Looking for a list of oils that tells me...

[serfmunke]

Which vegetable oils are the most environmentally friendly. Which oils come from plants that do not need a lot of pesticides, promote deforestation, don't use chemicals in its production (prefer pressed like EVOO) etc. Currently I love EVOO, CO, Flax seed oil, and castor and am new to soap making. I Googled this and found nothing impressive, does anyone know of a list or has anyone produced their own personal one they can share. Or will soap making now consume my life much more than I ever imagined?

As always thank you for your advice and information

 

[Northland Naturals]

i don't know of any comprehensive list offhand, but you should be able to research individual oils with relative ease. i would say take your list of preferred oils and start googling them individually and see what you can find on their sourcing, processing, shipping, etc. maybe add the word 'sustainable' or 'sustainability' to your search.

i think you'll find that every oil is at least some bad because of all the fossil fuels burned in their transportation. no matter how they are sourced, the best thing you can probably do is find everything that is produced locally (which will be very hard probably).

 

[FreeRabbit]

castor is very bad in that regard
they collect castor in 3rd world countries like india and many workers with these plants die from toxidity to the plant- either immidiatly or in the long run.
check out wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil
"The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein. Harvesting castor beans is not without risk.[6] Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants"

 

[delicious]

castor is very bad in that regard
they collect castor in 3rd world countries like india and many workers with these plants die from toxidity to the plant- either immidiatly or in the long run.
check out wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil
"The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein. Harvesting castor beans is not without risk.[6] Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants"

hum... does that mean that soap with castor oil can also be somewhat toxic? All depends on doses, but I mean ricin could pass on to the oil and probably stays in the soap...?

 

[serfmunke]

castor is very bad in that regard
they collect castor in 3rd world countries like india and many workers with these plants die from toxidity to the plant- either immidiatly or in the long run.
check out wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil
"The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein. Harvesting castor beans is not without risk.[6] Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants"

Good lord, well consider that oil off my list. Thanks for the info and link.

 

[serfmunke]

http://moksaorganics.com/about/

I did stumble upon this company and for now will simply use these oils as I research any others I may be interested in. They have a decent list of oils they use, I can live with that, for now :wink:

 

[delicious]

http://moksaorganics.com/about/

I did stumble upon this company and for now will simply use these oils as I research any others I may be interested in. They have a decent list of oils they use, I can live with that, for now :wink:

Your site only explains why not to use palm oil but doesn't say anything about the other oils they use... that wouldn't guarantee what you are looking for.

For example, they use soybean oil and the production of soybean oil uses hexane, which is toxic. So the people who make the oil, even though they probably wear masks and gloves and all, are exposed to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexane
"Chronic intoxication from hexane has been observed in recreational solvent abusers and in workers in the shoe manufacturing, furniture restoration and automobile construction industries, and recently, plastic recyclers and assemblers and cleaners of capacitive touch-screen devices." => and probably also in the oil industry?
"In 1994, n-hexane was included in the list of chemicals on the US Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued regulations on the control of emissions of hexane gas due to its potential carcinogenic properties and environmental concerns."

I'd look for cold pressed or expeller pressed oils (not solvent extracted oils). Off the top of my head there could be (I suppose) cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil. BUT, that doesn't mean that all sources of those oils are pressed. For example, shea butter or coconut oil can be extracted by pressing the nuts (or whatever they are) or by using a solvent. So not only will you have to find oils that can be obtained without the use of solvent but find a brand/producer/distributor of that oil using the extraction method that you want (and be organic so that no chemicals are used for production).
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/libra ... action.asp

 

[carebear]

[quote="delicious"
hum... does that mean that soap with castor oil can also be somewhat toxic? All depends on doses, but I mean ricin could pass on to the oil and probably stays in the soap...?[/quote]no. the ricin is removed from the oil.

almost all our oils are extracted with solvents - exceptions are virgin olive oil and some grades of olive oil. but keep in mind that far more "organic" oils are sold than are produced - so you do the math.

 

[IrishLass]

[hum... does that mean that soap with castor oil can also be somewhat toxic? All depends on doses, but I mean ricin could pass on to the oil and probably stays in the soap...?

