Most shea butter used today is obtained from West Africa, where it is grown under organic conditions. There are usually two types of shea butter available for purchase, refined and unrefined. To the uneducated consumer, refined shea butter may seem like the perfect choice, as it is filtered and cleaned of its so-called impurities, has no smell and is usually pure white. However, it is the unrefined shea butter with its unique properties that may be best suited for all over skin benefitting properties.
Two Kinds Of Shea Butter
In my experience as a bath and body products maker, there are two types of shea butter, refined and unrefined shea butter. To the inexperienced consumer, refined shea butter may be the best way to go, as its white color and odorless quality may be easier to blend with different fragrance/essential oils and colors. However, to be a well informed consumer and to truly get the skin benefits of shea butter is to know exactly how refined shea butter is made and how this process can detract from its skin benefits.
Refined shea butter is pure white and has no odor. Most makers of refined shea butter use hexane or other chemicals to strip the unrefined shea butter of its color and slight nutty/earthy fragrance. Through the refining process, the hexane also removes much of the healing components of the unrefined shea butter. While the white color and neutral odor of the refined shea butter may be appealing, remember that many of the moisturizing qualities and skin nutrients may be lacking. Refined shea butter may also be harder to the touch than unrefined shea butter and depending on where one purchases the shea, may be "grainy' or have small granules. This is not to say that the refined shea butter is not suitable for use in many applications - often this type of shea butter is preferred when one wants the label appeal of shea butter without the variation in appearance and/or odor, which can occur with unrefined shea butter.
Unrefined Shea butter
Unrefined shea butter is extracted from the seed of the karite tree by boiling the opened shea nuts, which releases the shea butter from the meat. Then the shea butter is usually hand kneaded until it reaches the desired consistency. Though this process can take much longer than the hexane extraction process, the result is a creamier product that retains the nutritive essence of the shea nut.
Unrefined Shea butter is the preferred raw ingredient. It contains the natural Vitamin A and E as well as many antioxidants which are not found in refined shea. Unrefined shea butter is said to help heal wounds, sooth sunburn, prevent and/or lessen the appearance of stretch marks and to lessen the appearance of wrinkles. Unrefined Shea butter is also said to have many natural qualities that help skin cell regeneration and capillary circulation. Some even claim that unrefined shea butter can help ease the pain of arthritis! On top of it all, shea butter is an excellent skin moisturizer.
Our products use only unrefined shea butter for its skin-nutritive properties. Check us out at http://www.neosoulessentials.com/ or give us a call at 1-800-337-1595.
