Does Argan Oil Have Any Anti-Microbial Effect?

Last week i wrote in depth about two essential oils; lavender and eucalyptus and how wether it had any anti microbial effect or not and after that; we had many request to study the other oil's anti-microbial effect.

If you have been using or making your own skincare for a while; you will notice that almost all natural ingredients has lots of claims. Just look at the essential oils and its list of benefits; almost all are similar! if thats the case; why use so many essential oils instead of one? why not just buy one oil and use in all the skincare product you make then? isn't it much cheaper?


Well.. for me; i only belief in clinical data and if its not studied extensively; all other claims are just 'hear say'.

So anyways; today i managed to find studies about argan oil.

If you have read our old post on the benefit of argan oil in hair; you would notice that it has many components in the plant or oil itself thats scientifically proven to have a range of benefits.

For today; lets look at the anti microbial effect of argan oil.

The Claim:

its claimed that argan oil has anti microbial effect. Where if you apply it on infected skin (like burn skin etc); argan oil will give effect exactly like how it would be if you applied antibiotic creams (anti bacterial cream).

The Study:

Test was done to these argan oils in different bacterial and fungal growing environment. They did broth culture, and plate culture as well.

The Results:

It shows that argan oil doesn't inhibit any microbe growth. Means it doesn't work as antibacterial. However; at very high concentration; it showed that argan oil inhibits the growth of Cutibacterium Acnes.

What Does It Mean?

Argan Oil when used generally on bacterial infected skin doesnt help in 'killing' or getting rid of the bacterias.

However; when applied on skin that contains acne; it shows that it will reduce the bacteria associated in causing that acne (usually acne with pus). Besides that; Argan oil also shows characteristic of a keratolytics; (just like Hyaluronic acid here); which means it's suitable for all acne types.

Conclusion:

Besides for pus like acne caused by bacteria; argan oil is not an anti microbial oil.

Let me know if you need me to review any other oils...

Nisha


References:

1. Charrouf Z, Guillaume D. Ethnoeconomical, Ethnomedical and Phytochemical Study of Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels. J Ethnopharmacol. 1999;67(1):7-14.
2. Dobrev H. Clinical and instrumental study of the efficacy of a new sebum control cream. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2007;6(2):113-8.
3. Tahir CM. Pathogenesis of acne vulgaris: simplified. JPAD. 2010;20(2):93-7.
4. Raman A, Welr U, Bloomfield SF. Antimicrobial effects of tea tree oil and its major components on Staphylococcus aureus, Staph. Epidermidis and Propionibacterium acnes. Letters in Applied Microbiology. 1995;21(4):242-5.
5. Charrouf Z, Guillaume D. Argan oil and other argan products: Use in dermocosmetology. Eur J Lipid Sci Technol. 2011;113(4):403-8.