Argan Oil Review
Argan Oil is a natural herbal extract found in the fruit of the argan tree, a plant that grows in Morocco.
Since ancient times, Moroccans have used Argan Oil as a food product. It’s commonly used as a breakfast dip for bread, or is drizzled over pasta and couscous.
What Is Argan Oil?
In recent years, however, argan oil has gained new popularity in the field of beauty products. It’s used in high-end skin care products, including moisturizers and anti-aging supplements.
The oil itself is extracted from the fruit of the argan tree. Moroccans harvest the fruit, peel it, and remove the pulp in order to extract the oil inside the nut in the center. Depending on the extraction method used, this can yield anywhere from 30% to 60% argan oil.
Clearly, argan oil has a diverse range of benefits and uses. So what’s the big deal with argan oil? Will it actually make you look younger while improving your heart health? Today, we’re going to answer all of those questions in our argan oil review.
How Does Argan Oil Work?
Argan oil may be one of the best moisturizers in the world today. It’s used as a moisturizer for skin, hair, and nails. Here’s how it works.
First, argan oil is rich with vitamin E and essential fatty acids. When rubbed on your skin, the oil is easily absorbed into your skin, giving it a youthful “dewy” glow. As the oil is absorbed, it boosts the healing, conditioning, and anti-aging properties of your skin, helping you look better from hair to toe.
One of the most influential studies on argan oil showed that argan oil was able to boost skin hydration and skin elasticity after just four weeks of use. In that study, participants observed a visible reduction in “coarse wrinkles and fine lines” around the eyes. More than 83% of women in the argan oil group showed significantly improved skin hydration after just four weeks of daily use.
What Are the Benefits of Argan Oil?
Argan Oil is purported to have many benefits for your skin, hair, nails, and virtually every other part of your body.
Here are some of its many benefits:
— Treat acne
— Alleviate dry, flaky skin and act as a powerful moisturizer
— Treat burns, lesions, and other skin markings
— Alleviate the pain associated with rheumatism through topical application
— Eat it as a delicious food
Ultimately, argan oil is one of those multifaceted beauty products that’s good to keep in your cosmetic kit.
How to Use Argan Oil
Ready to try out argan oil for the first time?
Follow the tips below if you’re using 100% pure and natural argan oil:
— Use argan oil as a fast-absorbing daily moisturizer. Put a few drops in your hands, then rub your hands together and pat them on your face, neck, hair, and anywhere else you need extra moisture.
— Use it to heal and condition your skin and hair, including everything from your dry hands to split ends.
— Reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes by smoothing argan oil over your skin and under the eyes.
— Apply the oil to your face when it’s damp to give your face a dewy, radiant look for the entire day.
— Rub oil between your hands, then run your hands through your hair. This should reduce flyaway strands of hair and also help you treat split ends.
— Rub argan oil in your hair at night and wash it in the morning as you normally would. Argan oil protects your hair from the harshness of shampoo, and the fatty acids and vitamin E work together to provide valuable nourishment to your hair.
— Use argan oil as an exfoliating lip scrub and moisturizer, letting it smooth and moisturize your lips. Take a few drops of argan oil mixed with a little bit of fine brown sugar, then lightly massage your lips using a circular motion to rinse it off.
— Make your face glow by adding a drop or two of argan oil to your foundation, bronzer, or moisturizer.
— Soften your cuticles and heels by massaging a few drops of argan oil into the targeted areas.
— Use argan oil as a hydrating toner by adding a few drops to your favorite facial toner. Some women will also make their own facial toner by adding a few drops of argan oil to rose water or orange blossom water.
You’ll notice a common trend with all of these treatments: you only need a few drops of argan oil for it to take effect. Argan oil is a valuable natural substance, and making even a small amount of argan oil is a very labor-intensive and lengthy process. That being said, you don’t need much argan oil to enjoy its powerful benefits.
Is Argan Oil Really All-Natural?
