Facts about Shea Butter

While many people have only recently heard of Shea Butter, its amazing benefits have been well known for centuries.  In Africa, people have used Shea Butter for many generations to rejuvenate and protect their skin and hair.  Although Shea Butter has traditionally been used by Africans, anyone can take advantage of its wonderful benefits. Today, Shea Butter is available by itself in pure form and as an ingredient in countless products to help with maintenance of hair and skin as well as relief from many common ailments.

What is Shea Butter?

Shea Butter is a natural butter derived from the African Shea nut and has a yellow, buttery colour with a rich, creamy nut aroma. It is found only in the tropics of Africa and is extracted and prepared without the use of chemicals. It is used predominantly for skin and hair care and known for its protecting and emollient properties. The Shea-Karite tree which produces the Shea nut, begins to bear fruit only after about 15 years and can take up to 30 years to bear a quality crop of nuts with a high content of irremovable fatty acid. It is this irremovable fatty acid that gives Shea Butter its unique healing properties and makes it far superior to other vegetable butters. Rich in cinnamon acid, it also protects the skin from UV rays and therefore can be included in skin care products for the sun.

What is Shea Butter used for?
There are a huge number of uses for Shea Butter. These include body butter, lotions, massage butter, moisturizing agent in soaps and shaving creams, treatment for minor skin wounds and irritations.

How can Shea Butter benefit me?

Shea Butter is known to provide relief from a large number of ailments. This includes everything from dry skin to a number of minor dermatological diseases (if you have a serious skin condition, you should see a doctor). Below are some of the wonderful benefits of Shea Butter:

• Daily skin moisturizer
• Dry skin relief
• Dry scalp
• Skin rash- including diaper rash
• Skin peeling, after tanning
• Daily skin moisturizer (face and body)
• Blemishes and wrinkles
• Itching skin due to dryness
• Sunburn
• Shaving cream to reduce razor irritation
• Small skin wounds
• Skin cracks
• Stretch mark prevention during pregnancy
• Minor burns
• Eczema
• Sun and wind protection
• Even skin tone
• Reducing acne
• Helps restore elasticity to skin
• Restores luster to hair

How does Shea Butter benefit my skin?

Shea Butter nourishes the skin with a number of important vitamins. This includes Vitamins A & E which are known to help maintain the skin and keep it clear and healthy.  This is especially true for dry and sun damaged skin. As well they can help prevent premature wrinkles and facial lines. In addition, Vitamin F acts as a skin protector and rejuvenator that soothes rough dry skin. Shea Butter contains between 7-12% unsaponifiable fats.  By comparison, avocado oil which is known as a good skin conditioner, has only between 2-6%. It is this high level of unsaponifiable fats that makes Shea Butter such a valuable tool in treating so many unpleasant conditions.  Another important attribute of Shea Butter is that it easily penetrates the skin allowing the skin to breathe and not clog pores

Although we cannot make medical claims about our Shea Butter, we have had a number of customers indicate to use that they found it to be very useful in treating minor skin conditions. This includes helping treat eczema, psoriasis, minor burns and even insect bites.

How does Shea Butter benefit my hair?

Shea Butter provides moisture to dry or damaged hair and helps to condition from the roots to the tips. It repairs and protects against weather damage, dryness and brittleness.  As well, it is known for its ability to absorb quickly and completely into the scalp to hydrate without clogging pores. 

How do I store Shea Butter?
Normally Shea Butter does not need to be refrigerated.  However, over a period of two to three years, the Shea Butter can begin to lose some of its effectiveness.  As the natural ingredients begin to break down, some of the healing benefits will be reduced, but the Shea Butter will continue to be an effective moisturizer.  It is recommended that you store your Shea Butter in a cool (not necessarily cold) place.  If you use your Shea Butter within a reasonable time period (one year) you should not have any problems. 

What happens if your Shea Butter melts?
Shea Butter is a wonderful product because of its low melting point and ability to apply easily to your skin. This is also a down side because it can sometimes melt in warm conditions. This can happen during summer time or if you have a really warm home. The good thing is that this does not damage the Shea Butter in any way and you can continue to use it should it melt. If your Shea Butter does melt, consider mixing it slightly as it begins to harden as you will want to make sure all the vitamins and minerals are mixed uniformly.

What colour should my Shea Butter be?
The colour of unrefined Shea Butter is dependent on the Shea nuts used.  Shea nuts can vary in colour from almost white to yellow. This means that unrefined Shea Butter will vary in colour as well. Although it is difficult to determine the quality of Shea Butter from its colour, it should never be green, extremely hard or greasy. In general most unrefined Shea Butter has a light creamy colour. Shea Butter that is pure white is highly refined and may or may not have its healing properties intact depending on how it was refined.

Are all Shea Butters are created equal?

No. Only high quality Shea Butter can offer true health benefits. Once Shea Butter is aged or loses its natural integrity, many of its benefits are lost. Therefore it is crucial that fresh unrefined Shea Butter is always used. As well, Shea Butter can usually be found in two forms, refined and unrefined. Refined Shea Butter is more processed and can often lack many of the vitamins that contribute to its beneficial properties. Unrefined Shea Butter is not processed and contains all the original “goodness” of the Shea nut. We prefer and recommend the use of unrefined Shea Butter for that reason.  

Buyer Beware!

Some suppliers alter their Shea Butter product in an attempt to give it a better fragrance and texture. Others alter it for economic reasons (e.g., save money by adding cheap fillers). These alterations can disturb or in some cases destroy the natural integrity of the product. Often you will find lotions on store shelves that claim to be “Shea Butter Creams”, however if you look closer you will find that the amount of actual Shea Butter is very low.