We supply a range of health and skin care products which make use of the natural healing properties found in plants.

Why Aloe Ferox?

The Aloe Raw materials are collected from the plant's three usable parts: the green epidermis as fibre, the yellow, Aloin rich bitter juice under the skin and the white inner flesh, rich in minerals, vitamins, amino acids, polysaccharides, enzymes and lipids.

When the aloe leaf is cut, extremely bitter yellow juice oozes from small canals situated just below the surface in the green part of the leaf. An animal skin or plastic sheet is placed in a hollow in the ground to collect the leaf exudate. Leaves are harvested with sickles and then carefully stacked around the hollow, with the cut surfaces facing inwards. The thorns along the edges prevent the leaves from slipping. The exudate is boiled in drums on open fires to remove the water, after which it solidifies to form a dark brown solid, or aloe lump. The fleshy part of the leaf (white inner part) is tasteless, and is used to produce gel and gel powder. Alcare only uses the purest white powder for their skin care range. The yellow powder extracted from the yellow bitters, are used for the health care range.

The three raw extracts: Aloe Gel Powder Concentrate 200:1, Aloe Gel Liquid Concentrate 50:1, Aloe Bitter Powder.

The dry leaf or chaff are also used in a number of products such as Aloe leaf tea, tasty treats like rusks and Aloe fibre. A large amount of the pure white powder is added to produce Alcare Aloe Gel as well as all our skin care products. Aloe Gel, because of its small molecular structure, penetrates the skin easily bringing soothing, healing and regenerating properties both internally and externally.

Plants have been part of the traditional healing practices of indigenous peoples for centuries.

One such plant is the Aloe Ferox or Cape Aloe that can be found growing in abundance in the Albertinia area of the Southern Cape of South Africa. The inhabitants of Southern Africa have known of the healing and regenerative powers of the Aloe Ferox plants for centuries. Historical evidence taken from archives relating to Egyptian, Greek and Roman times show that African Aloes have been used for many centuries in treating various ailments such as burns, sunburn, injuries to the skin, stomach ailments and as protection against the elements. The Khoi and San peoples of Southern Africa have recorded their association with the plant in numerous cave drawings. Bitters were also ingested by ancient people for their medicinal properties to help with gout, rheumatism and arthritis and detoxification in general.

The tapping of the bitter sap from the leaves of the Aloe Ferox is a distinctive process that is unique to this species of aloe, and has been practiced for centuries by the descendants of Africa's indigenous peoples. When the aloe leaf is cut, extremely bitter yellow juice oozes from small canals situated just below the surface in the green part of the leaf. An animal skin or plastic sheet is placed in a hollow in the ground to collect the leaf exudate. Leaves are harvested with sickles and then carefully stacked around the hollow, with the cut surfaces facing inwards. The thorns along the edges prevent the leaves from slipping. The exudate is boiled in drums on open fires to remove the water, after which it solidifies to form a dark brown solid, or aloe lump.

Today it still forms part of local tradition.

Early travelers, missionaries and settlers to Africa soon realised the importance of this plant, incorporated it into their own healing practices, took it with them on their travels and finally exported it to other countries. Today the Aloe Ferox plant has been accepted world-wide for its superior antiseptic, cleansing, moisturising and anti-inflammatory properties.