Here I am to save the day!
No, really, it’s Aloe Vera, here to save the day!
We have aloe growing in pots around the side yard and have always used it for sunburns as well as injury burns. What a smelly sap it has! Yuk! But we suffer through the smell because we know how soothing the cool gel is and how wonderfully fast it relieves the burn pain and peeling, and insights rapid healing. 
Really, really, really. For us it does! Even though we keep our plants outside, they grow very well inside and enjoy an arid climate. Aloe Vera is a succulent and stores moisture in its leaves. The plumper, the better for our purpose.
Has anyone out there drunk the aloe juice available from the health food stores? I just got a small bottle and can tell you it is far worse tasting than the smell of the fresh plant sap! But it’s good for us, right? I surely hope so. Why is it that we have the old saying, “If it tastes good, it must be bad for us?” That means, “If it tastes bad, it must be good for us.” That can’t be a rule of thumb, no way. I’ve heard that the fresh sap tastes better, but haven’t tried it yet. I think I will ’cause I don’t know how I’m gonna make myself buy anymore from the store.
So, back to using aloe plants for burns…
Pick ( I use a paring knife) the outer leaves only, leaving the inner ones to continue growing. Wash them if a faucet is handy, but it is not necessary. Sometimes the outer edges will have short spines that can rub and irritate the burn while wiping the sap onto the skin, so you might like to shave those off with the knife blade before application. With the knife’s tip, slice into one of the outer edges, cutting deeply, almost to the other side, filleting the leaf open like wings. Then simply wipe the juice onto the skin by holding the leaf as a cloth and applying in strokes. Use as many as your plant can afford to give up yet still continue growing.
Now, my plants are very delicate little things with white spots on them and very understated spiny edges. Here is a video about how a commercial grower does the filleting of each leaf by hand, extracting only the insides and leaving the outer skin to discard. I could not do that with my finer strain of plant, they are simply too small.
I suggest, before using Aloe Vera yourself, you do a bunch of research online and make a decision as to what product and what method you could benefit from. Happy peeling!
A note I’ve found while reading:
“Aloe (aloe barbadensis – not aloe vera!), may cause bladder and kidney damage.” from Kombucha: the miracle fungus By Harald Tietze