As mentioned above, argan oil is simply extracted from the nut of the argan fruit. The argan fruit is found on the argan tree, and the argan tree grows naturally in Morocco.
Normally, when a beauty product is all-natural, that doesn’t necessarily mean all the ingredients are all-natural. Beauty product manufacturers may add filler ingredients, for example.
But that’s not the case with argan oil. Instead, argan oil is remarkably natural – even when packaged up and sold as a beauty product. Sephora’s argan oil, for example, is 100% pure argan oil: there are no other ingredients.
That’s rare in the beauty industry, and it suggests that argan oil’s powerful benefits are due entirely to natural compounds within the oil: not filler ingredients the company uses to exaggerate the benefits of a random plant.
In addition, argan oil is free from many harmful compounds which today’s well-informed shoppers try to avoid. Argan oil is formulated without all of the following ingredients:
— Parabens
— Sulfates
— Synthetic Fragrances
— Synthetic Dyes
— GMOs
— Phthalates
— Triclosan
— Petrochemicals
How is Argan Oil Made?
Argan oil’s production process is worth an explanation – at the very least, this will help show you why argan oil is so expensive.
First, argan oil is produced from the argan nut of the argan tree, which only grows in southwestern Morocco. In previous years, it was called Moroccan Oil and filled with artificial preservatives, dyes, fragrances, and other unnatural compounds.
Today, the government of Morocco has worked hard to reverse that reputation and has marketed argan oil as one of the most versatile beauty products in the world today.
Today, local Moroccan Berber women work in fair-trade cooperatives to make argan oil. First, they crack argan nuts by hand in between two stones (the same technique used for thousands of years).
Then, the raw argan kernels are extracted from the hard shell by hand before being ground (by hand) in a stone grinder. The women knead the extract for hours before it’s cold-pressed to form an oil.
Ultimately, it takes one Berber woman three days to produce just one liter of argan oil. So that’s why the oil is so expensive.
Argan oil is so important to the heritage of Morocco that in 1998, UNSECO designated the Argan forests of southwestern Morocco as a World Heritage Site, protected the area to make sure argan is sustainable for future generations.
Nutritional Benefits of Argan Oil
Of course, argan oil isn’t just used as a beauty product. In Morocco, it’s actually more commonly used as a food product. Bread is dipped in argan oil for breakfast, for example, and argan oil is drizzled over couscous and pastas.
When you eat argan oil as a food, you can enjoy similar benefits when using it topically. Some of the benefits of eating argan oil include:
— High levels of vitamin E (twice as much vitamin E as olive oil). Vitamin E reduces premature skin aging.
— High levels of linoleic essential fatty acids (omega 6).
— As an antioxidant-based oil, argan oil targets free radicals throughout the body and the brain, which reduces cognitive degeneration and can also reduce the effects of aging.
Of course, unless you’re currently living in Morocco, argan oil might be a bit too expensive to use as a food flavoring compound. That’s why most will use it exclusively as a beauty product.
Argan Oil Side Effects
Argan oil is a nut oil. If you’re allergic to other nuts, then you may be allergic to argan oil. If you are allergic to argan oil, applying argan oil to your skin could cause irritation, rashes, hives, and other problems. Ingesting it could cause similar allergic reactions.
Other than that, argan oils has been well-tolerated in clinical studies performed thus far and no major side effects have been reported.
Buying Argan Oil
Ready to find out what all the hype is about with argan oil? Companies like Sephora sell 100% pure argan oil as a beauty supplement. A 1.7 oz costs about $60. Other beauty companies offer similar prices, and argan oil is a highly sought-after product.
That being said, you can find cheaper argan oil prices when ordering online. The internet is home to a diverse range of beauty manufacturers that offer a better selection of argan oil at superior prices. Whether you buy argan oil online or in-store, you can enjoy powerful moisturizing benefits with a unique all-natural formula.
