Morocco is famous for its Argan oil, a wonderful carrier oil extracted from the fruits of Argan tree. Maybe little known to the general public is the fact that the same area where Argan trees lives is packed with dozens of surf resorts. Actually, the longest wave in Africa is right there, in Imsouane, at the Atlantic.
The recipe for happiness lies around the sunny beaches between Agadir and Essaouira. Surfing in the morning tide pumps up my dopamine and serotonin levels, I get fed with vitamin D and the fresh, locally produced Argan oil delays my skin's photo-aging!
My recent trip to Essaouira and Agadir brought me to the Atlantic shore where I tasted the wild feel of Imsouane's waves. Red soils, rocks, lack of green vegetation, high cliffs, camels, Agran forests, cold humid & milky mornings, burning sun in the afternoon and great surf!
Since the sun radiation strikes from above, left, right and also from the water reflection below your chest, surfers are very keen to using sunscreen. And not any type of sunscreen, they use that one which leaves a very thick coloured layer of UV reflective materials on your face. It looks tribal and savage in a good way.
Even though my trip took place in November, the sun was burning so badly starting with 12pm and up until 4pm that I could easily get sunburns after a single day without sunscreen.
As Susan Parker is claiming, the cold pressed oils contain the very essence of the mother plant's system of protection from its environmental oxidative stress. Hence, Argan's documented antioxidant properties seem to be the point where science meets tradition. There is so much UV stress going on in south Morocco, that Argan trees had to synthesise the antioxidants to fight that.
For me, the true Argan cold pressed oil (the fake industry is so largely developed that is starts from Morocco) is one of the products I use daily when going out in UV exposed trips on the sea or ocean or in the mountains. It also comes handy even at home in the summertime where I get hot sunny days from 6am until 10pm.
Most of the time I rely on both preventive and reparatory steps when trying to prolong my skin's healthy life and look. I thus use sunscreen during UV exposure and after-sun antioxidant products in the evening. Argan cold pressed oil blended with other antioxidant rich oils like Sea Buckthorn or antioxidant stimulation actives like Lavender make a basic natural kit to use in after-sun formulations.