TaoBrowser (4.20 Edition): CBD Oil on Taobao
Where can you buy that? You already know the answer: Taobao. But navigating China’s biggest e-commerce platform can be a nightmare for foreigners, so we’re helping out by rounding up useful stores to browse in our column, TaoBrowser.
On this hallowed day of Apr 20, we’d like to bring a simple fact to your attention: CBD oil is perfectly legal in China and is available for purchase online.
This extract of a certain leafy green has been touted in recent years as a magical remedy for a wide array of ailments, from insomnia to anxiety and depression, or even as a pain reliever. Is any of that true, or is CBD oil just the new snake oil? We’ll leave that for you and your doctor to decide, perhaps with the assistance of thousands of content marketing blogs that have been penned on this subject.
In any case, there couldn’t be an easier product to find with limited Chinese language skills, as it’s literally just a matter of typing “CBD” into the Taobao search bar (you’ll get even more if you search for CBD油 [yóu oil]), but we’d like to take the opportunity to take you through what you’ll find when you do so.
The oils
The most common product you’ll find is the simplest – the straight oil. Most bottles will be marked with a milligram amount, indicating the total amount of CBD in the bottle, and typically (though not always) higher total milligram counts will mean a more condensed product – i.e. more CBD per drop. If you haven’t used CBD before, be sure to use a smaller dose to start out (maybe one or two drops) until you know how it affects you.
How you use it is up to you – either added to food, used as a tincture under the tongue, or rubbed on problem areas of the body.
Otherwise, the shopping process is pretty simple. Just be sure to look out for the keyword 美国进口 Měiguó jìnkǒu indicating that the product has been imported from the US, if that’s what you’re looking for.
If you’d like to dig deeper, a few Taobao shops selling oils include:
Skin care
Oils can also be used in skincare products, but rather than having to mix it up yourself, many vendors are selling CBD skincare and makeup products for you to choose from.
Search keywords include CBD面膜 (miànmó face mask), CBD抗皱纹· (kàng zhòuwén anti-wrinkle) and CBD修护 (xiū hù healing and protection). Some shops that carry CBD skincare products include:
And also... a pillow??
Finally, the strangest thing we’ve found trouncing Taobao for CBD products is a CBD pillow and blanket set, aimed at allowing sleepers to breathe in the CBD from the product all night to remain calm. The future is now, folks!
READ: Taobrowser: Co-Host an Exhibition With the Palace Museum at Your Home
Images: Unsplash, Taobao
