What is Argan Oil?
Argan oil is an oil that is derived from the kernels of the argan tree. Most of the argan oils come from Morroco and Africa. It can be used in food recipes like pasta and salad. Nowadays, more and more people use this miracle oil on their faces and bodies.
Argan oil production is time-consuming as workers can only crack the argan nuts to obtain the argan kernels by hand. It takes approximately 16 hours of work to yield 1 Litre of pure argan oil. This also explains why argan oils are expensive.
Argan oils have become more and more common to use in beauty products. Therefore, some larger companies trying to cut down the cost and make as many profits as they could.
Look for the “fair-trade certified” logo on argan oil before you purchase it. Fair-trade certified is a certification that proves the company provides a safe working environment and fair wages to the labors.
How the Beauty Oil Trend Started?
Oil has turned their bad reputation around. In fact, they’ve become one of the most popular skincare products that sit on everyone’s vanity desk.
We were taught that having oily skin can lead to several skin problems when we were young. Therefore, applying oil to your skin can be intimidating at first. Lucky for us, we are living in an era that we can basically get any information by scrolling our phone. People became more open-minded and willing to try on new ideas on themselves.
Apart from that, we also become more conscious of the products that we use on our skin. We want skincare that is natural and safe to our skin, yet effective.
Last but not least, people are getting a busier lifestyle and hoping to get a skincare product that is multipurpose and time-saving.
Hence, beauty oils are becoming more and more popular for the last five years. Almost all skincare brands are developing their best version of beauty oil.
Besides, there are countless great reviews online that proven that oil can do wonder on our skin.
We want to share with you 11 ways how you can use argan oil.
- moisturizer
- overnight hair treatment
- detangle hair
- lip oil
- make your foundation last longer
- nail cuticle softener
- mix with body lotion
- DIY scrub
- get that glow
- soothe skin
- makeup remover
If you want to know more about facial oil, I also wrote a blog post about over 20 types of facial oils for each skin type.
Related article: Facial Oils 101: Facial Oils Guide
Related article: 30 Tips to Improve Dry Skin
Related article: How to Prevent Your Skin Dry Out From Hot Shower
Face Moisturizer
First of all, perhaps the most common way to use argan oil is to use it as your face moisturizer.
Bear in mind that argan oils are not a humectant but an emollient and occlusives. A humectant is an ingredient that will hydrate and draw moisture into your skin. For example, hyaluronic acid and glycerin which are commonly found in hydrating serum. While an emollient and occlusive are the ingredients that seal the hydration to prevent it from losing throughout the day.
Oils are perfect to use as a face moisturizer because it provides nutrients and traps humectants on to the skin. Argan oils are rich in vitamin E and fatty acid which keep your skin plump and healthy.
Overnight Hair Treatment
Give your hair a special treatment by applying argan oil all over your hair. Argan oils are rich in vitamin E which is beneficial to your hair. Vitamin E promotes hair growth and reduces free radicals.
You can apply from the root to tips of your hair and leave it overnight. Don’t leave out the scalp as well. Massage a generous amount of argan oil on your scalp to help dry scalp and reduce dandruff.
Wrap your hair with a towel or a piece of cloth to prevent it from staining your pillowcase.
Wash your hair on the next day and you’ll have smooth and soft hair throughout the day.
Detangles Your hair and Add Shines
Argan oil will smooth and detangle your locks even if you have the driest hair on planet earth. You can smooth argan oils on your hair whether it’s wet or dry. Make sure you spread it evenly on the hair before you start to comb it.
Not only that it tames your locks, but it also adds shines on your hair. Your hair is nourished and looks lustrous and shiny.
Lip Oil
Everyone heard of lip balm but what about lip oil? Do you know argan oil can be used on your lips as a treatment as well?
Lip oil is the newcomer to the lip care family. The texture is light and watery yet still moisturizes your lips. You are enjoying both the benefits of lip balm and lip gloss in a tube.
You can substitute this beauty product with your argan oil. It gives you pretty much the same result without spending more money.
Argan oil is infused with vitamins that naturally heal your dry lips and prevent them to become dry and flaky.
Apply one or two drops of argan oil and smooth it on your lips. Argan oil conditions your lips and keeps them smooth and soft. It feels like lip gloss but a lot less sticky. In addition, your lips look so kissable because it looks so juicy and shiny.
Make Your Foundation Last All Day
Do you know oil can actually make your foundation last longer? Just add a few drops of argan oil and mix them with your foundation. Argan oil smoothes out the consistency of the foundation and makes it blends like a dream.
