What is Shea Butter?

Information on Origin, Benefits, Properties & Uses

Last count we were at 36 uses for shea butter, an all-natural beauty-enhancing product. Shea is truly a miracle gift to our bodies straight from Mother Nature.

Origins:

Shea butter is a substance derived from the African shea tree. This is a tree that grows wild in the West African Savannah region.  The nuts from the Shea tree are crushed and processed, yielding a vegetable fat known as shea butter. According to the American Shea Butter Institute (ASBI), this fatty extract from the seed of the shea tree contains ingredients that have biological activity, including, but not limited to moisturizing and skin healing properties.

Benefits:

In Shea Butter, the Revival of an African Wonder, a research article written by M. Poheda and L. Sousselier,  it was noted that as early as 1940, scientific observation verified that among populations using shea butter, the occurrence of skin diseases was scarce and the population’s skin was exceptionally supple and smooth

In addition to shea butter’s emollient,  moisturizing and protecting properties, the ASBI informs us that shea butter contains a vitamin that is essential to the maintenance of healthy skin.

Properties:

Shea butter helps beautify the skin by aiding in the removal of dark areas and spots, blemishes and age spots. Medicinally, it has been effective as a decongestant and contains anti-inflammatory properties, thus aiding in the treatment of burns, sprains and strains, and chronic conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism.

Uses:

Because of it versatility, shea butter has been used in the Motherland for cooking, lamp fuel, the making of soaps and cosmetics and many other purposes.

In some areas, newborns receive their welcome into the world with a good rub down in this all-natural, non-toxic product to protect them from the sometimes extreme  African weather.

Of course traditional African healers have used shea butter oils for centuries to treat skin conditions

The American Shea Butter Institute list some 21 reasons to use shea butter. We’ve actually found a few more to add to their list.

Here are the 36 uses we found, broken down into various sub-categories. Of course there is some overlap (i.e. “wrinkle formation” might actually fall in the “prevention” category as well as “anti-aging” but is listed only once).

Another Important Consideration:

In his article, “Making trade work for poor women: Villagers in Burkina Faso Discover an Opening in the Global Market,” Ernest Harsch points out that “the harvesting and processing of shea is primarily an activity of rural women, between 300,000 and 400,000 in Burkina alone. So its earnings directly benefit some of the poorest villagers, in a country classified as one of the poorest in the world.”

So using African shea butter products can actually enhance the economic stability of women who are involved in the processing of these nut butters.

>>> Click here to go to 36 Shea Butter Uses