Thursday, January 8, 2015

The Glorious Argan Oil: A Review of Two Different Argan Oils

Oh, argan oil, how I love thee. Argan oil sprang onto the market, what, five years ago? And it hasn't gone anywhere since. If anything, the argan oil market has only gained in popularity, as argan oil is now commonly used in skin products as well.

The thing is, in Morocco, the oil's native country, argan oil isn't just used as a beauty product. Rather, they would use the oil to dip breads in- like many countries do with olive oil. The oil is extracted from the fruits of the argan tree (and by the way, side note, but this tree is seriously suffering from our vain use for beauty products. I know, it's awful, because this is the only stuff I've ever found that actually works on my hair... see below. But yeah, it's pretty bad).

Some may think that argan oil is used on the skin as a moisturizer only. Actually, it can be used to treat acne as well. It has also been used to treat dandruff when used as a scalp treatment. And, it's super popular to be used as a cuticle oil.

I haven't used argan oil on my face. Even though its known as being non-comedogenic- meaning that it is very unlikely to irritate skin- I was always a jojoba or rosehip seed oil girl. To this day, I still only use argan oil on my hair. Because it works wonders. I also use it on my cuticles when I give myself a manicure. I have a tendency to bite my cuticles (I guess its better than biting my nails), so this works great to help keep the area around my cuticles nice and moisturized.

I have very thick, coarse, frizzy hair. I usually only wash my hair twice a week, and its not because my hair looks oily- its because my scalp begins to itch after that much oil builds up on my scalp. Since I have so much hair, it takes forever for it to actually look oily.

Anyway, since my hair is so naturally crazy, there's no way I could let it air dry and leave the house with it down. I always have to wear it up or flatiron it... that is, until argan oil came along. Since I started using argan oil in my hair, my hair is so much less coarse and crazy looking. Just a dime sized amount will tame my mane (ha). With a quick blowdry, I can head out the door with my hair down. Win!

Of course, there are hundreds of different argan oil lines out there. I recently tried two- one by Pure Body Naturals and the other by Haven's Arc (whom I can't find a website for).

Both products are great. They have a kind-of heavy, serum-like texture, like most argan oils. A little goes a long way, as you don't need much in your hair- on skin, you'd need much, much less.

Both products claim to be certified organic, though neither have an actual USDA certified label on the bottle. The Haven's Arc brand is cold pressed, meaning that it retains more of the nutrients- the good stuff. Also, neither brand have any added ingredients- its just straight up, pure argan oil. And, both brands come in a 4 oz glass bottle. Plus, they're super similar in price.

You can purchase Pure Body Naturals' argan oil on amazon for $17.95. Haven's Arc argan oil is just .55 cents more, at $18.50. They're virtually the same thing- except that Haven's Arc is cold pressed, while the oil by PBN doesn't seem to be. They're both great oils.

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