Shea butter for skin- the natural miracle moisturiser your skin routine needs

What is Shea butter?

If your skin has been craving deep nourishment, shea butter might just become your new favourite skincare ingredient. Long celebrated across West Africa (and even ancient Egypt) as a healing,  skin-loving ingredient, this creamy butter is rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and replenishing fatty acids that help protect, rejuvenate and heal your skin.

Whether your skin is dry, sensitive, mature, or simply in need of a radiant glow, shea butter moisturizes, protects and heals in a way that many other moisturizing ingredients can’t come close to. It’s no surprise it’s often called “the miracle moisturiser”  and is often a main ingredient in natural skincare.

Where does Shea butter come from?

Shea butter comes mainly from Western Africa, from a tree known as the Shea tree. This tree produces a nut which is what shea butter comes from. Shea trees grow in the semi-arid savannah region of West and East Africa. It is also known as Karite butter which in a local language means ‘life’. The great thing about the shea tree is that it needs no special care to grow, no water and just grows wild. It is just labour which is needed to make the butter itself.

In Africa, the whole of the tree is used. The bark is used in traditional medicine and the shell of the nut is used as a mosquito repellent. And of course, the shea butter itself is used by West African women.

It is women who are in charge of making shea butter in Africa, where it is known as ‘women’s gold’. Women harvest the nuts and make the butter and it is also women who benefit from the sale of shea butter.

How is Shea butter made?

The shea fruit are crushed and boiled to extract the nuts and then grilled and pounded after which the butter is pressed out with boiling water and left to cool and set. 

What is Shea butter used for?

Shea butter is penetrating, nourishing and healing. It is also anti-inflammatory. Because of the composition and the fatty acid profile, it deeply moisturises the skin and is useful for maintaining elasticity, healing and hydrating the skin. Shea butter is also very useful for dry and damaged hair.

Shea butter is high in vitamins A and E which are both antioxidants, making it is useful for wound healing, stretch marks (both prevention and healing), eczema, wrinkles, scars, itchiness, irritated, cracked and rough skin and sunburn. Shea butter is also high in vitamin E, which is useful for its anti-ageing properties, as well as contributing to an improvement in the circulation in the capillaries in the skin. 

Shea butter is useful for most skin types, especially dry and mature skin, also useful for normal skin but is perhaps too rich for oily and acne-prone skins. Only a small amount of Shea butter needs to be used to gain results.

Shea butter can be used all over the body, including the face and hair. It is especially useful for hands, cuticles, feet, heels, elbows and after sun exposure.

How is Shea butter used in Soularoma products?

The organic shea butter which Soularoma sources is from a fair trade women’s project in Ghana, supporting Ghanian women. The shea butter that is used in Soularoma products is unrefined and organic, so retaining its vitamin and mineral profile. It also has a beautiful natural earthy and nutty aroma.