Aloe Barbadensis Gel is a plant juice (and not an extract) and consists of water and a proportion of solids. The natural proportion of aloe vera solids in Aloe Vera Gel is approx. 0.5 %, the rest is water.

Concentration of the Aloe Vera gel is achieved by proportionally removing some or all of the water. This produces concentrates (10x, 40x, 200x) that result in pure Aloe Vera gel (1x) when re-diluted correctly with water.

In the INCI declaration the term ‘Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice’ makes it clear that the name ‘Gel’ refers to the proportion of aloe vera juice.

An extract is gained using a solvent and a certain proportion is thus extracted from the plant. When talking about extracts we therefore differentiate between the proportion of solvent and the proportion of extract (dry residue).

For Aloe Vera Oil Extract AO002, for example, it is soy oil that extracts the oil-soluble proportion from the Aloe Vera Gel.

The INCI name is therefore Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract. In this case the INCI declaration must include the solvent and the extracted proportion.

Let’s use Aloe Vera Powder TN001 as an example. Aloe Vera Powder TN001 is 200 times more concentrated, meaning water has been completely removed from the Aloe Vera Gel to make it more concentrated with Aloe Vera solid content.

For Aloe Vera Powder TN001 it means it has 200 times the amount of Aloe Vera solids than pure / original Aloe Vera Gel.

When we use Aloe Vera products, we need to consider the concentration of the product, the percentage we want and how much water we need to re-add to our formulation.

Example: In my formulation, I want to have 20 % Aloe Vera Gel. How much Aloe Vera Powder TN001 do I need to use?

Firstly, you want to use this equation: Percentage you want to have ÷ Concentration of Product = How much product you need to use

20 % ÷ 200X = 0.1 %

As stated before, Aloe Vera Powder TN001 is 200 times more concentrated than pure Aloe Vera Gel. This is achieved by removing water. To be able to have 20 % Aloe Vera Gel we need to work out how much water was removed and re-add this water to the Aloe Vera Powder TN001.

Example: I need to add 0.1 % Aloe Vera Powder TN001 to my formulation to be able to have 20 % Aloe Vera Gel. How much water do I need to add to the 0.1 % Aloe Vera Powder TN001?

You want to use this equation:
Percentage of Aloe Vera you want to have – Percentage of product you need to use = Amount of water you need to re-add

20 % – 0.1 % = 19.9 %

So, in this case, add 19.9 % on top of whatever water you had in your formulation.