How to Use Argan Oil on Hair, Face and Body: How Much, When, and in What Order

Argan oil is a single product that does a dozen jobs — face serum, hair finisher, pre-shampoo mask, body oil, scalp treatment, beard oil, cuticle oil — and every one of them fails for the same three reasons: too much oil, applied at the wrong step, at the wrong moment. Get the dose in drops, the order in the routine, and the timing right, and one bottle covers the whole routine. This is the page that sets out all three, area by area.

Below: a one-table summary of every use with its dose, then the three rules that govern all of them, then the full method for hair, face, body, scalp and beard, a master dosage table, timing and frequency, what to expect, and the mistakes that make people conclude argan oil “doesn’t work”. Everything is written for the grade of oil Green Mood produces — cold-pressed, unrefined, single-ingredient — because a refined or blended oil is heavier and needs a different dose. For what the oil does and why, rather than how to apply it, the deep guides are argan oil for hair, argan oil for face and argan oil for skin.

Argan Oil Uses at a Glance

Every use of pure argan oil, with the dose and the moment. The sections below give the method for each.

The Three Rules That Apply Everywhere

1. Dose: it is measured in drops

Argan oil is concentrated and absorbs rather than coats, which means the right amount always looks like too little in the palm. Two to three drops cover a face; two to four cover the lengths of shoulder-length hair; six to ten cover a leg. The single most common reason people say argan oil made them greasy, flattened their hair or “did nothing” is that they used the amount they would use of a lotion. Start at the bottom of every range in this guide and add one drop at a time.

2. Order: after water-based products, before creams and sunscreen

Oil seals; it does not penetrate a layer of cream or sunscreen. So on the face the order is cleanser, toner or rose water, any water-based serum, argan oil, then moisturiser if you use one, then sunscreen in the morning. Before or after moisturiser? Before, for most skin — the oil goes on damp skin as a serum and the cream sits on top. After, only for very dry skin at night, as a final sealing drop. Before or after the shower? After, on damp skin, for the body and as a hair leave-in; before, on dry hair, when it is a mask you will wash out. Under makeup? Yes, one drop, two minutes before foundation. Over sunscreen? Never — oil over SPF dilutes the filter.

3. Timing: damp skin, damp hair, and the evening does the most

Argan oil spreads further and absorbs faster on a slightly damp surface, which is why it goes on after cleansing or showering rather than on dry skin, and on towel-dried hair rather than dry hair. Morning use is fine under sunscreen and under makeup; evening use is where the deeper work happens, because nothing sits on top and the oil has hours to absorb. If you use it once a day, use it in the evening. Consistency beats quantity: two drops every day does more than a spoonful once a fortnight.

How to Use Argan Oil for Hair

Hair is where argan oil is used most and misused most. There are five distinct methods, each with its own dose and moment; the mistake is doing one of them with the dose meant for another. What the oil does for hair and why — shine, frizz, breakage, heat — is covered in argan oil for hair; this is the method.

Method 1 — Leave-in on damp hair (every wash)

1. Wash and condition as usual. Towel-dry until the hair is damp, not dripping.
2. Put 2 to 4 drops in one palm — 1 to 2 for fine hair, 4 to 6 for thick or curly hair. Rub the palms together.
3. Smooth the palms over the mid-lengths and ends, working upward from the tips. Stop a hand’s width from the scalp.
4. Comb through with a wide-tooth comb. Air-dry or blow-dry.
5. Once dry, a single drop rubbed between the fingertips and skimmed over the surface polishes flyaways.

Wet or dry? Damp for the main application — the water helps the oil spread and the oil helps the comb pass. Dry for the final polish only, one drop. Roots? Never as a leave-in; oil at the roots flattens volume and looks greasy by evening.

