Hyper Skin Care

Where Does Shea Butter Come From?

So many skin products we see in the store love to
put the words ‘Shea butter’ on the description but why?  What is Shea? Why
do I want it on my skin?  Is it even worth it, and if it is, how can I get
the most and best quality of it?

Let’s try to tackle these questions.  First
off let’s explain what it is and where it comes from.  

Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the
African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). It is usually ivory in colour when
raw, with more processed versions being white in colour. It can be yellow when
a root is added to it. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve
or lotion. Shea butter is edible and is used in food preparation in some
African countries. Occasionally, shea butter is mixed with other oils as a
substitute for cocoa butter, although the taste is noticeably different.

The English word “shea” comes from s’í,
the tree’s name in Bambara. It is known by many local names, e.g., Kpakahili in
Dagbani, taama in Waala, kaɗe or kaɗanya in Hausa, Òkwùmá in Igbo language,
karité in the Wolof language of Senegal, ori in some parts of West Africa, and
many others.

The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry
savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and
onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 21 countries across
the African continent, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali,
Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Guinea.

A test found at the site of the medieval village of
Saouga is evidence of shea butter production by the 14th century.

Uses

Shea butter extract is a complex fat that in
addition to many non-saponifiable components (substances that cannot be fully
converted into soap by treatment with alkali) contains the following fatty
acids: oleic acid (40–60%), stearic acid (20–50%), linoleic acid (3–11%),
palmitic acid (2–9%), linolenic acid (1%) and arachidic acid (1%).[10]

Shea butter melts at body temperature. Proponents
of its use for skin care maintain that it absorbs rapidly into the skin, acts
as a “refatting” agent, and has good water-binding properties.

Shea butter is mainly used in the cosmetics
industry for skin- and hair-related products (lip gloss, skin moisturizer
creams and emulsions, and hair conditioners for dry and brittle hair). It is
also used by soap makers and massage oil manufacturers such as UNAVA, typically
in small amounts, because it has plenty of unsaponifiable, and higher amounts
result in softer soaps that have less cleaning abilities. Some artisan soap
makers use shea butter in amounts to 25% – with the European Union regulating
the maximum use around 28%, but it is rarely the case in commercially produced
soap due to its high cost compared to oils like palm oil or pomace (olive oil).
It is an excellent emollient for dry skin. No evidence shows it is a cure, but
it alleviates the pain associated with tightness and itching.

In some African countries such as Benin, shea
butter is used for cooking oil, as a waterproofing wax, for hairdressing, for
candle-making, and as an ingredient in medicinal ointments. It is used by
makers of traditional African percussion instruments to increase the durability
of wood (such as carved djembe shells), dried calabash gourds, and leather
tuning straps.

In the UK and other countries, it is incorporated
into assorted tissue products, such as toilet paper.

Medicinal

Shea butter is sometimes used as a base for
medicinal ointments. Some of the isolated chemical constituents are reported to
have anti-inflammatory, emollient, and humectant properties. [citation needed]
Shea butter has been used as a sun blocking lotion [citation needed] and some
of its components “have limited capacity to absorb ultraviolet
radiation”.

In Ghana, shea butter locally known as Kpakahili
(Eng. trans. raw cream) in Dagbani, nkuto (Akan) or nku (Ga), is either used as
a food product or applied as lotion to protect the skin during the dry
Harmattan season. The shea nut tree itself is called tááŋà (pl. táánsì) and the
fruit is called táánì (pl. támá). The current northern regional capital Tamale,
derives it names from a combination of the words “tama” and
“yili”, meaning “the town of shea fruits”.

In Nigeria, shea butter is used for the management
of sinusitis and relief of nasal congestion.  It is massaged into joints and other parts of
the body where pain occurs. [citation needed]

Classification

The United States Agency for International
Development and other companies  have
suggested a classification system for shea butter separating it into five
grades:

A (raw or unrefined, extracted using water)
B (refined)
C (highly refined and extracted with solvents such
as hexane)
D (lowest uncontaminated grade)
E (with contaminants).

Commercial grades are A, B, and C. The colour of
raw (grade A) butter ranges from cream (like whipped butter) to greyish yellow.
It has a nutty aroma which is removed in the other grades. Grade C is pure white.
[citation needed]While the level of vitamin content can be affected by
refining, up to 95% of vitamin content can be removed from refined grades
(i.e., grade C) of shea butter while reducing contamination levels to undetectable
levels.