About Our Shea Butter

Shea Butter or Karite Butter comes from the mangifolia tree grows in the arid savannah found in 17 African nations. This tree grows to 15 m in height, giving forth abundant fruit with green, sweet, fleshy pulp high in ascorbic acid, almost four times the amount found in oranges. It also contains iron, vit. B, protein, and calcium.

Shea butter has a wide range of amazing healing properties stemming from its physical make up of vitamins A, E, and cinnamic acid, just to name a few. Shea butter has been shown to have anti-inflammatory capabilities and has been utilized for these benefits for hundreds of years. It has been shown to increase the healing of wounds and improve scars. It is used to heal eczema, burns, rashes, severely dry skin, and to lessen the irritation of psoriasis. Shea butter contains natural UV sun protection. Daily usage of shea butter skin cream or lotion on the face and body drastically reduces sun exposure while slowing down the effects of aging.

Types Of Shea Butter

Compare shea butter to say.. our apples. You can get many different types of apples from an apple tree....you also get different types of shea butter from the magnifolia or "Karite" tree. As some apples are good for canning, some for eating, etc., there are different uses for different types of Shea Butter. Below I'll explain the differences.

West African or "Ghana" Shea Butter:

Freshly made in Ghana, this hand crafted shea butter is in the original form that West African natives have been using for centuries. It will vary in color from an off white, to tan, to gold. The consistency is somewhat stiff and gummy. It can smell nutty to smokey to coffee like. It is high in cinnamic acid, unsaponifiables and vitamin A. Because of it's high cinnamic content, this type of Shea Butter is the one preferred for healing of many skin conditions, however, you want to make sure you are getting a quality "grade" of butter for best results. I'll explain more in just a minute. Shea butter in its original form, can, however, have a very pungent odor that many people find repulsive. It is impossible to tell a good West African Shea Butter by the aroma, consistency, or color.

Know The Quality Of "Ghana" Shea Butter.

Not all shea butters are equally effective. Only high quality premium shea butter offers the maximum healing benefits. Shea butter contains the ingredient, Cinnamic Acid. Determination of free and bound Cinnamic Acid content will provide the needed information on the quality of a given batch of Shea Butter for treating various skin conditions. The most significant factors responsible for variations in Shea Butter quality are the multitude of methods used to prepare Shea Butter (lack of a uniform procedure for preparation), and the environmental conditions the butter is exposed to after preparation. the quality of Shea Butter may range from excellent to very poor. Shea Butter of excellent quality may be used to treat a number of skin conditions, and serve as an excellent moisturizer as well. On the other hand, poor quality Shea Butter is good only for moisturizing purposes, and should be compared with products such as cocoa butter and mango butter.

Shea Butter Grading

Grade A - Premium

Grade B - Choice

Grade C - Common

Grade F - Poor

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Avoid sellers who cannot verify the grade of the shea butter they are selling.

ORGANIC EAST AFRICAN (Uganda) SHEA BUTTER:

East African Shea Butter is made from fruit kernals collected in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. This species is known as vitellaria nilotica. This region is fed from the Nile River. Cold pressed, this butter retains all of its wonderful properties. This shea butter is considered to be of superior quality to West African shea butter for moisturization. It is very soft and easy to apply. A small amount will go a long way. It has little to no odor. It is pure white, to cream yellow, to off white. It is almost impossible to find outside of Uganda. Because of civil skirmishes, it is often difficult to get this butter out of the country...which is why it's so rare. We choose to carry this variety for as long as we are able to get it because of the faint aroma, the spreadibility, and the increased percentage of unsaponifiables which makes it a better moisturizer. Because it is made up of different components than the West African variety, a grading scale isn't required. We have however, found this variety works very well in treating many skin conditions such as rashes, excema, psoriasis, etc. and is prefered for baby's delicate skin and those who wish an easier application.

If you want raw shea butter but can't stand the smell then this is the butter for you. This butter has not been deodorized, yet it naturally has only a very faint aroma.

PREMIUM REFINED SHEA BUTTER:

(cosmetic, food grade) This highly refined shea butter is so white and clean that it is literally edible. The raw material is imported from Africa and sent to a state of the art refinery in Europe where the butter is cleaned through clay and any naturally occuring odor is vacummed out. This butter is ideal for lotions, creams and lip butters where a completely white and refined butter is necessary. If you are looking for a highly refined, cosmetic grade shea butter, then this is the one for you. There is no better refined shea butter on the market. This is what we use in our lotions and body wash.

The Shea Butter we use in our lotions is refined by a multi meshing system that cleans the butter of impurities. The butter then goes through fullers clay to further clean it giving it its pure white appearance.

Before You Buy

When buying shea butter be sure that you are getting a 100% pure and natural product. Shea butter can be extracted naturally or by using hexane. If your supplier can not accurately address your concerns you may ask for an analysis sheet. When buying a refined and deodorized shea butter, be sure that chemicals are not used in the process. Look for suppliers that are well informed about shea butter and know their chain of supply. Avoid buying from pushy sellers or those who will not take the time to address your concerns.

For the most theraputic benefits of shea butter, (treating ezcema, psoriasis, burns, minimizing scars, bruising, rosacea, etc.) choose a unrefined or raw shea butter.

Remember, just because a Shea Butter is unrefined, it does NOT make it all natural. Even many unrefined Shea Butters are still extracted with chemicals.

Some people can not tolerate the strong, pungent aroma of shea butter and may prefer a refined deodorized shea butter. Some properties of pure shea butter are denatured during the refining process. However, the majority of our customers buy refined shea butter and yet have excellent results.

All Shea Butter products are not created equal. Many commercial brands are adding small amounts of Shea Butter to inexpensive bases. These small amounts have very little theraputic benefits (if any). Just because a Shea Butter is unrefined, it does NOT make it natural, Shea butter is most often extracted by hexane because hexane provides much higher yields, thus producing a much cheaper grade shea butter. As well, shea butter is often times bleached and deodorized with the use of chemicals. Refining properly simply means getting rid of unwanted debri. We feel you have a right to know the difference. Our shea butter is extracted by cooking the nuts and then manually pressing the butter out.