Aloe vera shows up in many skin and hair care products for good reason–it’s a natural humectant, i.e. it attracts water molecules. Humectants work best when combined with emollients and occlusives. Emollients soften the skin by slowing down water loss, while occlusives provide a barrier that traps in moisture.


I try a lot of different products in the course of my work. I don’t have particularly sensitive skin but sometimes my skin reacts to TMI–too many ingredients to process in too little time. When this happens I reach for fresh aloe for its immediate soothing capability.


I also grapple with photosensitivity and hyperpigmentation, fairly common for brown and black women though we have lower incidences of skin cancer than our light-skinned sisters. Living at altitude means that I’m never without a hat and rarely without a scarf. When my skin feels irritated and tight from too much sun sneaking in, fresh aloe vera always calms it right down. As the planet warms and sunlight can feel unbearably intense, there are simple ways to adapt without using more chemicals, buying more products, and consuming more single-use plastic.


I’ve tried chemical sunscreens that work great when applied every two hours as directed; but after a few months of use I can taste them, and not from licking my lips. Over the course of two years, I went on and off of chemical sunscreen to confirm my reaction to chemical oversaturation. And I had to give them up. If you run a high risk for skin cancer, you may not have that option so talk to your dermatologist. Please research and draw your own conclusions. And remember that our bodies are much too unique and complex to be one size fits all.


Chemical sunscreens often contain benzones that can act as hormone disruptors. And now we’re learning that microplastics can create xenoestrogens that have the same effect. That’s a lot of hormone disruption coming at us. Fortunately, there are good alternatives to chemical sunscreens.


Choosing a moisturizer and/or facial oil that contains red raspberry seed oil can be helpful as a layering step (not a substitute for sunscreen). Though raspberry seed oil offers ample protection from UVB and UVC rays, it offers limited protection from the UVA rays that cause skin cancer.


Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, the standard ingredients in mineral sunscreen, are considered safe by the FDA and protect against a wide range of UV rays. You don’t have to settle for the white untinted variety; tinted mineral sunscreen can work really well.


I avoid beauty products that are packaged in plastic; once I learned that plastic bottles are rarely commercially recycled and can take up to 500 years to degrade, I started looking for workarounds. I use a tinted sunscreen by a company called “All Good”, packaged in tin. When applied on its own it’s quite opaque, which works for sun protection but not for a barely-there natural look. The product can also tend to include unemulsified bits, but in my opinion that’s proof of purity--variable viscosity in natural products is often indicative of a lack of chemical texturing agents. Who needs extra chemicals in a product that is literally going to be baked into your face? The active ingredient in All Good SPF 50 is zinc oxide, and the tint is derived from iron oxides.


When I want to use a product that fits my values but not my specifications, I experiment with modifications. Here’s how I amend “All Good” into a custom “designer” product that works for my dry, mature, altitude-challenged skin:

  1. Clean my face with a warm, wet cloth (having cleansed with Pyrrha’s the night before, it’s unnecessary to use a cleaning product in the a.m.).
  2. Mist my face and neck with a hydrosol (Rose Hydrosol from Aura La Voura) and dab a few drops of oil (Radiant Glow Serum from Tierra Madre Botanicals) on my skin. Work it in gently until my fingers start to drag. Wait for a minute to let it penetrate fully.
  3. Depending on the season/humidity, I apply a light layer of moisturizer (I am currently obsessed with Sun Butter from Soap & Supply in Santa Fe, NM).
  4. Using my palm as a palette, I add a tiny dab of an emollient cream (Organic Comfrey Salve from Evans Organics is a wonderful product and works for sore joints as well), a half-pump of plain hyaluronic acid (a powerful humectant), and a dab of cream blush (or even a smear of comparable lipstick) to add dimension to the tinted sunscreen.
  5. Spray my face and neck with hydrosol again.
  6. Go back to the palette in my palm and add about an eighth of a teaspoon of All Good. If I’d added in the sunscreen before the hydrosol, the hydrosol bottle would be covered in sunscreen...I discovered this so you wouldn’t have to!
  7. I blend the products in my palm very well and then dot the mixture on my face and neck, working it in lightly and thoroughly.
  8. For a super-dewy skin, finish with one more spritz of hydrosol to complete the build-up of moisture layers.

If this seems like a lot, please know that it takes three minutes or less. In return, I get to use my consumer influence to support organic products and small woman-owned businesses; obtain chemical-free sun protection and customize the shade; avoid single-use plastics; and provide a sheer, glowy, natural finish to my complexion.

BTW People, please repurpose all of your plastic-packaged (and otherwise) makeup items that fail to fulfill their intended objective. Lipsticks that don’t suit your lips can make fabulous cream blush, eye shadow, contour, and color corrector for other products. Serums and creams can work as heel smoothers, hand treatments, and crepe erasers. Powdered eye shadows can be used for contour or eyeliner. Cream blush works for eyeshadow and contour. Eye pencils can be a great fit for brows…you get the idea. Small changes turn into huge benefits for your pocketbook and the environment.

Note: You can buy decent bottled aloe vera but nothing compares to the real thing. If you don’t have your own plant, individual leaves are available at many natural food and Latinx grocery stores. In general, aloe is not sprayed with pesticides. Look for fleshy firm leaves with no shriveling at the tips. Leaves will keep well in the fridge but if the skin and flesh are starting to turn reddish, trim them and chop the best part of the leaf into small portions for freezer storage.

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