Shea butter, in its pure and natural form, is one of Mother Nature’s best skin moisturizers and natural skin healers. It is loaded with vitamin A (and a lesser amount of vitamin E), and has proved to be effective on a growing list of skin conditions.
Where Does Shea Butter Come From?
Shea butter is a natural fat that is extracted from the oily seeds of African shea trees. The trees grow in 19 different African countries. The shea tree’s fruit and butter can be eaten. More than 90% of the world’s shea nuts are used in the chocolate and baking industries. The fruit is said to contain five times the vitamin C of an orange. The shea tree is a valuable source of both calories and income for the African people.
Shea butter has become know for its outstanding skin moisturizing properties, as well as skin condition relief and wound healing properties. There are several natural moisturizers in shea butter that no other natural moisturizer can match. These natural moisturizers are very similar to sebum, the natural skin oil produced by our body’s sebaceous glands.
Skin Conditions and Shea Butter
One hundred percent premium shea butter is most effective for skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, wrinkles, dermatitis, and blemishes. It’s the rich vitamin A content that makes it helpful to skin conditions. Although a lesser component in shea butter than vitamin A, the vitamin E adds anti-aging and anti-free-radical benefits to this already beneficial natural product.
Also, premium shea butter cream has properties that treat skin allergies, insect bites, sunburns, frostbites, and several other conditions of the skin. It is reported that it relieves the itch that comes with some skin conditions immediately.
Shea Butter and Wound Healing
Because shea butter so closely resembles the oil naturally produced by our skin’s sebaceous glands, there is both a “positive biochemical and physiological effect” on skin injuries, making it an excellent small wound healer. It “contains important nutrients, vitamins, and other valuable phytonutrients required for healing.” Many users of shea butter report that it helps and speeds the healing of small wounds.
Quality Shea Butter
If you are hoping to benefit from the moisturizing and healing properties of shea butter, never buy substitute products. Look for the real deal. The American Shea Butter Institute (ASBI) states, “Premium shea butter is a soft, uniformly beige colored creamy solid that readily melts in the hands and is quickly absorbed by the skin.” It quickly melts if left in a hot room or near some source of heat.
What to Look For When Buying Shea Butter Products
If you want the healing benefits of real shea butter, buy it only its high quality, premium form. Look for phrases like, “100% Pure and Natural Shea Butter.” Poor quality shea butter loses its healing abilities, but may retain its moisturizing benefits. Another indicator of premium shea butter is its being named “Class A” shea butter. You can also “look for the Seal of the American Shea Butter Institute on the container before they buy the product. The Institute’s Seal will assure you are buying High Quality Premium Shea Butter.”
Also, you want fresh shea butter. It does lose its properties over time, so its best used within 18 months of original extraction from the seeds.
Beware of Altered Shea Butter
Some companies add fragrances to their shea butter, or alter it in some other way to make it more visually appealing. They may add fillers or other chemicals to reduce costs. This could cause it to lose some of its valuable healing properties.
The ASBI offers several ways to tell pure shea butter from altered products:
- The real thing, at room temperature, will spread like soft butter or margarine would with a knife.
- Pure shea is beige in color, not yellow, green, gray, dark brown or white.
- Unaltered products have a distinctive smell that is not from perfume or cologne.
Shea Butter and Nut Allergies
There are no medical trials indicating whether or not shea butter causes adverse reactions in people with allergies. However, the ASBI offers this advice: “Avoid, at all cost, the use of shea butter or its products, until reliable clinical trials are performed attesting to safe tolerance of shea butter use in persons with nut allergies. For further information, you are encouraged to check with your personal physician.”
Shea butter is called “the skin’s best friend.” Whether you are looking to soothe dry skin, ease the symptoms of a skin condition, or speed the healing of a small wound, it may be the answer. Every household should have a jar of it on hand, either among the beauty supplies, or in the first aid cabinet.
Sources:
“What is Shea Butter?” American Shea Butter Institute, accessed January 26, 2011
“Bats, the Shea Tree, Tree Butter and Money for Poor African Women,” Bats, Plants and People, accessed January 26, 2011
“21 Reasons to Use Shea Butter,” American Shea Butter Institute, accessed January 26, 2011
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.
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