Palm oil-free soap: the journey continues.

Since discovering that the purchase of palm oil-free soap is not as simple as it ought to be, I've widened my search.

First stop: the Central Market, home to a few health shops. Result: not a bar of palm oil-free soap in sight. One store did, however, did make a photocopy of my Borneo Orangutan Survival shopping list, so that it could investigate potential suppliers.

Searching online did reveal one local producer that does not use palm oil in any of his soaps. Alex's Handcrafted Soaps proudly states that

out of respect for the endangered Orang-utan and their habitat I do not use palm oil in any of my products

Ecolateral is the closest supplier. Upon arrival I was dismayed to see that the majority of other soap products in the shop contained palm oil, but Alex's Handcrafted Soaps were also available. Having expressed my concern at the presence of palm oil soap (and pointing out why sustainable palm oil is anything but sustainable), I made my purchase of a couple of bars to try.

As it turned out, a second option turned up unexpectedly: at my local Oxfam shop I spotted a palm oil-free soap whilst purchasing some Fair Trade palm oil-free chocolate - Sindyanna Olive Oil Soap, produced in Israel and the West Bank by Arab farmers. Excited as I was by this discovery, trying to explain to the friendly woman behind the counter that there was an additional benefit beyond fair trade ended up being a frustrating (and ultimately futile) exercise. As much as I tried to explain, she appeared to be incapable of appreciating that there could be a second benefit. Oh well.

So far, so good with Alex's soap. It lathers and washes well, but the first variety is a little soft, meaning that it is disappearing at a far faster rate than I would like it to. Tomorrow will be the first test for the Palestinian olive oil soap.

Baking soda and baking powder are not the same.

Today's lesson, following on from yesterday's discovery, is that baking soda and baking powder are not the same. Whilst the latter may contain the former, it also contains other ingredients.

At least the baking powder hasn't dissolved my face off or made my hair fall out, but I may need to get some baking soda.

Palm oil-free personal hygiene: alternatives.

As I blogged a few days ago, finding personal hygiene products that are free of palm oil is not always an easy task. Indeed, after spending maybe twenty minutes reading the labels of every single line, I failed to do so at my local supermarket.

In searching for alternatives that are available locally, I stumbled upon a solution that had not occurred to me: DIY. Nothing like a little improvisation to rid oneself of palm oil.

Shampoo: Hardly a significant issue for somebody with hair of my length, but nonetheless an experiment to try. A quick searched revealed that others have also considered going down the shampoo-free path before I did (not really a surprise). Having a lemon tree makes the lemon juice idea appealing, and having baking soda in the cupboard is also convenient.

Soap: More difficult to improvise. Again, a quick search revealed palm oil-free soap recipes, but these require ingredients, time and facilities that I do not have to hand at the moment. Whilst making my own soap will be a longer term aim, it isn't an option now.