Shadowing Practice: Does Aloe Really Treat a Sunburn? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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It’s advice as old as time: if you get a sunburn, start lathering on the Aloe Vera.
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And when we say ‘old as time’, we mean it.
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Humans have been using aloe vera medicinally for thousands of years.
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But does the slimy gel actually have skin-healing properties?
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Well, the research is surprisingly scarce, but it seems like it may help boost your skin’s natural healing process.
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Sunburns themselves really aren’t all that different than burns from a campfire, a curling iron, or stepping on a George Foreman grill.
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So studies looking at burn healing tend to lump them together.
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And there is some evidence that applying the mucus innards from Aloe plants helps you heal faster after a burn.
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A review from 2007 in the journal Burns found that in 127 burn victims, those who used aloe healed almost 9 days faster on average than those in control groups.
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But what aloe actually does is a little less clear.
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In general, there are three main concerns when treating burns: reducing pain, actually healing the wound, and preventing infection.
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Aloe’s antibacterial and antifungal activities are well documented, so it might simply help because it keeps pesky microbes at bay.
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But ask just about anyone who slathers on the aloe after a sunburn, and they’ll swear it’s an analgesic, meaning that it reduces pain.
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And that might be because it reduces inflammation—your body’s immune response that makes things like sunburns all red and painful.
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For example, an experiment in 1993 was able to isolate an enzyme in aloe that breaks down bradykinin, an inflammatory substance linked with pain.
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But there’s not all that much clinical research on aloe pain-killing effects, so the jury is still out on whether they’re real, or it’s just acting as a placebo.
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There’s a bit more evidence that it boosts skin healing.
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Studies in rats have shown that aloe extract helps new skin cells move into burned areas, so they can rebuild the damaged tissue.
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And the gooey gel in aloe vera contains a large amount of glucomannan, a fiber comprised mostly of the sugar mannose, which stimulates the production of fibroblastic growth factor.
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It helps stimulate the formation of collagen and new blood vessels, which speed up how quickly the skin heals.
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That said, human studies to date are kind of flimsy.
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A 2012 Cochrane review noted that the few trials that have been conducted aren’t high quality—they’re all small, and their results are potentially biased by things the patients or caregivers knowing aloe was being used.
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So, it might work, or it might just be that people think it’ll work.
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And when it comes to your over the counter sunburn gel, it might not even be the aloe itself.
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Researchers have found that it can speed up that absorption of vitamins and drugs through the skin.
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So if your aloe gel also has things like Vitamin E, or some other anti-inflammatory drug, that substance gets into your skin faster.
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But whether aloe works or not, I think we can all agree it’s just better to avoid needing it.
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So if you’re going to spend some time in the sun this summer, maybe take steps to avoid overexposure instead of relying on aloe to soothe your beet-red skin afterwards.
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Thanks to Joelle and Brianna Beecher for asking, and to all our patrons who voted for this question in our poll.
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If you want to ask us questions like this and help decide which of them we answer, or just get a bunch of awesome rewards you can’t get anywhere else, you can head on over to Patreon.com/SciShow.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 30 sentences and 604 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:21. The speaker talks fast, about 181 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| heal verb | /ˈhiːl/ | To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure. |
| vera noun | /ˈvɪɹə/ | A second-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change of vega with respect to changes in the risk-free interest rate, or… |
| boost verb | /buːst/ | To lift or push from behind (one who is endeavoring to climb); to push up. |
| substance noun | /ˈsʌbstəns/ | Physical matter; material. |
| inflammatory adjective | /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/ | Tending to inflame or provoke somebody. |
| stimulate verb | /ˈstɪm.jəˌleɪt/ | To encourage into action. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| potentially adverb | /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/ | In a manner showing much potential; with the possibility of happening in a given way. |
| experiment noun | /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/ | A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of… |
| poll noun | /poʊl/ | A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion. |
| infection noun | /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ | The act or process of infecting. |
| reward noun | /ɹɪˈwɔɹd/ | Something of value given in return for an act. |
| painful adjective | /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ | Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. |
| tissue noun | /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/ | Thin, woven, gauzelike fabric. |
| rely verb | /ɹɪˈlaɪ/ | To trust; to have confidence in; to depend. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| speed up verb | /spiːdˈʌp/ | To accelerate; to increase speed. |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as aren't, they're, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: lather /ˈlæð.ɚ/, slather /ˈslæðə(ɹ)/, soothe /suːð/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, tissue /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/, inflammation /ɪnfləˈmeɪ̯ʃən/, absorption /æbˈsɔɹp.ʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: inflammatory /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/, inflammation /ɪnfləˈmeɪ̯ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like heal, vera, boost.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have shown · have been conducted · have found |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who used · anyone who slathers |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.