DIY Coconut aloe lotion (And how to harvest aloe)

I have this aloe plant that was given to me as a housewarming gift from my sister in law 5 years ago. I struggle with using it enough, so I decided to look into making a really hydrating lotion.

Aloe is known for it's healing properties when it comes to skin it does good against sun burns and small wounds. Aloe is also a anti-inflammatory and moisture rich without being oily. I knew I wanted to use coconut oil for it's antibacterial and an smooth consistency so finding other ingredients that weren't  overly oily were a must.

This is my aloe plant, I should probably move the poor thing to a bigger pot, but I like having it on my window sill. If you don't have an aloe plant you can get one here or you may be able to get away using aloe vera gel from the store.

To harvest the aloe I cut off 3 of the leaves that were about 5 inches long. I cut the thorny sides off each leaf first. Then using a knife I peeled the top and bottom off of the leave leaving as much meat as possible. It's a bit of a messy process but I ended up with with these clear gels strips that I blended down into a gel. you should get about 1/4 cup of aloe gel.

Now onto the lotion.

Ingredients

1/4 oz (2.5 teaspoons) beeswax

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon of grapeseed oil

1/8 teaspoon vitamin E oil

1/4 cup aloe gel

10 drops of essential oils ( I used 2 drops tea tree, 3 drops jasmine, 5 drops lavender

Melt down the beeswax on the stove top. When it is melted add it to coconut and grapeseed oil and mix using a blender. Once it's blended smoothly add vitamin E and aloe gel, again blend till smooth. Wait till everything has cooled a bit before mixing in the essential oils.