You’ve probably seen shampoos with argan oil (Argania spinosa kernel oil ) in health and beauty sections of grocery or department stores and wondered why it’s there. What makes argan ideal for hair application is that it gives the hair volume and makes it look shinier because it seeps in the hair axis and damaged follicles. (1) The idea that argan is a hair-loving oil is supported by few researches. It is not just based from folk beliefs, or baseless theories.
Hair is composed of lipid, water, melanin, trace elements, and protein, (2) hence the preservation of protein in our hair is crucial. This is the reason why, different natural ingredients are being tested to see its effectiveness in terms of keeping the hair’s protein. The researches about argan oil that’s presented in this post studied and tried different formulation and treatment plans to preserve hair’s protein. This post presents two researches that proves why argan oil is good for you hair.
Argan oil as pre-treatment to prevent hair damage
As the old adage says prevention is better than cure, ergo, some people believe that preventing your hair from being damaged is a good way to keep a gorgeous hair. Some chemically formulated conditioners are available in the market, while others use natural oils such as coconut oil. (2) One natural conditioner that is less commonly known for hair prevention damage is argan oil. A 2022 research has proven this claim when it investigated the preventive efficacy of argan oil as pre-treatemt for hair before being exposed to oxidative damage. It tested whether argan oil has the ability to prevent protein loss as well as its reflectance.
The researchers of the study categorized the hair into three groups. First group were damaged hair using oxidant agent. Second group were pre-treated hairs with argan oil before being exposed to oxidative damage then the oil was removed by physical cleaning. While the third group was also pre-treated hair with argan oil prior to undergoing oxidative damage but the oil removal was done through washing procedure. The result yielded that pre-treatment of hair using argan oil is effective in protecting hair from oxidative damage because it reduces the amount of protein loss on hair.
Argan oil as a Post-treatment for hair damage caused by hair coloring
Argan oil is not just effective to be used for hair damage prevention but also as a remedy. A 2013 study investigated the effect of argan oil and theobroma grandiflorum seed butter to damaged Caucasian hair due to hair dye. Hair samples they use were categorized into six. First group have untreated hair, second group have hair treated with hair dye, third group have post treatment hair using base hair care formulation. Fourth group have hair post treatment using the formulated hair care mixture with added argan oil. Fifth group have hair post treatment using hair care formulation with theobroma grandiflorum seed butter. While the sixth group had post treatment using the formulated hair care compound with both argain oil and theobroma grandiflorum seed butter. (2)
The researchers have already expected the effectiveness of their base hair care formulation because it used cationic compounds that are useful for hair’s adsobrption or ability of the liquid or oil to sit in outside the hair’s cuticle. (2)
However adding the conditioner agents – argan oil and theobroma grandiflorum seed butter to the base hair care formulation has improve the reduction of protein loss for hair that have undergone coloring process, regardless that they were added sepeately or together. A possible explanation why aragn oil is efective in treating hair damage caused by hair coloring is because of its ability to penetarate into the hair fiber. Oil’s composotion is important with regard to its ability to seep into hair fibers. Factors to consider depends on its oil polarity, chain saturation and molecular weight. The main fatty acids in argan oil are oleic acid and linoleic acid which are a monounsaturated and diunsaturated fatty acid. (2)
Testing natural ingredients whether by applying them purely on your hair or incorporating them into your base hair care formulation is important to see what works effectively. It could be a challenging process but when you find what is effective it is rewarding because you know that it’s been tested thus you can be assured of its effectiveness. This will enable you to understand why it’s released in the market and have confidence to repurchase it after it has gone through a burdensome tests that led to prove its effectiveness. (2)
Preserve proven wisdom from pretreatment and post treatment tests ❤
References:
- (1) Gharby S and Charrouf Z (2022) Argan Oil: Chemical Composition, Extraction Process, and Quality Control. Front. Nutr. 8:804587. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.804587
- (2) Faria P.M., Camargo L.N., Carvalho R.S.H., Paludetti L.A., Velasco M.V.R., Da Gama R. M. Hair Protective Effect of Argan Oil (Argania spinosa Kernel Oil) and Cupuassu Butter (Theobroma grandiflorum Seed Butter) Post Treatment with Hair Dye. Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 2013, 3, 40-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jcdsa.2013.33A1006
- (3) Sharifi, N., Hamedeyazdan, S., Shokri, J., & Monajjemzadeh, F. (2022). Argan oil as a pretreatment of human hair before exposure to oxidative damage: Attenuated total reflectance and protein loss studies. Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 21(10), 5010–5017. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.14885
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