Method 2 — Pre-shampoo oil mask (weekly)

1. On dry hair before washing, work 1 to 3 teaspoons of argan oil through the lengths and ends — the amount depends on length and thickness, not on how dry the hair feels.
2. Comb through, twist the hair up, and leave for 30 to 60 minutes. A warm towel around it speeds absorption.
3. Shampoo twice. The first wash breaks the oil, the second removes it. One wash leaves a film.
4. Condition lightly or skip conditioner; the hair will not need much.

How often: weekly for dry, coloured, bleached or heat-styled hair; every two weeks for normal hair; skip for fine hair that flattens easily, and use the leave-in drops instead.

Method 3 — Overnight hair mask (every one to two weeks)

1. Apply as for the pre-shampoo mask, on dry lengths before bed.
2. Plait or twist the hair loosely and wrap in a silk or cotton scarf; use an old pillowcase.
3. Shampoo twice in the morning.

Best for: very dry, coarse or chemically treated hair. Not for fine hair, and not for very long hair with heavier oils mixed in.

Method 4 — Scalp treatment (weekly, wash out)

1. Warm 5 to 8 drops between the palms.
2. Part the hair in sections and apply to the scalp with the fingertips, not the palms.
3. Massage in slow circles for 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Leave 20 to 30 minutes, then shampoo out.

Best for: dry, tight or flaky scalps. Skip if the scalp is naturally oily. This is a treatment, not a leave-in.

Method 5 — Before heat styling

1. Towel-dry. Apply 2 to 3 drops to damp mid-lengths and ends.
2. Comb through, then blow-dry, straighten or curl as usual.

Note: a thin lipid layer limits the dehydration of hot air at moderate heat. For high-heat tools, use a dedicated thermal protector as well; argan oil is not a substitute at 200 °C.

Dose by hair type

When to use argan oil on hair

• After washing, on damp hair — the default. Every wash.
• Before washing, on dry hair — as the mask. Weekly.
• Before heat — every styling session, on damp hair.
• On dry hair between washes — one drop for polish, no more.
• Scalp — once a week, washed out the same day.

How to Use Argan Oil on the Face

On the face, argan oil is a serum: light, fast-absorbing, applied in drops on damp skin. It suits every skin type at the right dose — the dose is what changes, not the method. For skin-type detail, benefits and what to expect, see argan oil for face; for oily or breakout-prone skin specifically, argan oil for oily skin and argan oil for acne.

Method 1 — Daily serum (morning and evening)

1. Cleanse. Pat dry, leaving the skin slightly damp — or mist with rose water.
2. Apply any water-based serum (vitamin C, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid) and let it absorb.
3. Warm 2 to 3 drops between the fingertips.
4. Press onto the face from the centre outward. Do not rub. Include the neck.
5. Morning: wait two minutes, then moisturiser if you use one, then sunscreen. Evening: moisturiser or nothing.

Method 2 — Overnight treatment (two to three evenings a week)

1. After cleansing and toner, apply 3 to 4 drops.
2. Press across face, neck and décolleté. Nothing on top.
3. Cleanse in the morning as usual.

Frequency: two to three evenings a week for dry and mature skin; once a week for combination and oily.

Method 3 — Under makeup

1. Cleanse, tone, moisturise as usual.
2. Press one drop onto the cheeks and forehead.
3. Wait two minutes, then foundation. One drop mixed into liquid foundation gives a dewy finish.

Method 4 — Face massage (once or twice a week)

1. Warm 4 to 5 drops between the palms.
2. Apply across face, neck and décolleté.
3. Massage upward and outward for 3 to 5 minutes, with the fingers, a gua sha tool or a roller.
4. Leave the residue to absorb, or blot before makeup.

Dose by skin type

Can you use argan oil on your face every day? Yes, at these doses, morning and evening. Every night, overnight? Two drops as a serum every night is fine; the 3-to-4-drop overnight treatment is a two-or-three-times-a-week step, not a nightly one, for anything but very dry skin.

