Argan Oil compared to Sunflower Oil?

Hello Bellas!

Welcome to the latest entry in our skincare ingredient comparison series. Last week, we did a comparison and contrast to Rosehip Oil and Retinol – two ingredients commonly used for collagen production, cellular turnover, hyperpigmentation, and more – and we covered all of the pros & cons. 

Today we’ll be going over two very popular oils used in skincare products – Argan Oil and Sunflower Oil – and discussing exactly why seemingly harmless sunflower oil may not be so kind to the skin after all. What is Argan Oil?

Commonly coined “liquid gold”, Argan oil is a highly revered plant oil derived from the kernels of Argan trees native to Morocco. Cold-pressed and produced by hand, Argan oil is popular within the skin and hair care industries due to its nutritional richness and versatility. It contains a myriad of highly sought after beneficial compounds, and all of which help to keep skin (and hair) feeling soft and supple. 

All the sweet stuff that makes Argan oil a star:

• Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
• Vitamins A and C
• Essential fatty acids (Omega-6 Linoleic Acid and Oleic Acid)
• Natural antioxidants and triterpenoids 

As we said, Argan oil is a very popular oil in skin and haircare, but today, we’re going to be focusing on its benefits to the skin. 

Considered to be a dry oil, it also absorbs quickly into the skin without clogging or leaving an undesirable oily residue. 

Argan oil is also commonly used to turn back the clock of time for wrinkles and fine lines, reduce inflammation, and help with acne and hyperpigmentation. 

Starting to understand that ‘liquid gold’ nickname now, right? 

Welcome to the scene: Sunflower Oil

Now it’s time to talk about the ever-so-specious sunflower oil. Why is sunflower oil specious, you ask? Well, in order for us to adequately answer this question, we’ll have to discuss extraction methods. 

Earlier we covered how Argan oil is a naturally-processed plant oil and. The extraction process used to obtain the liquid gold is a cold-pressing process, which doesn’t involve the use of any solvents.

Sunflower oil on the other hand is most commonly extracted with the helping hand of hexane – a neurotoxic and highly-polluting petrochemical compound. 

Important tip: Even if the sunflower oil you purchase is organic, the process to attain it could still be through hexane, which can remain in a final product. And while hexane may only remain in trace amounts, they are still present and still making their way onto your body and into your bloodstream. This is the main reason you will never see sunflower oil in our products and instead, we will only have ingredients like Argan oil. 

We are truly dedicated to the integrity of our brand and we go to great measures to make sure our the products we produce are as clean and safe as possible.

With that being said, Argan oil is an amazing alternative to sunflower oil and can be used to replace it in all aspects when it comes to skincare.

And alongside those physical benefits come some mental benefits from being able to rest assured that when you substitute sunflower oil for Argan, you won’t be doing any harm to your body.

We hope this article has been helpful to you and given you a better understanding of how Argan oil compares to sunflower oil. If you’d like to learn about more natural substitutes for synthetic skincare ingredients, look out for our upcoming Self Care Sunday blogs where we’ll be going over even more botanical “dupes”. 

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Ciao for now!