Our unrefined shea butter is high in natural moisturizers. Pure unrefined shea butter comes from seeds of wild shea trees in Africa. Shea butter has many useful properties and has been traditionally used as a decongestant, an anti-inflammatory for sprains and arthritis, a healing salve for babies' umbilical cords, a lotion for hair and skin care, as cooking oil, and for lamp fuel. However, the protective and emollient properties of shea butter are most valued for skin care. Shea butter can be applied to the skin and hair as a moisturizer.
Unrefined shea butter contains an abundance of healing ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins a unique fatty acid profile. It is a superior active moisturizer. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, shea butter actually restores the skin's natural elasticity. Shea butter enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air (a humectant), and as a result, it becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer. In addition, shea butter has natural sunscreen properties and anti-inflammatory agents.
Give it a try for dry skin, wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, eczema, cracked and dry heels, arthritis, burns, diaper rash, bug bites, lip balm, cuts, rashes, and more.
Consider this: it is estimated to take 20 to 30 hours of manual labor to produce one kilogram of handcrafted shea butter
MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING THE GOOD STUFF - SOME PLACES WILL SELL REFINED SHEA BUTTER, BUT only pure, unrefined shea butter has the true healing and moisturizing properties of shea butter. Most shea butter available to the general public outside West Africa is white and odorless, in other words it has been "refined" to remove the natural scent and color of natural shea butter. In the process, the majority of the effective agents are also removed.
Also,refined shea butter has usually been extracted from the shea kernels with hexane or other petroleum solvents. The extracted oil is boiled to drive off the toxic solvents, and then refined, bleached, and deodorized, which involves heating it to over 400F and the use of harsh chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide. Shea butter extracted in this manner still contains some undesirable solvent residues, and its healing values are significantly reduced. Antioxidants or preservatives such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) may be added as well.
The end result is an odorless, white butter that may be aesthetically appealing, but lacks the true moisturizing, healing, and nutritive properties of true traditional shea butter. In addition, refined shea butter is often hard and grainy, not smooth and creamy like pure, unrefined shea butter. All that can be said for refined shea butter is that it has an extended shelf life, a white, uniform color, and no odor.
