skin. Doing so for many years had made my forehead turn dark. It´s a deep-seated sunburn. When before I didn´t even notice and didn´t care, I´ve become a worry-wart every time a picture is taken of me, thoroughly scrutinizing how dark my forehead appears.
A life-changing experience happened when I came across a YouTube video of a young woman showing how she uses aloe vera to treat sunburn on her face. It was an A-hah moment for me!
I went to the nearest plant store in my area and luckily, they had a potted Aloe-Vera plant available for me! It was winter and Aloe Vera wasn´t in season but lucky me, an aloe was waiting just for me. It was an Aloe Barbadensis Miller that I got, the green with white dots aloe that bear babies really quickly. I repotted it into a bigger pot.
I became so adept about Aloe Vera that I spent an entire month doing research about the best aloe species out there. As a result, I spent many days hunting for those best species – Aloe Barbadensis Miller – Stockton and Aloe Ferox – on eBay and Amazon. They joined my two-year-old Aloe arborescens in my kitchen + the more common Aloe Barbadensis Miller that I got from the store.
Eventually, I ended up having all four of the best species of Aloe Vera as my indoor plants collection. Who would have thought I´d be so obsessed about Aloe Veras overnight?
But guess what? Only after a week of using Aloe Vera on my face I noticed light spots appeared on my forehead. Even my husband noticed them and he commented that my forehead was getting lighter. It got me really excited. Aloe Vera is working!
Right now I continue using Aloe Vera on my face not only to treat the decade-old sunburn but to also protect my facial skin from wrinkles.
Through all this I discovered my love for indoor gardening. My only challenge? I`ve a tiny apartment and I`ve only so much space for my aloes.
Through my research I found out that although fresh-from-the-plant Aloe is more effective, you´ll get as good a result from the organic Aloe Vera gels available on Amazon. If you have no time to grow Aloe Veras, these two bottled aloe vera gels are said to be the best.
So how do you prepare and use Aloe Vera if you are harvesting the gel straight from your plant?
Many women have commented on some forums that using fresh Aloe Vera is messy. I´ve found an easy way to do it without mess. What I do is get all the gel from the Aloe Vera leaf (this video should help you), put the liquid/gel in an empty cosmetic bottle then store in the refrigerator.
First I clean my face, then I apply the Aloe Vera gel, and leave it on my face whole night. It´s like wearing it as a mask throughout the night. I wash it off the next morning. There are times when I apply the Aloe Vera gel twice a day. If my face feel dry after the aloe gel has dried out, I top it with my regular moisturizer cream (without washing the aloe gel off).
Tip: Don´t forget to store the remaining gel back in the ref it it will spoil.
It´s important to observe if you´re allergic to the aloe vera gel or not. In case you notice some itching, you better wash off the gel after 30 or 60 minutes. But if you´re skin isn´t allergic to it, then leaving it on your skin overnight is a good idea.
Having seen the effects of Aloe Vera on evening out my skin tone on my face, I´m now using it to even out the skin tone on the other parts of my body.
What do you think? Will you give Aloe Vera a try?