Shea butter is from the shea tree, which grows exclusively in West Africa. Only women are involved in processing the shea butter. They collect the nuts, boil them, dry them in the sun and shell them by hand. Then they crush the shea nuts, roast them and pound them using a mortar and pestle. They add water to create a paste, which they beat until a caramel colored foam appears on the surface. They skim the foam off into a bucket of water, washing it up to four times to remove unwanted residue. They boil the cleaned foam for several hours and skim off the top layer, which cools to become prepared shea butter.
If you want to purchase pure shea butter, look for a product that is fresh in order to obtain the greatest benefit from it, the American Shea Butter Institute recommends. Shea butter aged more than 18 months may have lost some of its medicinal qualities.
Beauty Products
Shea butter is in a variety of cosmetic products. West African women have long known about shea butter's ability to moisturize skin, helping it to endure the harsh dry climate where they live. As the benefits of shea butter have become more widely known, shea butter has grown in popularity in the West, where it finds its way into natural products such as lip balm, lotion, skin cream and body butter. Some moisturizing soaps contain shea butter. Pure shea butter also is available. A small amount applied to the skin and rubbed in thoroughly leaves the skin feeling soft and silky. Some even use shea butter on their hair. The best-quality shea butter is beige or yellow, not white, as white is an indication that has probably been over-refined or bleached.
Medicine
Shea butter has high levels of vitamins A, E and F, which protect and hydrate the skin, according to GrannyMed.com. The healing and moisturizing properties of shea butter make it a good base for ointments. Shea butter may be a major ingredient in products for treating burns, muscle pain, psoriasis and dermatitis, for example.
Food
Some Africans and Europeans use shea butter as a cooking fat. They may find shea butter as an ingredient in their margarine. Shea butter may take the place of cocoa butter in making chocolate and other confectionery items.
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