Shea butter is the fat obtained from the nuts of the shea tree from West Africa with botanical name “Vitellaria paradoxa”. The tree grows only 10 to 15 meters high and doesn’t flower until it is 20yrs old, reaches a maximum productive capacity at the age of 50 years and then remains fully productive for more than a century.
The green plum shaped fruit of the Shea tree which becomes brown when ripened is where the Shea butter is derived. It has a fat content of 50% which makes the nut embedded in precious fat and oil.
Shea butter is typically used in cosmetic and natural skin care products. Shea butter is actually edible and is used in food preparation both in Africa and other continents such as being particularly used as a substitute for cocoa butter by chocolate industries. In the UK and other countries, it is incorporated into assorted tissue products, such as the tissue paper. Shea butter’s skin care and healing properties were first harnessed thousands of years ago. Hardly would you find any skin/hair care or cosmetic product that doesn’t contain shea butter.
When the Shea butter is still in the unrefined state and hasn’t been tampered with (haven’t been bleached to remove the earthy smell there by reducing its potency), it is full of all-natural vitamin A, 100 percent pure, and aids in numerous skin conditions such as blemishes and wrinkles, stretch mark prevention during pregnancy, muscle fatigue, dermatitis, and radiation treatments for certain medical problems.
Typically, the shea nuts have ivory colored fats in them which are extracted to make the shea butter. Palm oil is added to the extracted ivory colored fat which could make the overall color of the butter dark or light yellow depending on the amount of palm oil added. The overall color of the butter could also still remain ivory if not too much palm oil is added while the shea butter is being made.
Shea Butter is available in many different forms, colors, scents and variations. This post is basically to get us familiar with the unrefined and unscented shea butter which delivers the most benefit to the skin and health generally. This shea butter in its purest and most potent form has yet to be associated with any allergies or reactions. Fragranced or colored variations of shea butter may cause irritation if they happen to contain compounds that “don’t agree” with your particular skin type.
Things to know about the Unrefined Shea Butter:
- Raw/Unrefined shea butter is rich in oleic and stearic acids rich in Vitamins A and E.
- The best shea butter is extracted using the cold press method without any added chemicals or preservatives.
- It has a lot of saturated fats like (MCT oils) when compared to other plant- derived oils such as olive oil, grape seed oil and canola oil.
- Shea butter is smooth in texture and does not liquefy at room temperatures; however, it will soften in your hands, making it easy to apply
Choose your supplier carefully and always read the label. In addition, if you haven’t used one of these products before, it is always advisable to do a small skin patch test on a preferred “secluded” region to rule out the possibility of irritation. To avoid such problems, the safest is to opt for the unrefined shea butter which is: unperfumed, uncolored shea butter or shea-based products.
Shea-based products tend to fall into two categories: those containing 5% shea butter and those containing 10% or more. Products in the latter category will obviously have more of an effect, delivering greater moisturization and certain benefits to the skin quality and appearance. But I would suggest that shea butter should be used as unrefined as this delivers the greatest benefits to the skin. Why settle for less when you have have the real deal?
Unrefined Shea Butter by Lola Longe Botanicals: https://lolalongebotanicals.com/products/unrefined-shea-butter
For the best and fastest results to smoother, supple and more nourished and younger-looking skin, unrefined shea butter should be used. It can be mixed with other natural oils or whipped to soften it. It should be applied generously to the face, hands and entire body as daily moisturizer. For relieving dry skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and chapped or chafed skin, apply the butter directly to affected areas of the skin.