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Cold pressed oils and unrefined butters

Difference Between Cold-Pressed Oils and Unrefined Butters vs Refined

If pressed (pun intended), I would say that the single biggest difference between kühn procducts' beard balm, beard oil, beard butter, and everything else we make, is in the ingredients themselves. Namely that we use ONLY cold-pressed oils and unrefined shea and mango butter. 

This might not sound like a big deal, but it is. This will help you understand why some of the products you use are noticeably better than other ones. I get messages quite often from guys telling me how much better their beard feels after using kühn and they're not sure why. Whey does are oil absorb into the skin and beard better? Why is there no greasy layer on your beard after applying? Why is their beard softer and why does it stay softer longer? Because of how the ingredients are made that we chose to put in our products. Or better said, because of how the oils and butters are processed before being put into our products.  

Cold pressed oils.

When carrier oils are processed from the seed or nut or plant or whatever the origin, there are two ways to harvest that carrier oil. One way is much cheaper and one way is better.

When oils are cold pressed they go through a 3 step process. 

1. The oil seeds are cleaned and dried to remove any moisture.
2. The seeds are then crushed or pressed using a slow, grinding press machine.
3. The oil is extracted and then filtered to separate the oil from the seed pulp.

Through out the entire process there are no chemicals or heat applied. 

Refined Oils

There are some oil seeds that cannot yield oil through any cold-press or natural extraction method. Most of these oils weren't even available prior to these newly developed techniques. The only way the harvest these oils is through a refining process involving chemical treatment and heat refining techniques which allow the oil to be extracted. Because these oils are chemically extracted, they then must also be refined to that our bodies can tolerate them.

This refining process is a multi step process: 

1. Seeds like sesame, coconut, sunflower, and others are crushed then heated in a pressurized steam bath.
2. The mixture of oil and seed pulp is then chemically processed with a solvent to extract the residual oil. 
3. This mixture is then put through a centrifuge along with phosphate to separate the oil from the the seeds. 
4. Water is added and a reaction takes place resulting in hydrated phosphates which can be further separated by decantation or centrifuges. 
5. The product that results from these first 4 steps contain impurities that need to be removed. They are removed using sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate. The resulting oil is lighter in color and less viscous and more prone to oxidation. This is why refined oils have a less stable shelf life. 
6. Bleaching agents are then added to remove off color materials. 

7. Lastly the oil is run through high pressured steam to remove any compounds that would cause odors or bring any off-putting taste.

This is exactly how vegetable oil is made and why it's so inexpensive. It's also precisely why most beard oil, beard balm, and beard butters contain refined oils. They're cheaper and odorless. They're also thin, runny, and retain very little healing and moisturizing properties. 

What type of oil does the brand you're currently using utilize in their products? Chances are, if it's hard to identify, they use refined oils. There is one very popular beard company that uses ALL refined oils. You won't find it on their website though. You'll know only if you ask the company directly. 

Interesting isn't it?

Refined Butters

I won't go into as much detail here because it's pretty much the same process to refine butters and it's pretty much the same result too. 

Refining butter, be it shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, or any other type is the same; high levels of heat and chemicals. 

Check this out though. Let's take shea butter and look at what happens to it after it's been refined. Up to 75% of the bioactive ingredients in shea butter are lost during the refining process. 

75%!

When refined butters are used in the products you put on your beard and skin, you're paying for inferior products. In a lot of cases, you're paying MORE for inferior products. 

Go take a look at the beard oil you're currently using. Go take a look at the beard balm or beard butter you put on this morning. Does is contain refined oils and butters? There is a good chance that it does. I've looked. There are very companies who use unrefined ingredients. I would even bet money that most companies don't even know the difference if asked. 

So now you know.

As a reminder, these are the cold-pressed oils we use in our beard products. 

Shea Nut Oil

Marula Oil

Meadowfoam Seed Oil

Argan Oil

Jojoba Oil

And these are the unrefined butters. 

Shea Butter

Mango Butter

 

If you're going to spend your hard earned money on beard oils and balms and butters, at least make sure to use the best ingredients. 

Now go treat your beard better. 

 

Visit our other website and see how $29 a month can get you $60 worth of kühn products delivered to your door every month. 

kuhnbox.com

1 comment

  • Purest Botanical

    Thank you for provide good information

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