EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS REAL ARGAN OIL

Argan oil is known to be one of the rarest, hence most expensive oils in the world. Pure, original argan oil is hard to obtain and production is time-consuming, thereby its price is high.  Not all Argan Oil on the market is real and pure as many so called producer may diluted it, just to make it cheaper.

But it’s worth to spend some extra pennies to buy 100% pure oil, instead of paying less for something you could be found in your kitchen cupboard.

Even buying Argan Oil in Morocco, doesn’t give you guarantee that oil is not diluted, unless you know where to buy. 

As it is so difficult and time-consuming to produce, a lot of Argan Oil is completely fake, diluted or over-processed.   How to avoid fake argan oil and verify the authentic one? 

So here are a few ways to decide if a particular brand is worth investing in or not.

1.  The Ingredients

The ingredients list should be very short.  It should just say 100% Argan Oil.If it has anything else listed you don't want it.

2. The bottle

Most producers of quality Argan Oil wouldn’t put this liquid gold in anything other than a dark coloured glass bottle (amber or cobalt blue, for example).  Aluminum or stainless steel can work well, too.  Light breaks down the oil's best properties and keeping it inside something dark is the best way to store Argan Oil.

HOW TO KNOW YOUR ARGAN OIL IS REAL?

3. The price

Argan Oil is very difficult to make.  It takes hours of manual labour and that does not come free.  So there is no such thing as cheap Argan Oil.  $10 for 2 ounces/60 ml seems like a bargain, but if it's just vegetable oil in that bottle?  It's no bargain at all.  You might as well just step into your kitchen and use whatever you've got in the cupboard.

This is not to say that the most expensive Argan Oil is the best either.  You might just be paying for elaborate packaging and extensive marketing.

Sometimes you can find authentic CULINARY Argan Oil at a more economical price. But know that even though this oil will taste amazing, it will not produce the best results on your skin, hair and nails.  Raw, cosmetic-grade oil is from unroasted Argan fruits, and it is much more difficult to extract oil from raw materials.

4. The scent

Strong-smelling Argan Oil that smells absolutely awful should obviously be avoided.  It most likely has gone rancid.  (To ensure freshness, keep the cap or dropper screwed on to your bottle well!)

Also, if the Argan Oil you have is very fragrant and so delicious smelling enough that you want to eat it, it very well could be Argan Oil intended for culinary use.  The Argan kernels for this type of oil have been toasted first.  And this means great things for your salad, but it won't give the results you want on your skin and hair.

Argan Oil that smells like absolutely nothing might be suspicious, too.  It could be entirely fake, or at least diluted beyond olfactory recognition.  Or, it could be machine-made and possibly even put through a "deodorization" process.  However, with this said, some of the batches we get (particularly in the spring and summer) have a very, very light aroma.  Fall and winter seem to bring oil that has a deeper natural scent.

Genuine, raw, cosmetic-grade Argan Oil can smell unique to the uninitiated nose.  Most say it smells 'nutty'. 

If you do get a bottle that is a bit more aromatic, after a couple of days you become used to the scent and know what results the use of this oil brings, so you savour that raw, green, nutty aroma.  Even if you never learn to love that smell, the scent always disappears after a few minutes on your skin, as true Argan Oil absorbs so quickly and beautifully.

However, many brands do put their precious Argan Oil through damaging heating and deodorization processes.  If a brand consistently smells like ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, then it is possible that their oil is consistently deodorized.  This process strips the oil not only of any smell it might have had, but also of some of its healing, restorative properties.

Sometimes chemical solvents are used to pull the oil from the Argan kernels.  And frequently during the refining process the oil is heated to a very high temperature (up to 375-400 degrees F for 30-60 minutes). But as mentioned, light and heat break down the oil's best properties, so we firmly believe it's best to leave this precious oil alone in its most natural state.

Again, we stress that the scent of raw, hand-pressed Argan Oil varies from batch to batch.  Sometimes the scent is lighter, sometimes it is a quite a bit more aromatic.  In our experience, the smell of the oil most definitely varies with the seasons.

5. The texture

Argan Oil should be smooth, non-stocky and not too watery.  Disappearing into your skin. When applying on skin should give soothing effect.

6.  The sediment

Authentic Argan Oil often has a tiny bit of sediment at the bottom of the bottle and it appears a bit "cloudy".  The highly refined or fake oil will not have this sediment and will look very clear. Argan Oil does have a few traces of sediment in some of our bottles.  Don't be alarmed if you do spy a wee bit.  Just let it settle and enjoy knowing that you have the real thing.

Our oil is also cloudy and pale yellow in colour.  We do not heat the oil at all, and it is run through a simple strainer, rather than put through a rigourous filtration system.  In our opinion, the less the oil is messed with and manipulated, the better.  When you see clear, bright yellow Argan Oil you know that heat and machines have been involved in the manufacturing process.

7. The color

Cosmetic argan oil has light golden yellow color. If the color is too light, the most likely is that it was mixed with other oils. Culinary argan oil is s a golden brown color.

THE TRUTH