The Importance of Shea Butter

Shea Butter is one of the most luxurious healing and moisturizing agents that can be found in Nature. It is derived from the nut of the shea tree, grown in the wild in West Africa and used by African women to keep their skin smooth and lineless.

Collecting shea butter is a tedious task. It involves sorting and picking the shea nuts, washing them and leaving the nuts out to dry. The shea nuts are then roasted over a fire until they turn shiny and oily. After the drying process again, the roasted shea nuts are pounded into a mortar until a dark chocolatey sludge appears.

The chocolate mixture is then ground into a smooth paste, adding a little bit of cold and hot water to the mixture. The shea butter than starts to separate from the mixture, after cooling, and rises to the surface, similar to the separation of cream from unhomogenized milk. The gray mass is then heated over a fire, and the butter is left at the bottom.

Shea butter is used for a variety of purposes, not strictly for cosmetic uses. In West Africa, it has many meanings--it is the pride of the women in Sahel region of Africa, not only for it's skin softening properties, but also as a source of income and independence. In fact, women exclusively collect and trade shea butter, as it is known as a curse for men to touch the shea tree. Many cooperatives have been built from the making and trading of shea butter, and women have been united to improve their living conditions through the sale of shea butter.

Aside from leaving your hands and feet feeling like silk, shea butter is used as a vegetable oil for cooking. It is highly nutritious and contains fat soluble vitamins and essential plant sterols. It is safe enough to consume, and it is also one of the safest ingredients to use for massaging the delicate skin of babies. In addition, shea butter is used as an intensive hydrating and healing treatment for eczema, psoriasis, and cradle cap.

At Pretty, we use over 90% concentration of shea butter in our hand and foot butters, as we know the importance of this miraculous nut. The rest is simply pure essential oils and antibacterial neem oil to keep the butter fresh. We know that using this important ingredient in our products does wonders for our skin, but it also helps to support a community of women to live independently and provide for their families.

W.L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics