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When you buy, for example, soap, what ingredients do you look for instead? I avoid palm oil in foods for the simple reason I don't consider anything made with
by ip26 8y ago
When you buy, for example, soap, what ingredients do you look for instead?
I avoid palm oil in foods for the simple reason I don't consider anything made with palm oil to be a "whole" food. But I've never known what to do about other products like soap.
P.S. To bystanders, you may think your soaps don't contain palm oil. Check for anything like "lauryl sulfate". That's (probably) palm oil.
- skosch 8y agoSoap is really tricky. The realistic alternatives at a commercial scale are coconut oil (but coconuts take twice the land to grow, compared to palm kernels) or animal fat (which you may not want in your soap). Sustainably sourced palm oil is probably the best option for soap making.
- elhudy 8y agoI typically purchase soap made from the discarded fat of liposuction clinics; it's cheaper and waste-free.
- booleandilemma 8y agoI thought they only made soap like that in the movie Fight Club...
- drkl 8y ago> I thought they only made soap like that in the movie Fight Club... > I thought they only made soap like that in the movie Fight Club... Nested
- sizzle 8y agoGot any links? This sounds fascinating.
- petre 8y agoAlso olive oil.
- sharaticku 8y agoIt's really hard to do this - nearly impossible to cut out palm oil just by boycotting. It's a $60 billion industry and it's found in 50% of products on supermarket shelves (soap, shampoo, Nutella, Oreos, pie crust, peanut butter, Earth Balance, (!!)). And it can go under so many names after it's been processed by the Oleochemical industry - https://www.ran.org/the-understory/palm_oil_s_dirty_secret_the_many_ingredient_names_for_palm_oil/ https://www.ran.org/the-understory/palm_oil_s_dirty_secret_t...
- jacobolus 8y agoFor individual people it’s not hard at all to radically reduce palm oil consumption. I don’t think I eat any palm oil on a regular basis except maybe from occasional chocolates or restaurant meals. Not eating Oreo filling or Nutella is just generally good health advice (if you want chocolate + hazelnut spread, you can buy ones made out of hazelnuts and chocolate instead of mostly sugar and palm oil; plenty of available packaged cookies have little or no vegetable oil). Plenty of available peanut butter has nothing but “peanuts” as an ingredient. Make your own pie crust using flour and butter (or lard). Etc. Avoiding palm oil in soap/shampoo is harder; best first step is probably to reduce soap consumption. Most people use way more soap than necessary, way more often than necessary.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ofrzeta 8y agoYou can buy Aleppo soap or something with similar ingredients. We use several soap products that are based on olive oil.
- qqqwww 8y agoDr Bronner's bar soap uses palm oil grown sustainably in Ghana (according to them): https://www.drbronner.com/media-center/press-release/dr-bronners-sources-palm-oil-sustainably/ https://www.drbronner.com/media-center/press-release/dr-bron... Their liquid soap doesn't contain palm oil.
- Technetium_Hat 8y agoIs that the soap with the weird cult-ish text plastered all over their packaging? (Great for reading on the toilet, lol)
- nnain 8y agoOn a related note, we really should be considering how much soap/detergents we really need. Not just deforestation, they are a major part of water and soil pollution. P&G, Uniliver et al. really sold the idea of using A LOT of soaps to everyone. My parents, born in India in late 50s, rarely had access to soaps and detergents growing up in the countryside. They are still very conscientious in how much detergent they use. It's a lot of bad habits that mega-corps have tried to push onto us.
- ip26 8y agoThat's an interesting perspective. I'm mostly with you- for example I wear things multiple times before washing them- but what about for bathing? Water just doesn't cut the grease & aromas.