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1. At a recent exhibition. A man came up to me who had suffered third degree burns to his arm and back of his hand. The doctors had told him that he would be horribly disfigured and that there was nothing they could do to help the scarring.
He took it upon himself to use Argan oil on the scar tissue and after several months of applying the oil daily, the scarring had been transformed to only a slight discoloring of the skin. The doctors had been extremely impressed and so were we. Another testament to the medicinal benefits of Argan oil!
2. Argan oil is an oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree, endemic to Morocco, that is valued for its nutritive, cosmetic and numerous medicinal properties. The tree, a relict species from the Tertiary age, is extremely well adapted to drought and other environmentally difficult conditions of southwestern Morocco. The species Argania once covered North Africa and is now endangered and under protection of UNESCO.The Argan tree grows wild in semi-desert soil, its deep root system helping to protect against soil erosion and the northern advance of the Sahara. This biosphere reserve, the Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve, covers a vast intramontane plain of more than 2,560,000 hectares, bordered by the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains and open to the Atlantic in the west. Argan oil remains one of the rarest oils in the world due the small and very specific growing areas.
3. At a recent business women’s group I was delighted when one of the members came up to me thrilled about my cosmetic Argan oil. She said it was the best moisturiser she had ever used and that after a few weeks she noticed a considerable improvement to the texture and look of her skin.
4. Three weeks ago I received a lovely letter from a pediatrician in Switzerland who’s child suffered from Eczema. She had tried many lotions and potions and non had worked. She decided to try Argan oil Eczema treatment after looking up the ingredients and was overjoyed when her child’s Eczema started to clear up. She has four children and uses Argan oil on all of them; as a moisturiser, after bath times and of course, as a anti-eczema treatment.
5. Supporting Women
All argan sold today is produced by a women's cooperative that shares the profits among the local women of the Berber tribe. The cooperative has established an ecosystem reforestation project so that the supply of Argan oil will not run out and the income that is currently supporting the women will not disappear. The money is providing healthcare and education to the local women, and supporting the entire community as a whole.
6. Properties and Uses
Fatty acid Percentage
Palmitic 12.0%
Stearic 6.0%
Oleic 42.8%
Linoleic 36.8%
Linolenic <0.5%
Argan oil is exceptionally rich in natural tocopherols (vitamin E), rich in phenols and phenolic acid, rich in carotenes, rich in squalene, rich in essential fatty acids, 80% unsaturated fatty acids[6] and depending on extraction method more resistant to oxidation than olive oil.
Argan oil is used for dipping bread, on couscous, salads and similar uses. The residue from traditional oil extraction is a thick chocolate-coloured paste called "amlou" which is sweetened and served as a dip for bread at breakfast time. It has a flavour similar to that of peanut butter.
The unroasted oil is traditionally used as a treatment for skin diseases, and has found favour with the cosmetics industry. An Irish sufferer of the skin condition Psoriasis claims that Argan oil has helped greatly in clearing up the physical manifestation of the condition.
7. Every year a new crop of super miracle beauty ingredients pops up — recently, Argan oil has been making the rounds. Generally I pay little attention to these kinds of trends, but I have to say, I find Argan oil hugely intriguing.
Made from the nuts of the Argan tree, which grows almost exclusively in Morocco, the oil is said to have restorative and age-defying effects. It is high in vitamin E and essential fatty acids, it is believed to help all sorts of skin conditions: dry skin, acne, psoriasis, eczema, wrinkles.
In a New York Times article, Liz Earle, who runs an organic skin-care line in England, said, “When I first found argan oil, I brought it back to the U.K. to have it analyzed … it was so remarkably high in vitamin E and had these very interesting phytosterols, which are good for scar tissue and so many other things” including, she says, that hard-to-define problem of lackluster skin. I know we’ve heard these claims before, but still.
Argan oil is pretty new in America, but English and French tourists discovered it in Morocco years ago and it’s all over the markets of Provence, along with the lavender and olive oils. Now, due to the efforts of the Moroccan King Mohammed VI, who has been praised for his efforts to promote women’s rights, the oil is being promoted and exported worldwide. What does women’s rights have to do with argan oil? Well, that’s one of the reasons I am so intrigued by it.
It is Berber women who are solely responsible for harvesting the nuts and producing the oil, and they are doing so in fair trade working cooperatives. Outside groups, like the government of Monaco, are also financially backing a system whereby women can work half days (so they can still tend to their families) in exchange for fair wages and good working conditions. This has allowed an income for women and families where before there was little.
The cooperatives have initiated an ecosystem reforestation project to help preserve the argan forest. The cooperatives are working in partnership with the Moroccan Water and Forests Authorities to allow optimal tree growth, plant argan nurseries, and create education programs. The community realizes the value of the argan tree and they are involved with its protection. In fact, Unesco has designated the 10,000-square-mile argan-growing region as a biosphere reserve.
Even without the beauty claims I think I’d be clamoring for Argan oil in support of the cooperatives — but as it turns out I think I am beginning to believe the hype. I first tried products featuring Argan oil when I tried the Aveda Green Science line — but as much as I love the Aveda products, it was hard to tell what the Argan oil was like since it is just one ingredient of many.
More recently I have tried pure Argan oil from a company called, Diar Argan and boy oh boy is it something else. I have always been a huge fan of using jojoba oil on my skin, and this is even better. It is lustrous and rich, but very quickly absorbed. Now I suppose I’ll have to try it for a few weeks before I notice a difference, but at this point an improvement feels inevitable.
Now here’s the rub— the cost of pure argan oil isn’t cheap — not like olive oil, for example. But a little bit goes a long way — it is no more expensive than many high-end moisturizers, and it earns terrific marks in terms of sustainability and supporting women’s rights. Only time will tell if it honestly does perform any miracles for my skin, but I know for sure it is doing a world of good for the numerous women who now have a livelihood from it. Miracle enough for me.