Moroccan oil sneaks into shaving product

18-Feb-2015 - Last updated on 18-Feb-2015 at 16:46 GMT

Skintimate line incorporating Moroccan oil

Moroccan oil, also known as argan oil, has been profiled as a hair care ingredient, but increasingly it is popping up in skin care products, too, and has now been included in a shave preparation product.

Skintimate is said to be the leading women’s shave prep brand in the USA today, and brand owner Energizer Personal care wants to build on that position with the introduction of Skintimate Silky Skin Shave Gel.

This addition to the product line features a moisturizing lotionized formula that has been developed using Vitamin E, olive butter, sunflower oil and sunflower seed oil.

Argan oil as key ingredient

But capitalizing on the popularity of Moroccan oil, there is no doubt which ingredient the company is featuring in an effort to promote the brand.

"We were inspired by the luxuriance Moroccan Oil has added to other personal care categories and want to bring the same richness to women's shave routines so they can live comfortably while knowing they are using the best products for their skin," said Anne Eddinger, brand manager for Skintimate at Energizer Personal Care.

Moroccan oil has been used for centuries by African women as part of their hair and skin care routine, and is now farmed extensively in Morocco, which is the main source of the ingredient for today’s growing number of beauty lines that incorporate it into the formula.

But be careful what you call it!

The growing use of argan oil has sparked some heated competition, which recently resulted in litigation between the Moroccainoil Group of companies and hair care specialist Marc Anthony Cosmetics.

The litigation was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the Federal Court of Canada, together with the proceedings in international trademark offices, and cited trade mark and trade dress infringement.

The Moroccanoil claimed it was the first to promote the use of Moroccan argan oil for beauty treatments, and having trademarked this right, it accused Mark Anthony Cosmetics as passing off his hair care products incorporating argan oil through unfair competition.

The two companies resolved the dispute last month, announcing that they had reached a mutual agreement on the matter.