Aloe vera grew from an innocent skin care obsession to glam hair discovery for celebrity stylist Gabrielle Corney.
It all started when she began using the plant on her face and would sometimes accidentally get it in her hair. After a while, she noticed that her hair was healthier, softer, fuller and that the gel didn’t leave any residue. From then, she was hooked and sharing her success story with clients.
Since she swears by this grocery store item, we asked her to give us the inside scoop on its benefits and best practices for incorporating it into a routine.
THE BENEFITS
There are a myriad of natural remedies that a single aloe vera plant can produce, but according to Corney, “it specifically can help our edges because the gel’s enzymes can rid the scalp of dead cells and promote the regeneration of skin tissue around the hair follicles.”
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Aloe vera totes nourishing properties and tons of vitamins and minerals that keep hair healthy and strong. It’s also an adaptogen, or a substance that naturally boosts the body’s ability to adapt to external changes. This means the scalp can more easily resist harsh weather conditions and recover from aggressive styling around the hairline.
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Aloe vera plants are also readily available at your local health or food store. However, be sure to pick a plant that is healthy in appearance.
“A telltale sign of a healthy aloe vera plant is its color. Look for a plant that is ‘Kermit the Frog’ green and try not to get a plant that has too many bumps and bruises.”
THE PROCESS
Corney suggests this easy 5-step process for applying aloe vera to your edges:
Trim off the prickly sides of the plant, so that they don’t harm you or your edges.
Horizontally, cut off a about 2″ section of the plant
Using the 2″ portion, open the plant so that you see the gel-like substance in the middle.
Gently massage the gel into your hairline working in circular motions from ear to ear
Repeat this routine both morning and night to see results
For a more detailed step by step, you can also follow this video tutorial:
PATIENCE IS KEY
If you are looking for a quick fix for your edges, you certainly won’t get it from the aloe vera plant! Corney shares that the “timeline for progress varies for person to person, but for best results, be sure to use the aloe vera gel morning and night for about 90 days.”
As with anything, consistent application is critical for success, so be patient, consistent and love your hair through the process!
[BLANK_AUDIO] Ladies the hairline, or what we call the edges is a big issue for black women. Yeah. We receive quite a few questions about this, and one woman even emailed us and said that, the losing of her edges was affecting her self esteem. Mm. So I'm gonna start with Tippi, do you have any tips on, Edges, edges. Absolutely so it's a huge thing and first let me just say that a person can tend to lose their edges just naturally through courses of alopecia, through age, after I had my daughter my edges got a little thinner in my temple area so that's one thing that just naturally happens over time and that's really nothing that you can do about it. But then there are the self inflicted edge problems. Like braiding hair too tight, putting a lot of heat, heat abuse, comb abuse, scarves, anything that's kind of just resting too tight. And I think the biggest problem is that when we tend to wear maybe extensions or we're kinda just maybe relaxing the edges, or just putting heat just on those edges, obviously causing self-inflicted chemical damage there, too. So I just saw a huge problem. One thing that we can do, obviously, is not creating a lot of stress. So if you have things that maybe you're putting too much heat, or maybe too much alcohol type of product, just kind of back up on it a little bit, just back up on it. And also maybe wearing styles that don't require so much product on your edge where you need to kind of like smooth it out or flatten it out. You know styles that require like tons of heat on your edges as well. And Giza what are your thoughts on edges in terms of growing them back because many have already done the damage, if you will. Yeah, absolutely. I think a big thing is it's all about follicle stimulation, so Whether it's giving yourself scalp massages or using certain stimulating oils such as peppermint oil or cinnamon oil. And there is certain things that also have certain herbal extracts that you will almost feel the tingle as it is on your edges. A lot of times what I do with a lot of my clients is literally spend like. 15 20 minutes just massaging in those oils. And if you're able to do that consistently cuz consistency is key with everything especially when it comes to hair growth. People expect results over night and if they can consistently do that whether it's twice a day or at least once a day they'll definitely see. As long as there's no follicle damage they'll be able to see For a change. And Ella, what are your thoughts? My thoughts when it comes to the follicles, are like her, if there's no damage, then you're in good shape. Tippy, definitely everything that she says, but those that do have the follicles that have damage, you can go to your dermatologist. And they do have foams and creams that you can use that have steroids in them but they won't make you grow hair all over, it will not make you gain weight or anything. But you could also get steroid injections, which goes underneath the skin. And what the steroid injections do is they dissolve the scar tissue to make it softer so that the hair can come through the scalp. Because what happens to scar tissue actually seals over your hair follicle. So the steroids will actually break down that scar tissue. Lots and lots of tips here. And honestly one quick tip I will add that is so simple and doesn't have grow but at least, it's something that I do in between to camouflage Okay. breakage on the edges. Talk to me. Literally pouring like keratin fibers on your edges just to fill it in. Huge fan. It's amazing, like amazing. Where has that been all these And you can always use the, you know, for those people that can't get that, you know what I'm talking about. You get a matte black or dark brown eyeshadow. Tap it in with a brush. Yeah, yeah. That's what I do cause I get Stress alopecia. I have a little spot. That's a whole other show. [LAUGH] Okay. All right. We'll talk about that later. I'm bringing it in. [CROSSTALK] I'm bringing it in. [BLANK_AUDIO]
