Unrefined oils and why it's important to consider
Ever wonder why we place such a heavy emphasis on our usage of unrefined, organic and pressed oils in our products? Here’s everything you need to know when deciphering whether unrefined ingredients are right for you and your body.
Difference between unrefined and refined oils
What are unrefined oils? Unrefined oils is the name for ingredients (oils) that have not been processed or minimally processed to remove all ‘impurities.’ Unrefined oil can also be referred to as unprocessed, untreated or crude oil. At Circular Bodies we use unrefined cold-pressed oils. What does cold-pressed mean? Cold-pressing is when fruit (i.e. coconut) or seeds (think hemp oil) are placed in a steel press to extract oils without precooking or adding too much additional heat. Cold-pressed oils are known to maintain their nutritional value, aroma etc. which is why we choose to use them. In other words, cold-pressing is one process used to get usable unrefined oils.
Now that we know what unrefined oils are, what are refined oils? Refined oils are the opposite of unrefined, it is when ingredients are processed to remove what some consider to be ‘impurities’ from fruit or seed oils. Refined oils are treated with high temperatures, solvents, bleaching, and deodorization to remove the scent from the oil and the color. The processing of refined oils is much more arduous compared to the processing of unrefined oils. Not to mention the amount of chemicals added to refined oils - it’s questionable in relation to whether they are completely safe for our bodies.
Issues with refineries
With refined oils comes refineries because of all the processing that needs to happen. Let’s be clear, refineries are not good for the environment. They are known polluters, specifically when it comes to air pollution because of all the greenhouse gases (GHG) released into the atmosphere contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer.
We can’t forget about water pollution. Refineries have leakages which make their way into bodies of water, mainly due to refineries' proximity to water. Refineries also lack proper disposal of their wastewater. In addition to polluting bodies of water, refineries overuse water. According to the EPA, it takes between 1 and 2.5 gallons of water to refine each gallon of oil. If refineries are both polluting the water and overusing the water, will there be any water that is safe for both human consumption and for marine life?
Price and quality
Besides unrefined and refined oils differing in the ways they are processed, they also differ when it comes to their price and quality. The School of Natural Skincare says unrefined oils are “high quality, nutrient rich, authentic-to-nature oil which is true in its flavor and color.” For these reasons, unrefined oils tend to be desired more and are more expensive. Refined oils are less expensive because of the processing they have gone through which means they have less active compounds that affect its quality.
Nutrient loss with Refineries
With refined oils and refineries comes nutrient loss because of all the solvents and bleaching and high temperatures fruit and/or seeds go through for processing. Let’s take a look at shea butter, refined shea butter lacks nutrients like vitamins A and E. Vitamin A has many skin benefits including encouraging healthy skin cell production, protection against infections, smoothes wrinkles and evens skin tone. Vitamin E also has a long list of skin benefits like fighting against UV-related skin damage, healing wounds, and has anti-inflammatory properties. Why would you want to skip out on these super beneficial vitamins? Continuing on with refined shea butter, up to 75% of bioactive ingredients are lost during the refining process. That’s a significant loss! Why sacrifice healing properties and nutrients that are good for the skin with a colorless and odor-free formula?
Unrefined cocoa butter
Why we only use unrefined oils and ingredients
Circular Bodies believes the earth provides us with everything we need in its most natural form with minimal processing. We want our products to have the highest quality possible and carry all nutrients that are naturally present in the plants we use. We believe simple is better - why process ingredients and waste energy on something that is perfect in its unrefined form? Take a look at Our 4 Sustainability Pillars to get a better understanding on how Circular Bodies views unrefined ingredients and mother earth.
How Unrefined oils make our products different
Unrefined oils are one of a kind, different oil batches come in different colors and with different strength of scents - because nature is not uniform. Here at Circular Bodies we embrace the changes in our oils and understand that nature changes and that is beautiful. That might mean our products might slightly change scent and color from batch to batch. The one thing that will not change is its quality and our commitment to always sourcing the best ingredients available to us!
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