Argan Oil is highly recommended ingredient in Personal Care products intended for the following:
-
Anti-ageing and wrinkle reduction: due to the high levels of Vitamin E,
it helps to reduce wrinkles by restoring the skin’s water lipid layer.
Its anti-oxidant properties contribute to the neutralization of free
radicals particularly useful in the polluted Western hemisphere.
- Acne and oily skin reduce inflammation.
- Psoriasis
- Eczema
- Sunburn
- Stretch mark and scaring, chicken pox
- Damaged hair
- Dry scalp
- Brittle nails
- Sore or stiff muscles
- General Aches and Pain
Argan Oil properties:
- Absorbs quickly
- Highly moisturizing
- Golden in colour with moderate viscosity
- Rich in Alpha Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
- Rich in Phenols and Phenolic Acid
- Rich in Carotenes
- Natural Anti-oxidant
- Anti-Inflammatory
- High in Fatty and Essential Fatty Acids:
- Palmitic Acid
- Stearic Acid
- Oleic Acid
- Linoleic Acid
- Rich in Squalene and Help Protect skin from Free Radicals that cause Skin Cancer.
Argan
Oil possesses a remarkable ability to nourish, moisturize and improve
skin elasticity. The oil is high in Omega-9 Oleic acid and Omega-6
Linoleic acid. Argan Oil is effective in treating dry skin, eczema,
psoriasis, acne and sunburned skin. It is a good choice for inclusion
in formulations for mature skin. Its high polyphenol content makes it a
strong anti-oxidant and adds to its stable shelf life. Argan Oil has
anti-inflammatory properties. Argan Oil soothes inflammation massaged
into painful areas either due to muscular strain or arthritic or
rheumatic join pain. Argan Oil is suitable for ultra sensitive skin as
baby skin.
Argan
Oil is not greasy, only a few drops on the fingertips are needed to
moisturize and protect the complexion including the delicate area under
the eyes.
Argan Oil is suitable for all the family.
argan fruit, argan nut, argan almond
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The Argan tree story
The Argan (Argania Spinosa) is an indigenous tree of South Morocco,
growing in a region that runs from Safi in the North to the edge of the
Sahara in the South.
The main zone extends South East from Essaouira to the Souss plain. The
forest of Argans covers about 800,000 ha and contains more than 2
million trees. It is perfectly at home in this magnificient dry and
poor landscape and is often found on mountains.
The tree is member of the Sapotoaceae family, which also includes the
shea tree, and it is particularly resistant to the dry and arid
conditions of this region. It can tolerate temperatures that rang from
3 to 50°C and grows at altitudes of up to 1,500 metres when facing
South.
Its roots, which extend over a large area and are very deep, can search
out water at more than 30 metres under the ground, which helps it
survive the dry periods that can last for several months each year.
The tree reaches heights of 8 – 10 metres and its shape is
similar to an olive tree. Its life is quite long and it is not uncommon
for it to reach ages of 150 – 200 years. Some 250-year-old trees
have been recorded.
Its leaves are small, dark green and grow on branches that can be spiky
at their ends. It is usually an evergreen but may loose its leaves in a
persistent dry period. The tree has small oval greenish yellow fruits
that become brown when they ripen and contain a very hard shell that
encloses one to three almond-like kernels. The ripening period is quite
long and takes 2 years.
The trunk has an especially spectacular bark, referred to as snakeskin because of its very rough surface.
Traditional uses
The Argan is mainly known for its oil, which is used by Berber women
for skin, hair and nail care and is found in hundreds of different
beauty recipes. It is normally obtained manually from the fruits using
traditional methods. After separating the nut from the pulp, it is
cracked open by hand to obtain the kernel. This is then cold pressed to
produce the oil.
The women do the work involved in preparing the oil and are also responsible for harvesting the fruits.
In order to prepare an oil of food quality, the kernel are roasted
before being pressed. This additional stage in the process gives the
oil a characteristic light hazelnut smell.
Generally, the local rural population uses every part of the Argan for their own reeds:
• the fruits, for extracting the oil,
• the fruit husks, as fuel for fires,
• the oil cake, a by-product of oil production, as an animal feed,
• the leaves, eaten on the tree by goats,
• the wood, for construction and as firewood.
The Argania forest : socio-economic role
The Argania forest has a very important socio-economic role in these regions.
Its special legal status has made it a state owned forest with
extensive rights of use reserved for the local populations : right to
harvest fruits and collect wood for personal use, right to free
passage.
At the same time, the right to cultivate is subject to authorisation
and a fee has to be paid. Furthermore, each village is obliged to keep
its trees in good condition. It should not be forgotten that the
Moroccan Argan provides subsistence for over 3 million people.
The inhabitants of the Argania forest benefit both from being able to
use the different parts of the tree (fruits, leaves, wood) for their
own needs and also from the work and associated revenue that its
exploitation provides.
The development of agriculture under the trees has led to Argan
exploitation becoming more profitable, sometimes to its cost. It does
however mean that local populations are better nourished and have
improved incomes.
It is suggested that exploiting the Argania forest provides 20 million
days of work per year, allowing rural populations to stay in the
countryside and limiting the rural exodus.
A fragile ecosystem
Unfortunately the Argania forest is fragile, partly as a victim of its
riches but also because of changes in the rural way of life and
climate. Over-cultivation, soil erosion and advancing deser-tification
are amongst the threats to this unique heritage. The natural increase
in the population leads to an increase in wood collection, which is
used for both construction and as firewood.
On the plains, the amount of land used for agricultural purposes is
growing and this is accompanied by scrub clearance and installation of
irrigation systems, which result in underground water reserves running
dry and increasingly salty soil.
The climate, which is always hard in these regions, is accompanied by erosion that makes the soil even more arid.
Implementing actions to preserve and regenerate the Argania forest is
therefore a priority, as much from an ecological point of view to
preserve this last barrier against the advancing desert as from an
economic perspective to maintain a source of revenue for the local
population.
UNESCO recognised this issue and classed the Moroccan Argania forest as a Biosphere Reserve in 1998.
The Biosphere Reserves have to fulfil three main tasks that are
complementary and synergistic : conservation role, development role and
logistic role.
Actions to promote the protection of the Argania forest
The need to protect the Argania forest has not gone un-noticed either
by the local authorities or at an international level. Many initiatives
have been launched to help preserve and develop the Argania forest and
to reverse its regression.
Many cooperatives were created in order to save the Argania forest.
The cooperatives, which consist and are managed solely by women,
provide them with a supplementary source of income and thereby
increases their social status.
In addition to producing oil, these cooperatives have the following objectives :
• making women aware of how to harvest the fruit whilst respecting the Argania forest
• participating in the replanting of the Argania forest, each women agrees to plant 10 Argans per year
• organising and monitoring of literacy programmes.
Fair trade and sustainable development are the central pillars of these initiatives. |
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