Shea Butter

This is a very long post. I wanted to tell you about Shea Butter and all it's benifits. The picture above is Whipped Coconut Shea Butter (good enough to eat). Our whipped Shea Butter is 95% pure Shea Butter

Shea Butter is quite recent to the Western world. It has been used for centuries in Africa. They use Shea Butter to protect and rejuvenate their hair and skin.
Shea Butter is only found in the tropics of Africa. It is extracted from the nuts of the Shea-Karite tree which begins to bear fruit after about 15 years; and can take up to 30 years to bear a quality crop of nuts with a high content of irremovable fatty acid. It is this irremovable fatty acid that gives Shea Butter its unique healing properties and makes it far superior to cocoa butter and other vegetable butters. Shea Butter is solid at room temperature although it quickly liquefies right around body temperature. Most Shea Butter comes from West Africa. Although a more soft and smoother variety from East Africa is beginning to appear on the market.



One of the great things about Shea Butter is its low melting point. When you apply it to your skin, it literally liquefies. However, one of the bad things about Shea Butter is its low melting point. It's quite possible it will melt in a hot room. It may even be melted when it's delivered to you in the summer months. If this happens, don't worry. The Shea Butter is good. Just take the lid off of the container and set it in the refrigerator until it gets hard again. In the winter months the Shea Butter lotion might be to hard to get out of the containers. Just put it into some hot to warm water for a few minutes and it will melt and be ready to use.

Shea Butter can provide relief from everything from just dry skin to many minor dermatological diseases (if you have a serious skin condition, you should see a doctor). It has been clinically shown to provide benefits. Here are some of the benefits of Shea Butter for the skin:
Daily skin moisturizer (face and body)
Dry skin relief
Dry scalp
Skin rash- including diaper rash
Skin peeling, after tanning
Blemishes and wrinkles
Itching skin due to dryness
Sunburn
Shaving cream to reduce razor irritation
Small skin wounds
Skin cracks
Soften tough skin on feet (especially heels)
Stretch mark prevention during pregnancy
Minor burns
Eczema
Sun and wind protection
Even skin tone
Reduce blemishes and scarring
Eliminating scalp irritation from dryness or chemical processing
Preventing bumps after shaving
Reducing acne (especially in combination with African Black Soap)
Absorbs quickly without leaving a greasy residue
Helps restore elasticity to skin
Restores luster to hair

Shea Butter nourishes the skin with Vitamins A, E and F. Vitamins A and E help maintain the skin and keep it clear and healthy. They are particularly helpful for sun damaged skin. They help prevent premature wrinkles and facial lines. Vitamin F acts as a skin protector and rejuvenator. It soothes rough, dry or chapped skin and helps soften dry or damaged hair. Shea Butter is high in unsaponifiables (a type of fat). Shea Butter has between 7-12% unsaponifiables. For comparison, avocado oil, a well known skin conditioner, has between 2-6%. This high level of unsaponifiables is one of the properties that makes Shea Butter so invaluable in treating the conditions listed above. Also, Shea Butter easily penetrates the skin allowing the skin to breathe and not clogging pores. Shea Butter has a high level of cinnamic acid, a natural sun screen. So, it provides some degree of protection from the sun. Shea Butter is also anti-inflammatory making it useful in treating rheumatism. While we make no medical claims about our Shea Butter, we do have anecdotal evidence that it is very useful in treating minor skin conditions. We have had several customers who have used Shea Butter for eczema and/or psoriasis and told us it works as well as steroids at a fraction of the cost and without the side effects. Recently we were contacted be a mother requesting more Shea Butter for her baby's severe eczema. While on vacation her sister pick up a jar of Shea Butter for her neice to try since enough thing else was relieving the eczema. Our Shea Butter completly cleared the eczema from the baby. The mother tried to but Shea Butter locally but the eczema came back.

Is all Shea Butter the same?All Shea Butter is not the same. Shea Butter loses some of its healing properties as it sits on the shelf, so very old Shea Butter is not as beneficial. Sometimes Shea Butter is mixed with other ingredients that reduce its benefits. Then, there are those products that add very little Shea Butter but prominently display "Shea Butter" on the label. While Shea Butter is not very expensive, you should be aware of products that claim to provide the benefits of Shea Butter and sell for very low prices. Many manufacturers are taking advantage of the Shea Butter buzz by adding a little Shea Butter to a very inexpensive product implying you can get the benefits of Shea Butter in their product

Ingredients on the label should be listed in the order from the ingredient that is the most to the least. Therefore, you should look for Shea Butter products that list Shea Butter early on the list of ingredients. You should know the ingredients before you buy any Shea Butter product and should buy from a reputable source. The more Shea Butter in a product, the greater the likelihood, you will receive the full benefits of Shea Butter.

You can get quality Shea Butter products right here greatcanadiansoap.com We carry a wide variety of products from pure Shea Butter to Shea Butter lotions, soaps and lip balm. All of the Shea Butter we carry is of the highest quality. We are very selective about where we obtain our Shea Butter and the extraction methods used. We will not accept any Shea Butter that has been extracted using solvents. You can find cheaper Shea Butter and Shea Butter products. Some of the major manufacturers are jumping on the Shea Butter bandwagon now by adding small amounts of Shea Butter to their products. Don't be fooled by this. Our pure Shea Butters are of the highest grade, from our shea butter cream to our lotions.