What is shea butter?
Shea butter is a solid oil that's pressed out of the nut from Africa's Karite tree. The nuts are roasted and processed to express the natural oil.
Where does shea butter come from?
Karite trees grows naturally in Africa. Essential Addictions' shea butter is grown in Ghana and comes from a women’s collective. They extract the butter from the nuts, giving employment and income to hundreds of thousands of women living in rural Africa.
Is shea butter good for your face?
Shea butter is excellent for facial skin. Shea Butter is a superior moisturizer because it's able to rapidly absorb into the deep tissue layer of the skin, regenerating cell growth and acting as a “refatting” agent, restoring lipids and rapidly creating moisture. This restores the barrier between your skin and the outside environment, holding moisture in and reducing your risk of dryness.By boosting collagen production and promoting new cell generation, shea butter may help reduce what researchers call photoaging – the wrinkles and fine lines that environmental stress and aging can create on skin. Shea butter has significant levels of vitamins A and E, which means it promotes strong antioxidant activity. Shea butter’s moisturizing and antioxidant properties work together to help your skin generate healthy new cells. Shea butter isnon-comedogenic so it safe to use shea butter on face and body.
Is shea butter good for your hair?
Shea butter is an excellent moisturizer for hair. It can add a shiny glow to your hair and smooth split ends. Use as a hair mask or a tiny amount in dry hair to add shine. If your hair is thin, shea butter in hair that is dry and styled can be a bit heavy so apply carefully.
Let's explore all the benefits of shea butter!
Moisturizing:
Shea butter is typically used for its moisturizing effects. The benefits of shea butter come from its chemical makeup.
Shea butter contains:
- linoleic, palmitic, stearic, and oleic fatty acids, ingredients that balance oils on your skin
- vitamins A, E, and F, antioxidant vitamins that promote circulation and healthy skin cell growth
- triglycerides, the fatty part of the shea nut that nourishes and conditions your skin
- cetyl esters, the waxy part of the shea nut butter that conditions skin and locks in moisture
Antioxidant:
Antioxidants are important anti-aging agents. They protect your skin cells from free radicals that can lead to premature aging and dull-looking skin.
Anti-Inflammatory:
The plant esters of shea butter have been found to have anti-inflammatory properties. When applied to the skin, shea triggers cytokines and other inflammatory cells to slow their production and is helpful for inflammatory skin conditions, such as eczema.
Helps Prevent Acne:
Shea butter helps restore the natural balance of oil production in your skin, making it beneficial for acne.
Offers Sun Protection:
Shea butter contains an estimated SPF of 3 to 4.
Fun Facts
Our eco-friendly shea butter jars are made in the USA from 100% recycled material.
Shea butter is so non-toxic and beneficial that it is used in foods and cooking as well as many of our products. We have soaps with shea butter, lip balm with shea butter, bath bombs with shea butter and scented shea butter.
Shop our scented and unscented shea butters: