Neem is great stuff. Ever been searching for high quality neem but did not know what to look for? Neem products are starting to become more available, but right now are for the most part only found on the internet or in health shops and other out of the way places. Because it is hard to find these products it is easy to grab the first thing you find on the shelf just because it says neem on the bottle. So here are some tips that will help you make an informed decision before purchasing anything:

Know How The Oil Was Extracted From The Seeds There are several methods that are used to extract the oil from the seeds of the neem tree. As you may have guessed, not all extraction process are to be trusted. The method that produces the most desirable neem oil is called cold pressing. Cold pressed neem oil is the best, as the majority of the active compounds remain intact. Cold pressing is also the oldest extracting process. It is done with a mechanical device that squeezes the oil from the dried seeds. Always try to get cold pressed neem oil where possible.

Another common way to extract the oil from the seeds uses steam and high pressure. Though this technique gets more oil from the seeds than using a mechanical press, a lot of the active compounds in the neem oil can possibly be ruined because of the heat used in the process.

The third technique is the one that most neem oil dealers use because it yields the largest amount of oil from the seeds. It is called solvent extraction, and almost always hexane (which is also called “white gasoline”) is the chemical used. Though this technique extracts nearly all of the oil from the seeds, the solvents destroy many of the active compounds in the neem oil. To add to this and the fact that the chemical being used is poisonous, it is best to look for products that do not contain neem oil that was extracted using them.

Watch Out For Additives Almost all bath and cosmetic products today contain added substances to “enhance” the products performance. At the same time, some of these chemicals are known to potentially cause many side effects. Two of the most common chemicals that may be in a lot of bath bath products are Lauryl Sulfates and Parabens. Lauryl Sulfates are often used as foam producers, because they are cheap and work very well. The majority of inexpensive neem shampoo products have many of these additives too. However, these chemicals are a known irritant. In fact, the USFDA asks developers of these products not to use them.

Parabens are preservatives, and though there has been no real studies showing that that they are potentially dangerous, they are starting to be avoided by many. Some organizations feel they should be avoided in order to err on the side of safety.

Try To Find Certified Organic Ingredients Quite obviously, organic ingredients are preferred over ones that are not. These are natural substances, and have not been exposed to man-made chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, plant growth regulators, pesticides or similar chemicals. Look for labels that list only organic ingredients. If a vendor uses these ingredients, they will always state this (it’s a selling point) somewhere on the packaging.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 3:28 pm and is filed under General Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.