what you Need to kNow about palM oil

Is palm oil bad?

You may have seen calls to boycott products with palm derived ingredients. If so, you may have gotten the impression that palm oil is harmful to your health. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Palm oil is awesome, and that is where the problem comes in. You see, when the benefits and versatility of palm oil were realized, and it was discovered just how easy and inexpensive it was to produce, greedy folks started clearing rainforests in order to grow more oil palms. The devastating environmental impact of this action is what has caused all the controversy. And now some people refuse to use it at all because of irresponsible farming practices of large commercial producers.

As has happened with so many things (including food) where high demand yields huge profits, big corporations have replaced small farmers/producers. The big guys have bought up and cleared large swaths of primary forest and converted it to oil palm plantations, displacing many animals (and sometimes people) and upsetting the ecosystem. Their irresponsible practices have also resulted in fires and other extensive damage to land and communities. So, it’s understandable why this would raise concern among more conscientious, earth-loving folks. In addition to the environmental impact, these actions have caused many small, independent growers to lose their livelihood.

But thankfully, not all who recognize the value and usefulness of palm oil are greedy planet wreckers.

What’s being done about it?

While this situation hasn’t been fully rectified in that there are still large, irresponsible producers, great strides have been made to ensure the availability of sustainably sourced and harvested palm oil products from responsible growers and manufacturers whose practices do not harm the environment. In 2004, an organization called the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) [https://www.rspo.org/] was established with the backing of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The goal of this initiative was to “make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Since its inception, the RSPO has worked to define, implement and promote better practices for sustainable palm oil production. The RSPO has developed a set of environmental and social principles and criteria with which companies must comply in order to become certified.

What is Nature’s Hippie doing to help?

At Nature’s Hippie we use only palm kernel oil that is organic and carries RSPO IP Certification. This certification guarantees the sustainability and traceability of the palm oil production throughout the supply chain. IP stands for Identity Preserved. This certification is one of four certification levels offered by the RSPO and carries the highest and strongest level of sustainable guarantee with traceability of each lot of palm oil back to the field of origin. With Identify Preserved sustainable palm kernel oil, the entire batch of palm oil is from a single identifiable certified source and kept separate from all non-certified batches.

What can you do to help?

As a consumer, you can help in the effort to achieve sustainable, eco-friendly palm oil production by supporting and purchasing palm-derived products only from companies (like Nature’s Hippie) who are committed to sourcing certified sustainable palm that doesn’t cause deforestation, harm wildlife, or negatively impact local communities and indigenous people.

While the calls for boycotting all palm oil products are well-intentioned, they are misguided and fall short of achieving the goal. What many don’t understand about boycotts is that it often just shifts the problem from one resource to another – and in the case of palm oil, there is no alternative that wouldn’t be less healthy and more costly. Because palm has so many uses and is such a high yielding crop, replacing it would prove difficult and would likely result in even more damage to the environment. There is no other comparable vegetable or seed oil that would not require even more land to grow. Nor is there an alternative that has the same beneficial characteristics and versatility of palm oil. Shifting to an inferior substitute would result in inferior, possibly even harmful, products and would not solve the environmental crisis.

Why is palm oil even used in skin care products?

With all the controversy surrounding palm oil, you may be wondering why makers of natural skin care products would want to continue to use it and go to such great lengths to find good sources. It is because it is so rich in nutrients and has so many beneficial properties that contribute to healthy skin and hair.

For skin care products it is the palm kernel oil that is used. The difference between palm kernel oil and palm fruit oil is that it is extracted from the seed of the palm tree rather than the fruit and has a higher percentage of lauric acid. Palm kernel oil is rich in vitamin E & vitamin A palmitate and is known for its hydrating, healing, and anti-bacterial properties. It contains powerful phenolic and carotenoid antioxidant compounds for moisturizing and softening skin and even strengthening hair. In soaps and shampoos, it provides natural foaming and cleansing without drying skin and hair.

At Nature’s Hippie, we believe that all natural and organic ingredients are of the utmost importance. When we began making our skin care products, we made it our mission to find the purest, cleanest, sustainably sourced ingredients. Through extensive research, we located the most trusted and reliable certified sources. Sustainably sourced organic palm kernel oil is on our Hip List of approved ingredients because of its many healthful attributes. We use it in our natural body butters, soaps and shampoo bars so that you can benefit from its unique nourishment without contributing to harmful or unethical practices.

You can count on Nature’s Hippie to use only beneficial all natural ingredients you can trust; never anything harmful to you or the environment. We will not compromise on this!