Today we will talk about Shea butter.
Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. Shea butter is edible. Again, please don't eat my soaps or lotions!
Shea butter has been around for an extremely long time. For this episode, I used Wikipedia for some of the info and the shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 21 countries across the African continent, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Guinea.
A testa found at the site of the medieval village of Saouga is evidence of shea butter production by the 14th century. The butter was being imported into Britain by 1846. (I was not making soap back then! Regardless of how old my husband might way I am!)
Because Shea comes from a nut, if you have a nut allergy, you should make sure to test any product containing Shea butter on a small area before using the product everywhere. If you have a severe nut allergy, you likely already know whether or not you can use Shea.
People apply shea butter to the skin for acne, burns, dandruff, dry skin, eczema, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses. (Web MD) I have used it in solid lotion bars and in conjunction with the other ingredients, there is a nice skin feel to the lotion.
Just like with Cocoa butter, to get rid of the scent and the natural color, it can be refined, but just like with Cocoa butter, you will lose some of the vitamins that make it so good.
I am trying to make sure that I have items that do not have any Shea butter in them just in case there are people with allergies or sensitivities to it.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave me comments/suggestions and ask questions.