How to Use Argan Oil on the Body

On the body, argan oil replaces a lotion for most people and outperforms one on very dry skin, provided it goes on damp. For the benefits by area — dry patches, elasticity, sun-exposed skin — see argan oil for skin.

After the shower (daily)

1. Step out of the shower and pat the skin — do not dry it fully. Damp skin takes the oil further and stops it feeling greasy.
2. Warm 6 to 10 drops in the palm per limb; roughly half a teaspoon for the whole body.
3. Smooth on in long strokes, working toward the heart. More on shins, elbows, knees and heels; less on the chest and back.
4. Wait two to three minutes before dressing. If skin still shines, you used too much — pat with a towel.

Before or after the shower? After, always, for the body. Oil applied before a shower is washed straight off; oil on damp skin after the shower is sealed in.

Dry areas: heels, elbows, knees, hands

These take 3 to 4 drops each, in the evening, on skin that has been dampened first. For heels, apply the oil, pull on a pair of old socks and leave overnight; two or three nights a week softens cracked heels within a fortnight. For hands, one to two drops worked into the nail beds and cuticles after the last wash of the day.

Massage

Argan oil is a good massage oil: light enough to spread, slow enough to absorb that the hands keep their glide for a full session, and without the residue of thicker oils. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons for a full-body massage, warmed between the palms or in a bowl of warm water first. Pure argan oil is unscented apart from a faint nuttiness that fades; for a scented massage, the argan oils Green Mood blends with musk, orchid or hibiscus are made for exactly this use — the same oil base, a fragrance that lasts on the body. Keep scented versions off the face.

Stretch marks and stretched skin

Be precise here, because the claims are usually not. No oil removes existing stretch marks; they are scars in the dermis, below anything a topical reaches. What argan oil does is keep stretching skin — pregnancy, growth, weight change — supple and comfortable, which is worth doing for its own sake. Apply 6 to 8 drops to damp skin on the abdomen, hips, thighs and breasts, morning and evening, from the moment the skin starts to feel tight. Argan oil is a plain plant oil with no essential oils and is generally regarded as fine to use on the body in pregnancy; if in doubt, ask your midwife or doctor.

Lips

Half a drop on a fingertip, pressed onto the lips. It absorbs rather than sitting like a balm, so reapply as needed. Useful under a lipstick.

How to Use Argan Oil on a Beard

1. Wash the beard and towel-dry until damp.
2. Put 2 to 4 drops in the palm — 2 for a short beard, 4 for a full one. Rub the palms together.
3. Work the palms through the beard against the grain first, so the oil reaches the skin, then with the grain.
4. Comb through. Once a day, after the morning wash, is enough.

The oil does two jobs at once: softens the hair and stops the dry, flaking skin that a beard hides. Unscented pure oil is the right choice on the face; the scented versions are for the body.

How Much Argan Oil to Use: Master Dosage Table

Everything above, in one place. Start at the low end of each range and hold it for a week before adding a drop.

A 50 ml bottle holds roughly 1,000 drops. At the face dose that is four to five months; at the hair leave-in dose, eight to twelve months; the weekly hair mask is what empties a bottle in a season. These ranges assume a pure, unrefined oil; a blended or refined argan oil is heavier and needs less — and behaves as if it were less.

When and How Often

• Face: twice daily as a serum is the default. Once daily, in the evening, if the morning step feels heavy under sunscreen.
• Hair: the leave-in on every wash; the mask weekly; the scalp treatment weekly; heat protection every time.
• Body: after every shower, or every other shower for normal skin.
• Morning or evening? Both work on the face; evening does the most. Morning goes under sunscreen, never over it.
• How often is too often? Daily use is fine everywhere at these doses. Overdoing it means dose, not frequency — a drop too many, not a day too many.

Argan Oil Before and After: What to Expect, and When

After the first use

• Face: softer, less tight, a natural sheen; makeup goes on more evenly.
• Hair: shine on the lengths, frizz calmer, easier to comb through — from the first wash.
• Body: comfortable skin with no greasy film, if the dose was right.

