Shea Butter - Unscented

Shea Butter (Unscented) - Superfood for Your Skin and Hair

Shea butter is a superb moisturizer with exceptional healing properties for your skin and hair, feeding it with unsaturated fats, essential fatty acids, vitamins E and D, phytosterols, provitamin A, and allantoin. Repeated clinical testing shows it has a notably high non-saponifiable fraction; it doesn’t convert to soap in the presence of an alkali — meaning it has a greater healing capability for the skin than any other natural ingredient. 

Shea butter has been used for health and cooking in Africa since time immemorial and is also a secret ingredient in confections and baking, especially high-end chocolate; however, it’s best known for moisturizing and healing skin and hair. 

In our world where cosmetics are loaded with synthetic ingredients and microplastic balls, having botanical body care pure enough to eat is a beautiful thing. Especially when it happens to be so effective.

No more plastic! Now the containers are handmade from repurposed coconut shells that are lined with beeswax to protect the Shea butter and the label is water hyacinth paper, all made by hand by the Global Mamas. 

Details

Shea butter is made from the nuts of the Shea tree native to West Africa from Senegal to Sudan up to the foothills of Ethiopia. The nuts protect a waxy fruit that is roasted, crushed, mixed with water and stirred over heat until a light-colored oil collects on the surface, which is Shea butter. 

Unrefined, or raw, Shea butter is the purest form, which is the most natural and the least processed. Since it is extracted manually, it retains its vitamins, minerals, and other natural properties. After testing, it is graded according to the level of refinement and amount of both healing and moisturizing properties contained. 

Only unrefined, Grade A Shea butter retains all of the healing and moisturizing properties. Our Shea butter is hand-prepared from start to finish without using any chemical extraction, bleaching or whitening agents that strip its healing properties. 

You can tell it’s the real thing by its light ivory to yellow color and slight earthy or nutty aroma. The yellow color indicates high vitamin A content, and the smooth creamy consistency shows the handmade origin, as it is never granular or gritty. It will melt easily in your hand and be absorbed immediately into the skin, while the aroma dissipates in a few minutes.

Finding such high-quality Shea butter is difficult. More common but less pure grades are chemically extracted, or are diluted with other ingredients and may moisturize but do not heal. Commercially available, pure white or very deep yellow Shea butter has been extracted with hexane or other petroleum solvents which are carcinogenic. After extraction, it is refined, bleached and deodorized which destroys any healing properties it had.

History

African historical documents mention caravans bearing clay jars of rich shea butter for skin and hair care being transported to Egypt during Cleopatra’s reign. Even the Queen of Sheba is said to have used it!

An article in the March 2016 issue of the Journal of Ethnobiology reports the long history of people nurturing shea trees goes back 1,000 years earlier than researchers had previously assumed. After examining layers of households built on top of one another for some 1,600 years, the article shows local residents have been processing the nuts since at least A.D. 100.

The tree is also considered sacred by many tribes in Africa. It is still extensively used in Africa to protect the skin and hair from the harsh sun and dry winds.

Uses

Pure Grade A Shea butter has many uses, such as - 

• Moisturizing dry skin for face and body with its emollient and humectant properties that easily penetrate and nourish the skin, locking in moisture to keep it hydrated for far longer than any other natural oil. Doesn’t clog pores. Softens and heals hard, cracked heels, dry cuticles and rough patches on elbows. 
• Heals acne, blemishes, and cuts. The healing properties are due to several fatty acids and plant sterols such as oleic, palmitic, stearic, and linolenic acids. Because of their stability, they have greater healing properties than other nut oils. Helps speed healing of skin rashes, skin peeling after tanning, scars, stretch marks, frostbites, burns, athletes foot, insect bites and stings, and acne.
• Reduce skin inflammation due to cinnamic acid - closely related to the cinnamon in your kitchen. Cinnamic acid is a strong anti-inflammatory agent, and pure Shea butter has exceptionally high levels of cinnamic acid bound to other compounds, making it effective against skin inflammation. Soothes and heals sunburns, rashes, cuts, and scrapes.
• Considered as one of the best anti-aging agents for the skin. It stimulates the production of collagen, helping to restore the youthful supportive protein in the skin. The high amount of Vitamins A and E keep the skin supple, nourished, and radiant, restoring the natural elasticity of the skin to ensure reduced wrinkles and blemishes.
• Reduce razor irritation by a light application before shaving and again afterward. This moisturizes and lubricates the skin before shaving, making for a smoother, closer, and more comfortable shave. Afterward, it moisturizes, soothes, and heals the effects of shaving. 
• Reduce stretch marks, as Shea butter - unfortunately highly refined - is often the base for commercial creams marketed for stretch mark treatment. These marks are the result of the skin stretching beyond its elastic capacity, which Shea butter helps restore the natural elasticity of the skin and also improves collagen production. It is a natural emollient.
• Soothes baby skin and treats diaper rash, because of its moisturizing abilities without any chemicals, it is ideal for baby care. 
• Excellent lip care because it is easily absorbed, providing extra moisture and nutrients that the lips need during the cold season and dry weather conditions. It is a perfect lip balm and is also effective for treating dry and chapped lips. 

Love your Shea butter. Know your producer. Change her life.

Global Mamas is a cooperative providing sustainable livelihoods for women throughout Ghana by focusing on collaboration, innovation and sustainability. The mission is to create a life of prosperity for African women and their families. Prosperity is defined as financial well-being, good health, and happiness. Prosperity is achieved by creating handmade products of the highest quality.

Each and every jar of our pure Fair Trade Shea butter is hand-crafted, maintaining the traditional methods in Ghana. Their cooperative creates an exceptional Shea butter of superb quality, tended with care at each step of the process.

Global Mamas Pure Shea is produced using sustainable and natural methods that have been passed down through generations. Since the 14th century, women have been working together to collect the fallen nuts of the Karite tree and laboriously transform them into the silken, nourishing and versatile creamy substance known as Shea butter. Global Mamas Pure Shea gives Ghanaian women an opportunity to support themselves and their families in a sustainable partnership with nature. 

Video

Click the Video tab - above - to see how traditional Shea butter is made by hand and with lots of love and care!

Learn More

• Shea Butter Heals Hands While Healing Lives
• Shea Butter Healing and Moisturizing Miracle
• 18 Shea Butter Benefits
• How to Use Shea Butter

From the soil to the seed to the food you eat - we'll help you grow your best garden!