I’m surfing etsy, looking at the soaps that had caught my interest. Smiling at all the pretty colors and the beautiful smells when all of a sudden I stop, because I saw something. Palm oil. Listed inconspicuously in with the rest of the ingredients.
Palm oil’s in a lot of stuff, it’s cheap, has a lot of useful properties, it comes from palms. Not a problem right?
Compare the palm oil plantation to the rainforest at the top corner of the photograph. Think about the amount of rainforest in Asia and in Africa.
I think we’ve got a problem. Large cosmetic companies and the fast food industry do a lot to create demand for palm oil. It’s these larger corporations that make the soap that most of us buy, but what about those of us that buy handmade soap?
It’ll be an easy switch to make I figured. People tend to be conscientious of what they put in they’re soap, because the people that buy it are. At least that’s what I thought. I’ve got picky skin and I’m sensitive to strongly perfumed soaps. Even so I figured I’d go looking for a soap bar that I could use as shampoo. Turns out I was having a hard time finding anything, shampoo or not.
I found a couple of non-etsian shops in the UK, and while the soaps look absolutely beautiful I’m not sure shipping soap across the ocean would cut it in the environmental department, so I pressed on.
I came across The Chic and Green Blog and rejoiced. Sitting a top the list of posts was a review for AuntNancysSoap. Palm oil free and she has a selection of unscented soaps that I’m definitely going to be trying.
Rose Clay Soap from AuntNancysSoap
Fragrance Free Bar From AuntNancysSoap
I’m also currently staring at a sea salt soap from balsam, a shampoo bar from ShopRedLeaf. Although I’ll have to convo the sellers before buying, the bars look pretty good on the palm oil front.e palm oil front.
I use organic sustainable palm oil from Mike at CF. No forests are harmed in the production of this palm oil. Hopefully other soapers are using this palm oil too.
Regina
Comment by Regina — September 15, 2008 @ 2:00 am
I am a soapmaker on Etsy, and I may even be one of the ones you came across in your search.
First, I want to applaud you for you views concerning palm and the way it is traditionally harvested. I agree we, as consumers and as responsible soapmakers, should educate ourselves on this topic.
Second, I wanted to assure you and all your readers (and potential soap buyers) that the palm I use is sustainable palm, meaning the clearcut, or ’slash and burn’ method of harvest is not used to procure the palm found in my soaps.
Comment by Nadine — September 15, 2008 @ 6:35 am
Thank you guys for knocking me over the head. Somehow the idea of sustainable palm never occurred to me. I guess I just got worked up over big business and forgot that there are people that care.
Comment by onelonetree — September 15, 2008 @ 7:46 am
you can’t get sustainable palm oil because it isn’t getting harvested in where it is originated from and is causing alot of habitat desctruction to borneo
Comment by SARAH — September 21, 2009 @ 5:25 am
“Following a lot of head-scratching and talk about orangutans, Lush has closed the door on the debate over whether palm oil can ever be sustainable. The answer is a resounding ‘no’, and the chain is now working to remove it from its products.”
From http://www.hippyshopper.com/2007/11/no_such_thing_a.html
Comment by Angie — September 27, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Have you guys been burying your heads in the sand? Why not Google “sustainable palm oil” – you will come across countless Orangutan conservation websites that tell us that at this point in time – there is no such thing as “sustainable” palm oil. The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm oil (RSPO) is considered by some of these groups as the number one cause of Orangutan habitat loss.
Although in principal sustainable palm oil is clearly the way to go, in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Colombia (which is were palm oil originates from) there is no way of policing the activies of the palm oil companies.
Go palm oil free until you can truly trust the sustainability practices of palm oil companies. This will be a long time coming…
Comment by Jamie — October 27, 2009 @ 2:33 am