When we heard that award winning entrepreneur, actor and musician Emmanuel Akintunde had launched Jilali Argan Oil to bring pure 100% organic Argan Oil from Essaouira, Morocco, to the UK, we wanted to spread the word. There are too many “fake/mixed/diluted” Argan Oils on the market so we love it when we come across a brand that bottles the real thing.
Akintunde discovered Argan whilst shooting a film in Morocco and soon found that (too) many Argan Oil products on the market are disappointingly impure, mixed with chemicals, alcohol and all sorts of additives.
Organic Argan Oil is arguably the biggest organic beauty story of the last 5 years – it wasn’t that long ago that most of us hadn’t even heard of Argan but now it’s made its way into facial oils, serums, body oils, hand and foot treatments and – the big story of course – hair.
Argan, which grows on the spiky branches of the argania spinosa tree, is actually a small fruit, not a nut. But when the flesh is removed, it reveals a caramel coloured, hard shell, pointed acorn-shaped ‘nut’ which splits into two perfect horizontal shaped little “boat shapes” – and inside the nut is a (surprisingly tiny!) cream coloured kernel, a bit like a large pine nut.
And then the process begins…
Extracting the oil is a slow, intensely laborious task, still mainly done by hand, but it’s a lifesaver for the Berber women who work in the female-only Argan co-operatives between Essaouira and southwards, towards Agadir. Yet another reason why it’s better to buy pure Argan Oil because the content in some well known brands can be as low as 5-10% – which doesn’t help the Berber women, either.
10 years ago you’d be embarking on quite a mission to track down Argan Oil in the UK. Now, there are plenty, but the key is to look for an oil which is pure, and not mixed with “fillers” and cheap chemicals.
Jilali’s oils come in two sizes and both will last a good while, because Argan a) keeps for a long time; and b) a little goes a long way. It’s also one of the loveliest-feeling oils on skin because it absorbs more readily than most others. Why? Because its unique composition includes squalene which penetrates deeper and more easily thanks to its natural compatibility with our skin’s own natural oils.
The post-summer holiday skin saver
If you’ve had a bit too much sun this summer, Argan is a sun-soaked skin lifesaver and it works magic on sea salt-tangled hair. In winter, when central heating, blustery days and the morning walk to the Tube in freezing temperatures all conspire to play havoc with our skin, try mixing a little Jilali Argan Oil in with your daily moisturiser or your hand cream – it’s like having an extra bodyguard to protect your skin against the elements.
It’ll keep your tan looking glam for longer, too!
Available directly from Jilali Argan Oil UK at www.jilaliarganoiluk.com in two sizes:
JILALI PURE ARGAN OIL is proud to be a sponsor of the British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) which kicks off on September 5!
…Yet more ways to use organic Argan Oil:
A beautiful oil for mums-to-be
Argan is a natural sun-protection oil, boosts moisture retention and also has disinfectant properties. And it’s great for mums-to-be, as it helps ward off stretch marks!
Helps heal scars and keep eczema at bay
It’s the active substances called triterpenoids which naturally occur in Argan Oil that offer a mind-blowing number of benefits – from tissue healing (scars) to anti-inflammatory skin-calming properties.
Your hair hero
Argan sorts out out flyaway hair, feeds your nails, calms down angry skin and because it’s the “one oil does all” Moroccan multi-tasker, it’s a brilliant beauty solution if you hate having 10 different beauty bottles which do 10 different things. Just add a good cleanser and a once weekly facial mask to keep things simple.
Find out more about the Jilali story on the website JILALI PURE ARGAN OIL
