Smooth, Shiny, Strong Tresses Make Argan Oil Worth the Price
Moroccan Gold
Every so often, a product comes along that revolutionizes how we care for our hair, making it faster, easier — or even possible — to maintain a salon style at home. The blow dryer. Hot rollers. The flat iron. And now … argan oil.
This light-as-a-feather oil is hailed by many as a miracle — taming fly-aways and cutting drying time — while also giving all hair types additional strength, smoothness and shine.
“There’s such a difference in how (hair) dries faster and how smooth you can get it,” says Sherrie Clark, co-owner of Fuel Salon. “I work with round brushes and blow driers most of the time. I’m not doing much flat-ironing because I’m able to smooth with the round brush and the oil. It’s also penetrating the hair shaft and moisturizing.”
While it may be new to you, argan oil has actually been around for centuries, used for hair and skin care as well as cooking in Morocco, the center of the world’s argan oil production.
The oil comes from the olive-like fruit of the argan tree, which grows in the arid land of southern Morocco and has a most interesting backstory. A quick search on YouTube shows amazing videos of goats climbing the trees to eat the fruit. Historically, the nuts would be harvested from the goat’s dung, but it is now collected by women who take off the outer husk, open the almond-like shells by cracking them on a rock and then grind the inner kernels with a primitive stone wheel to release the oil.
Because of the recent boom in argan oil’s popularity, Moroccan women have joined together to create cooperatives, which can purchase equipment to extract the oil in a much less labor-intensive manner. It has also preserved argan trees from being cut down for development, since the oil is a valuable commodity.
Pure Morrocan oil is expensive (poppyaustin.com sells a two-ounce bottle online for $25), but only a few drops are needed to treat a full head of hair. Many products on the market now mix the oil with extenders or in other hair care products such as shampoo and conditioner.
Clark said she first discovered the product about five or six years ago when the Moroccanoil brand was highlighted at Orlando’s international hair and beauty show. In the ensuing years, the line at their booth “just got longer and longer and longer … And I just knew that was the best thing going. It’s staying, and it’s only getting bigger and bigger.” Her salon carries the full Moroccanoil line of hair products and recently added a display of the brand’s body care.
