Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice

What it is

An aloe leaf has two parts, and only one of them ends up in cosmetics. Just under the skin sit cells that produce a bitter yellow latex rich in anthraquinones; the inner central area is the clear gel, and it is the gel that is pressed, filtered and dried into the juice, extract, water and powder you see on packs. The gel is mostly water and polysaccharides. Those anthraquinones in the latex are phototoxic, and they are why the only safety assessment covering aloe is a conditional one: it judges the barbadensis ingredients safe if anthraquinone levels stay at or below 50 ppm. Clinical studies of aloe preparations found no phototoxicity, which the review panel put down to concentrations too low to cause it - the ceiling doing its job, rather than a detail beside the point. Aloe carries a great deal of marketing weight for something the Cosmetic Ingredient Review describes as functioning primarily as a skin-conditioning agent.

What it does well

• Conditions the skin surface and adds water to a formula

  The safety assessment that covers aloe records its cosmetic function as skin-conditioning, and the gel is largely water and polysaccharides, so it behaves much like the other water-binding ingredients on a list. What it does not establish is the healing and soothing reputation aloe carries, which rests far more on long traditional use than on controlled cosmetic evidence.

  Limited evidence

Worth knowing

• Topical allergy is uncommon but genuinely documented

  The published case reports describe acute eczema, contact urticaria and dermatitis in people who applied aloe-derived material to the skin. This is a small risk rather than a general one, but it is worth naming, because aloe is one of the few ingredients shoppers assume cannot cause a reaction at all.

  Matters most toAnyone who has reacted to an aloe gel or after-sun product before, or who is patch-testing a mask on already irritated skin.

• A big aloe claim on the front tells you nothing about the position on the back

  Aloe reaches packs in four different forms - juice, extract, water and powder - and an INCI list names the form without saying how concentrated it was or how much went in. A pack can therefore lead on aloe while the row sits near the bottom of the list. Across the masks here it falls on both sides: of the thirty-two whose list reaches the point where ingredient order stops indicating quantity, twenty print aloe above that point and twelve below. Where the ingredient appears in the order is the more honest signal.

  Matters most toAnyone choosing a mask because of an aloe percentage printed on the front.

Where the EU stands

Sources (2)

Every link goes to the original: a journal, a PubMed record or an EU document.

1. [1]
   Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Aloe Andongensis Extract, Aloe Andongensis Leaf Juice, Aloe Arborescens Leaf Extract, Aloe Arborescens Leaf Juice, Aloe Arborescens Leaf Protoplasts, Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Polysaccharides, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Aloe Ferox Leaf Extract, Aloe Ferox Leaf Juice, and Aloe Ferox Leaf Juice Extract

   Cosmetic Ingredient Review, International Journal of Toxicology 26(Suppl 2):1-50 · 2007 · doi:10.1080/10915810701351186

   The report records that the pericyclic cells of the aloe leaf produce a bitter yellow latex containing anthraquinones, described as phototoxic compounds, and that it is the inner gel that goes into cosmetics. On the 50 ppm figure it says two things, and both matter: that anthraquinone levels in the several Aloe barbadensis extracts are well understood and can conform to the industry-established level of 50 ppm, and, separately and without qualification, that in aloe-derived ingredients used in cosmetics, regardless of species, anthraquinone levels should not exceed 50 ppm. Several clinical studies of Aloe barbadensis preparations demonstrated no phototoxicity, which the Panel attributes to anthraquinone concentrations too low to induce it. Case reports of acute eczema, contact urticaria and dermatitis after topical use are recorded, and the ingredients are described as functioning primarily as skin-conditioning agents at low concentrations. Read here as the published abstract; the full 50-page report is paywalled. Checked 18 August 2026.

2. [2]
   Quick Reference Table: Cosmetic Ingredient Review conclusions, October 2024

   Cosmetic Ingredient Review · 2024

   The Cosmetic Ingredient Review's own conclusions table lists Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice under the code SQ, which the table's legend defines as safe for use in cosmetics, with qualifications, and it prints the qualification in full: the Panel concluded that Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Aloe Barbadensis Polysaccharides and Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water are safe as cosmetic ingredients in the practices of use and concentrations described in the safety assessment, if anthraquinone levels in the ingredients do not exceed 50 ppm. The same conclusion records that the available data are insufficient to support the safety of the Aloe andongensis, Aloe arborescens and Aloe ferox ingredients in cosmetic products - none of which appears anywhere in this catalogue. Checked 18 August 2026.