Shea Butter History

Shea butter is a solid fatty oil made from the nuts of Karite Nut trees, also known as Mangifolia, that grow in the semi-arid savannah regions of West and Central Africa. Shea butter is sometimes called “women’s gold,” because extracting the butter from the nuts gives employment and income to hundreds of thousands of rural African village women. Shea butter is so non-toxic and beneficial that it is used in foods and cooking as well as soaps and beauty products.

African healers and beauties have known about shea butter for thousands of years: the substance is almost magical in its healing effects on burns, skin conditions, ulcerated skin, stretch marks, and dryness.

It contains beneficial vegetable fats that promote cell regeneration and circulation, making it a wonderful healer and rejuvenator for troubled or aging skin. It also contains natural sun-protectants.

The African Savannahs are harsh and dry. Villagers who make daily use of shea butter on their skin have smooth, wrinkle free skin well into their seventies. Those who don’t, age a lot less gracefully.  Based on observations in different African countries, villagers who used raw, wild crafted shea butter on their skin every day looked decades younger than their counterparts who did not. They also suffered much less from skin fungus infections.

Raw, organic, wild crafted shea butter differs dramatically from the hexane solvent  treated, refined product commonly sold in  the United States and Europe. Solvent refined shea butter has been robbed of its natural vitamins and healing properties. Carotene and Allantoin are just two of the known healing agents found only in natural shea butter.

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