Most of us know how good argan oil is for our skin and hair, but did you know that goats play a role in making this oil super luxurious. Trudi Brewer explains.
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We're a goat loving bunch here at BeautyEQ. In fact, our style director is keen to live on a goat farm one day making exquisite feta cheese. So when a recent CBS News story on Moroccan goats popped into our news feed, we had to share it. These gorgeous goats live in and around the argan trees that grow in the south-west of Morocco, and play a role in getting that argan oil from the tree to the bottle. According to CBS News, (and National Geographic Creative on Instagram) goats are instrumental in the processing of argan fruit into precious oil. The scrappy argan trees are part of the goats' natural habitat. They climb the short, bumpy branches to reach the small green fruit that grows at the top. Once the fruit has been digested the goats spit out the hard pit from the centre of the fruit or pass it through their digestive tract; which is when the locals collect the kernels, roast and grind them or mash and cold-press them to produce pure argan oil.
One of the most highly sought after culinary and cosmetic oils in the world, argan oil is rich in vitamin E and fatty acids, which nourish and soothe skin and help calm frizzy hair.
There is a similar process involved in the making Asian Kopi Luwak coffee or (Civet Coffee), where the civet cat eats the coffee (in this case, it's wild cats, not goats, doing the excreting) and the locals stand by to collect the coffee seeds, which they roast and market, as the most expensive coffee in the world. Like Kopi Luwak, this very natural process of extracting argan oil is also lucrative. Right now argan oil costs $300 US a litre; we are happy to report those gorgeous goats are very well looked after thank you.
Our favourite argan oil infused haircare.
There is an argan infused hair product to suit any budget these days, here are our favourties. Theorie Argan Oil Reform Hair Serum, $40. Moroccanoil Treatment Light, $31. Nth Degree Smoothing Argan Oil and Keratin Conditioner, $POA .And our cheeky beauty buy OGX Argan Oil Shampoo, $19.