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10 Uncommon Facts About Shea Butter

Shea butter, a soothing skin moisturizer and deep conditioning hair oil imported from Africa has been used for a variety of purposes in Africa for centuries.  Due to its superb moisturizing properties it has become an increasingly popular ingredient in skin and hair care products made and sold in the United States and Europe.  Unrefined shea butter, a rich source of vitamin A and E, is an amazing beauty oil with an abundance of restorative vitamins and nutrients that revitalize skin and hair.

Shea trees produce shea nuts in abundance without the need for fertilizers.  Because of this natural sustaining characteristic, shea trees and shea butter are included among the worlds most sustainable resources and products.  Shea butter also has an interesting and rich history and continues to play an important role in the daily lives of east and west Africans. 

Following are some interesting and quirky facts about shea butter:

1. Unrefined shea butter is a wildcrafted product.  Shea nuts used for making shea butter are harvested by hand from wild shea trees found in east and west Africa.  Attempts at large scale commercial cultivation of shea trees have been unsuccessful due to difficulties in germinating these trees and the length of time required for shea trees to mature.

2. It takes 25 to 30 years for a shea tree to reach maturity and produce shea nuts.  The estimated life span of shea trees is 200 to 300 years.

3. Shea trees are also called “karite” or “tree of life” as the word karite means life.
 
4. Shea trees are pollinated by fruit bats, not bees.

5. Shea nuts are are enclosed in edible succulent green fruit that is a good source of vitamin C.

6. Shea butter is traditionally made by women in the villages of west and east Africa.

7. African black soap is traditionally made by combining the oily residue resulting from shea butter production with tree ashes.

8. Unrefined raw shea butter is the preferred moisturizing and conditioning oil for the goat hide covering of african djembe drums.

9. Shea butter is used as a cooking oil in the shea producing villages of Africa.

10.  Shea butter is sometimes substituted for a percentage of Cocoa Butter in the commercial production of chocolate.

 

About the Author

Kim Mujahid is the founder of Esan, pure shea butter and olive oil skin care: www.sheabutterbyesan.com, www.esanspa.com. She also writes articles, reviews, and blog posts relating to natural skin care, beauty and health.

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