Up close a ripe agave looks like a man-size aloe, weighing in at 100 pounds.
Only instead of code, these gutsy entrepreneurs are armed with acai, aloe and antioxidants.
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Aloe lace is made in Croatia only by Benedictine nuns in the town of Hvar.
For some parents, that means last-minute beach excursions and the careful application of aloe vera to sunburned skin.
Super Blue Stuff is made from a witches' brew of ingredients: emu oil, aloe vera and methyl sulfonyl methane (MSM).
Another treatment, Mother of Pearl, uses pulverized queen conch shells in an aloe and lemongrass-oil base to exfoliate the skin.
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But the other is a slashing, cutting knife as sharp to the taste as myrrh, as bitter as the aloe.
None of it has looked like Aloe Vera or the surprisingly vibrant scene CNN experienced during a recent and rare visit to Damascus.
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Thin, white threads are obtained from the core of fresh aloe leaves and woven into a net or other pattern on a cardboard background.
Aloe vera and emu oil, extracted from the fat on the backs of the ostrich-like birds, have been used as soothing anti-inflammatory agents for years.
The four international categories also see two nominations for Aloe Blacc as well as nods for Bruno Mars, Beyonce, Rihanna, Foo Fighters and Maroon 5.
"We are trying to have a normal life, to live like we usually do, " said Rama Handi as an Aloe Vero manicurist lacquered her nails red.
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Palm Greens went so far as to create a smoothie called the "Bradley's Ultra Green" which includes spinach, kale, mint, ginger, probiotic, bananas, aloe vera, apple juice and Spirulina.
People have been using substances like olive oil, yogurt, vinegar, honey and aloe for skin care for ages, Day said, and now there are scientific studies that explain why they work.
McClung asked a cosmetics lab to whip up a rub made from the oil and aloe vera, which he started selling to his aging, aching restaurant customers in sterilized ketchup bottles in 1998.
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