Worry not. The castor oil sold to consumers(at least in the US) does not contain any ricin in it. It has all been removed beforehand for consumer safety. So, your soap is safe as many longtime soapers can attest to, as well as those who, over these many years, have used castor oil internally as a laxative or who have used it in heat packs on their skin as a drawing agent.

IrishLass

 

[serfmunke]

OMG, I wish I had never opened this can of worms but I am and have been an environmentalist forever. I know this because I just went through all my homework that my Mother saved, from kindergarten to 6th, and I wrote about saving the environment even back then. Crazy. So I will have to research the oils used by Moksa and research the producers of these oils and make sure that the whole process is something I feel good about.

 

[serfmunke]

http://moksaorganics.com/about/

I did stumble upon this company and for now will simply use these oils as I research any others I may be interested in. They have a decent list of oils they use, I can live with that, for now :wink:

Your site only explains why not to use palm oil but doesn't say anything about the other oils they use... that wouldn't guarantee what you are looking for.

For example, they use soybean oil and the production of soybean oil uses hexane, which is toxic. So the people who make the oil, even though they probably wear masks and gloves and all, are exposed to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexane
"Chronic intoxication from hexane has been observed in recreational solvent abusers and in workers in the shoe manufacturing, furniture restoration and automobile construction industries, and recently, plastic recyclers and assemblers and cleaners of capacitive touch-screen devices." => and probably also in the oil industry?
"In 1994, n-hexane was included in the list of chemicals on the US Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued regulations on the control of emissions of hexane gas due to its potential carcinogenic properties and environmental concerns."

I'd look for cold pressed or expeller pressed oils (not solvent extracted oils). Off the top of my head there could be (I suppose) cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil. BUT, that doesn't mean that all sources of those oils are pressed. For example, shea butter or coconut oil can be extracted by pressing the nuts (or whatever they are) or by using a solvent. So not only will you have to find oils that can be obtained without the use of solvent but find a brand/producer/distributor of that oil using the extraction method that you want (and be organic so that no chemicals are used for production).
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/libra ... action.asp

Somewhere, perhaps not on the link I supplied, the company did explain what oils they used and why. Most if not all of their oils are organic but I am not certain that means production is also toxin free. So many aspects to look at, no wonder why there is no master list.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

re toxins - I'd be more concerned about the fact that all these oils are edible and in most of our foods at least soap is a wash off product.

Re sustainability - its a catch 22. Stop buying it and the workers go hungery, and the country can't sustain itself finacially, continue buying it and add to the destruction of our environment.

 

[FreeRabbit]

not really-
buy local, buy from small places and farms (not cooperations), buy fair trade, buy big quantities to save on packaging or prefer less packages or reuse and refill as much as possible, that way you are supporting the REAL economy, AND you make friends and community.

Many cold pressed oils mean no extra chemicals used to extract the oil, not only extra virgin OO (=cold press) there is also CP shea, CP cocunut... etc

I think following these rules you can make do with many oils, even imported ones.

 

[serfmunke]

not really-
buy local, buy from small places and farms (not cooperations), buy fair trade, buy big quantities to save on packaging or prefer less packages or reuse and refill as much as possible, that way you are supporting the REAL economy, AND you make friends and community.

Many cold pressed oils mean no extra chemicals used to extract the oil, not only extra virgin OO (=cold press) there is also CP shea, CP cocunut... etc

I think following these rules you can make do with many oils, even imported ones.

Yes, I agree with all of the above. We can be smart about who we buy from. I try to buy fair trade as often as possible, as well as local. Sometimes it is difficult to sift out the BS companies from the ones truly doing great work for the locals who provide us with awesome oils!

Since my initial post, I have decided on Organic OO, Organic Castor (it is pressed rather than using the chemicals!), Babassu, Flax seed (Canada or USA!!!), and then Organic Coconut. I may even cut out coconut if I like Babassu better since Babassu is from Brazil and much closer to PA than the Philippines. I have been making soap with a lot of stuff from my garden, it has been awesome and showing has taken on a whole new high for me, I absolutely love it!!!

 

[carebear]

Organic. Cold pressed. Some suppliers are very up front that more are sold than are produced. Buyer beware.

 

[serfmunke]

Yeah, I can only hope that what I get is actually what is described. Maybe demand will drive supply? I think I remember that from my HS economics class, I hated that class.