One afternoon in the spring of 2019, I was sitting on a bench in the luminous backyard of a friend’s friend in Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz. The last hour of sunlight during the laid-back graduation party is still vivid in my mind: the towering redwoods that took up most of the space, the essence of new wildflowers in the air and the creek that fizzled nearby.

I was talking to a woman I’d never met whose voice was amusing, and I listened to a story about her life. She grew up in a rural town in New Mexico, and was accustomed to the dry heat of a summer day. At one point, the topic of age came up. She willingly (and almost excitedly) shared that she was almost fifty, and my twenty-something friend and I were astonished.

She hadn’t a single wrinkle in sight, and a refreshingly natural look about her. Besides the gray strands that decorated her black curls, I would have had no hint that she had graced the earth for this long. “And the secret,” she leaned toward us as if to reveal confidential information, “is aloe!” She beamed and explained she had access to an abundance of the plant in the town where she grew up. She told us she would frequent areas where it grew to break off a piece and keep it in the fridge, and put it on her face when she felt like cooling off. There was something very sweet about imagining her as a young woman, applying refreshing aloe vera gel straight from the plant to her face, unknowingly nourishing her skin and helping it retain moisture and smoothness for decades to come.

Aloe vera is a medicinal plant, traditionally used to improve the skin’s health. It is the inspiration behind our name and craft. This phenomenal plant is known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, antiseptic, skin protection, and wound-healing properties. For thousands of years humans have used this plant. It thrives all over the globe, but new research suggests that it originated in the Arabian Peninsula. It is a symbol of vitality in a harsh environment—like other succulents, it stores water in its leaves and can survive months on end without water. It grows in dry regions, survives droughts and harsh climates, and we believe it is a particularly special source of life for our skin.