Your foundation is easier to spread evenly on the face which also means less time on blending. Foundation will stay in place for hours without getting cakey at all.
Mix the oil with a full coverage foundation to get a seamless finish.
Nail Cuticle Softener
Nails are just like other parts of your body that required care to keep them healthy and strong. Your nails (especially if you have long nails) can break easily without proper care. Much similar to hair, your nails become weak if it’s dry and brittle. Moisturize and nourish your nails to keep them strong and healthy.
In this case, argan oil is perfect to use as a daily nail cuticle softener. Make sure you remove your nail polish before you apply argan oil to condition your nails. It will not work with nail polish on top because nail polish forms a barrier and block everything.
Argan oil softens and conditions your nails and cuticles. It penetrates deep into cuticles and makes them stronger. You’ll soon notice the difference on your nails if you do this every day.
Remember to trim your nails regularly to keep them in shape.
Mix it With Your Body Lotion
Some of the days, you feel like your skin is so dry. Your lotion just doesn’t give you the result that you needed. Try to mix a few drops of argan oil with your body lotion.
It transforms your body lotion to a watery and light consistency but more effective. Argan oils are excellent antioxidants to the skin which protects your skin from free radical production.
DIY Scrub
You can make your own scrub by mixing argan oil with simple ingredients that you already have it at your home.
All you need is sugar, honey, and argan oil. Put one tablespoon of argan oil and mix it with two tablespoons of sugar. Then pour some honey to add some texture. You can mix them when you needed or mix it and store them in a jar.
Make sure you use sugar that is fine enough for your skin. Raw sugar might be too rough to use it on your skin. In long term, it could cause more damage than good.
Argan oil contains fatty acids that repair skin cells and prevent skin from aging. In addition, argan oil and sugar are both natural ingredients that are not harmful to your body and the environment.
Make Any Part of Your Body Glow
Dream of that glow on the supermodel’s body? Easy. Smooth your fingers with some argan oils, and gently tap it on the skin. You can use it on your shoulder, cheekbones, or literally, anywhere you need a glow on it. Not only you save money on highlighter, it actually gives you a subtle, natural glow on your skin.
Make sure you don’t overdo it or you will look greasy instead.
Soothe Your skin
Argan oils are anti-inflammatory that will soothe your skin. If you didn’t apply enough sunblock when you were out in the summer. Your skin might get sunburn and redness. Not only that sunburn areas are dry and tight, but it’s also painful as well.
Your skin is extremely dehydrated and damaged. Argan oil is the perfect solution to the problem. It’s natural and rich in fatty acids, vitamin E and antioxidants. All of these are the key elements for healthy skin.
Apply some argan oils on sunburned areas twice daily. Gently massage on your skin and leave it to heal your skin. It relieves pain and speeds up the healing process. Your sunburned areas will get better in just a couple of days.
Remove your Makeup
Argan oils are so versatile, they can also be used as your makeup remover. Oils dissolve the makeup effortlessly without stripping off your skin moisture.
You can even remove waterproof makeup easily without tugging your skin. The best part is argan oil conditions your skin at the same time.
Just apply an adequate amount on your makeup and gently rub them in a circular motion. Your makeup will be dissolved in a short time, you can wipe it all away with cotton pads or just wash it off with water.
On a side note, remember to clean it your face with a regular cleanser so that no makeup residue is left on the skin.
Is Argan Oil Suitable for all skin types? Can oily skin use Argan Oil?
Yes, most of the natural beauty oils claimed that they are friendly to all skin types. However, some of the oils such as coconut oil and olive oil are prone to clog your pores compare to argan oil. With that being said, if your skin is prone to breakout, maybe coconut oil and olive oil are not the best options. Everyone has different opinions when it comes to beauty oil, some absolutely hate it while the others can’t live without it. We recommend you to do some research and try a small amount on the skin behind your ears to see how it goes before you start using it on your face.
On a side note, stay away from the products that contain mineral oil. Mineral oil is a type of oil made from petroleum. Unlike other beauty oils derived from natural plants, mineral oil can clog your pores and cause acne. It doesn’t give your skin any sort of nutrients nor hydration.
Can you use oil on the eye area?
Short answer, yes. Just make sure that you pick one with light texture so it won’t cause milia seeds around your eyes. Oils like avocado oils and coconut oils have a thick texture and more greasy, so they might not be the best to use around your eyes. Besides, why not try using eye creams and eye serums that are designed specifically for your eye areas? These products are designed to diminished eye bags, fine lines, and dark circles. They are effective and less likely to caused milia seeds around your eyes.
