Natural Magick Shop Steering Clear Of Palm Oil
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Natural Magick Shop oils are blends of essential oils diluted in a blend of carrier oils so that they are safe to use on the skin. I have been using 1/2 Almond oil and 1/2 fractionated Coconut oil (FCO) for nearly 10 years as my carrier base.
Over this time, suppliers stopped selling this product as FCO, and changed over to selling as MCT (mixed-chain triglycerides). When Coconut oil is fractionated, it is spun in a centrifuge to separate the product into "fractions." FCO is the liquid portion, and the solid portions are marketed for solid Coconut oil uses. My understanding is that this liquid oil fraction is Mixed Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) and that they are chemically indistinguishable from MCTs derived from Oil Palm (Palm oil). Most sellers of MCT state openly (or at least when questioned pointedly) that their product could be either/or/both derived from Oil Palm and Coconut, according to season and market availability.
Over this time, suppliers stopped selling this product as FCO, and changed over to selling as MCT (mixed-chain triglycerides). When Coconut oil is fractionated, it is spun in a centrifuge to separate the product into "fractions." FCO is the liquid portion, and the solid portions are marketed for solid Coconut oil uses. My understanding is that this liquid oil fraction is Mixed Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) and that they are chemically indistinguishable from MCTs derived from Oil Palm (Palm oil). Most sellers of MCT state openly (or at least when questioned pointedly) that their product could be either/or/both derived from Oil Palm and Coconut, according to season and market availability.
While MCTs in themselves are natural, healthy oil compounds, Oil Palm is largely made of tropical rainforest devastation and extinction. We may have seen the pitiable images of starving Orangutans and their heart-breakingly malnourished babies, caused by their forest homelands being destroyed for Oil Palm plantations.
Even though my supplier of MCT sources palm oil that is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) (and not even on the same continent where Orangutans and Tigers are facing extinction in the next decade), my adding to the demand for Palm Oil, however indirect, did not sit well with me or my guides. I have now switched to a supplier that guarantees that their MCT is made exclusively from sustainably and organically grown Coconuts.
Of course, it costs more. Like more than twice as much. I will be absorbing most of this, because it is my commitment to the Earth, but I will raise prices a little bit in the near future when I begin making the switch. (For example, the regular magick oils will go from $9 to $10) My reckoning is that Natural Magick Shop customers are for the most part, committed to sustainability as I am.
For the Tigers and Orangutans,
Cedar
Even though my supplier of MCT sources palm oil that is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) (and not even on the same continent where Orangutans and Tigers are facing extinction in the next decade), my adding to the demand for Palm Oil, however indirect, did not sit well with me or my guides. I have now switched to a supplier that guarantees that their MCT is made exclusively from sustainably and organically grown Coconuts.
Of course, it costs more. Like more than twice as much. I will be absorbing most of this, because it is my commitment to the Earth, but I will raise prices a little bit in the near future when I begin making the switch. (For example, the regular magick oils will go from $9 to $10) My reckoning is that Natural Magick Shop customers are for the most part, committed to sustainability as I am.
For the Tigers and Orangutans,
Cedar