After 1 to 2 weeks

• Face: dehydration lines soften; reactive patches calmer.
• Hair: ends feel softer; styling takes less time.
• Heels and hands: rough patches receding.

After 3 to 4 weeks

• Face: tone looks more even; barrier less reactive to weather and new products.
• Hair: noticeably less breakage when brushing; ends less dehydrated.

After 2 to 3 months

• Face: fine dehydration lines less visible where hydration was consistent.
• Hair: length kept rather than lost to breakage; fewer split ends to cut.

What argan oil does not do at any timeline: grow hair, remove scars or stretch marks, fade pigmentation, or replace sunscreen. Anyone promising those is describing a different product.

Common Mistakes

Using a lotion’s worth

The origin of “greasy”, “flat” and “didn’t absorb”. Drops, from the low end of the range.

Oil at the hair roots as a leave-in

Volume gone by lunchtime. Leave-in stays a hand’s width from the scalp; the scalp gets its own weekly treatment, washed out.

Oil over sunscreen or makeup

Nothing penetrates a cream or a filter, and oil over sunscreen dilutes it. Oil goes on damp, clean skin, under everything else.

Applying to dry skin and dry hair

Dry surfaces take the oil unevenly and need more of it. Damp skin after cleansing; damp hair after washing; the only dry-hair application is the mask you will wash out.

One shampoo after a mask

Leaves a film that reads as “argan oil weighed my hair down”. Two washes, always.

Using a scented or blended oil on the face

Scented argan oils are body and massage products. Facial skin gets the unscented, single-ingredient oil. And “argan oil” with a long ingredient list is a formulated product with a different dose and a different result — see below.

Judging it in a day

Softness is immediate; structure takes three to four weeks. Set the four-week benchmark before deciding.

Pure Argan Oil vs “Argan Oil of Morocco” Products

A large share of the people searching for how to use argan oil are holding a shampoo, conditioner or hair serum sold under a name like “argan oil of Morocco”. Those are formulated haircare products — typically water, silicones, conditioning agents and fragrance with a small percentage of argan oil — and they are used like any shampoo or serum, per their own label. This guide is not about them. Pure argan oil has one ingredient on the label, Argania spinosa kernel oil, is dosed in drops, and does the jobs above. The two are not interchangeable: a branded serum cannot be used as a face oil or a body oil, and pure argan oil does not lather. How to tell them apart — smell, texture, label, price — is covered in how to recognize pure argan oil.

The Green Mood Standard

Green Mood’s Pure Argan Oil is the oil every dose in this guide is written for:

• Cold-pressed from certified organic argan kernels — the pale cosmetic grade
• Single-ingredient — Argania spinosa kernel oil, nothing added
• Unrefined, so the light texture and vitamin E content are kept as pressed
• Unscented — for face, scalp, beard and sensitive skin; the musk, orchid and hibiscus versions are the same base scented for body and massage
• Certified by USDA Organic, ECOCERT and CCPB
• Produced in Morocco under ISO 22716 cosmetic good manufacturing practice

For the full routine around the oil: the argan oil hair mask for the weekly step on lengths, and the complete argan oil guide for what the oil is and where it comes from.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Argan oil rewards precision and punishes generosity. Two to three drops on a damp face, two to four on damp lengths, a few drops per limb after the shower, a weekly mask washed out twice — used that way, one bottle is a face serum, a hair finisher, a body oil and a scalp treatment at once, and it works within the first week.

Three things decide the result: dose in drops, not palmfuls; order — after water-based steps, before creams and sunscreen; and timing — on damp skin and damp hair, with the evening doing the deepest work. Get those right and the oil earns its place in every routine it touches.

Continue reading: argan oil for hair · argan oil for face · argan oil for skin · how to recognize pure argan oil · complete argan oil guide.