shea butter information

Shea butter is the butter obtained from the African tree named Karite and has been used for centuries on the African continent. Shea butter is the butter or oil from the nuts that are gathered from wild trees scattered throughout the fields and forests of the wooded savanna.

Shea butter has many useful properties and has been used as a decongestant, an anti-inflammatory for sprains and arthritis, a healing salve for babies' umbilical cords and after circumcision, a lotion for hair and skin care, as a cooking oil, and as a lamp fuel. However, the protective and emollient properties of shea butter are most valued for skin care. Shea butter is also the main ingredient in local soap production in Africa, and is applied to the skin and hair directly to protect them from drying out .

Clinical trials have shown that shea butter helps to do the following:

Protect skin against very climate and UV radiation.
Prevents aging of skin and wrinkling of the skin.
Sooths irritated and chapped skin.
Deep moisturizing of the epidermis.

Shea butter is also an important natural resource for the African continent. Until recently, Europeans have controlled all shea butter for export by purchasing the shea kernels and chemically extracting the oil using hexane and most of this shea butter is sold as cocoa butter equivalents in western nations, but some is also sold in the cosmetic market. Chemically extracted shea butter, however, does not retain all the healing and moisturizing properties of traditionally, unrefined mechanically produced shea butter.

Shea butter is a slightly ivory colored butter that consists mostly of triglycerides and unsaponifiables, including karisterols, parkeol, lupeol, butryospermol, katitene and cinnamic esters. Shea butter is a very versatile active ingredient for skin and hair care products,which has excellent anti-aging, soothing and moisturizing properties. Shea butter is also an excellent base for oil free formulations in the cosmetic industry due to its good spreadability and quick rubbing in properties.Our shea butter is produced using traditional techniques that preserve its healing and moisturizing properties.

The shea nuts that we use to make our pure, unrefined shea butter are collected from wild shea trees over a vast area in the savanna areas of West Africa. Natural old extraction techniques are then used to produce a truly exceptional unrefined shea butter. The steps we outlined below give a brief outline of the process of the mechanical extraction of unrefined African shea butter.

Once the shea fruits are collected, they are steamed to enable the kernel inside to shrink away from the shell. This is done so the kernels are not damaged when the shells are removed.
Once the shells are cracked and the kernels are extracted, the shea kernels are placed in the sun to dry for a prolonged period. The extensive drying is necessary for the shea nuts to maintain their shelf life of five years.
The dried shea kernels are inspected and sorted to remove the undesirable kernels before they are washed with potable, clean water to remove all dust and debris and dried thoroughly. This step is crucial in making clean, creamy therapeutic grade shea butter.
After inspecting the dried kernels once again, the are crushed in a large, wooden mortar or with an electric grinder.
The crushed shea kernels are grilled slightly to reduce the water content to a desirable level.
The next step is to grind the roasted and crushed shea kernels into a fine powder. This is done either with a grinding stone or an electric mill.
The shea kernel powder is placed in a clean vessel and mixed with clear, potable water. The shea mixture is whipped by hand until the color changes. The kneading process takes several hours and when white spots appear, warm water is added. This causes the shea fats to rise to the surface and separate from the non-oil layer.
The shea fats are then collected and heated slightly to remove any remaining moisture. The clear oil is gravity filtered into clean vessels to cool.
After the shea oil has cooled down, it is stirred very carefully to initialize the crystallization process and form the shea butter. This part of the process is very critical and requires a lot of experience.
The final step is to pour the partially crystallized butter into containers, where it continues to crystallize. The containers are stored in cool storage rooms until they are shipped to customers.

What's The Hype? Unrefined Versus Refined Shea Butter

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 of refining, most of the healing properties have been removed in the process. This refining process involves the use of cancer causing chemicals such as hexane in the extraction of shea oil from the shea kernels with hexane. The extracted oil is then raised to very high temperatures to evaporate the toxic solvents, and then refined, bleached, and deodorized and this involves the use of harsh chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide. Shea butter extracted using this procedure still contains some solvent residues, and its healing values are significantly reduced. Antioxidants or preservatives such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are usually added to extend the shelf life of the butter. The end result is an odorless, white butter that may be aesthetically appealing, but lacks the true moisturizing, healing, and nutritive properties of authentic unrefined shea butter. In addition, refined shea butter is often hard and grainy, not smooth and creamy like pure, unrefined shea butter.