The Wonders of Shea Butter

With all of the snow and freezing cold weather here in Massachusetts this winter, my go to ingredient has been shea butter.  I've come to love it so much that I always carry a tin of raw shea butter in my bag so I can moisture my hands, lips and cuticles anytime they need it.  I love how it instantly moisturizes and leaves my skin feeling soft for a good while, even after hand washing.

Shea butter actually comes from the karate tree which grows in the wild in west and central Africa.  The tree takes 50 years to mature and can live to 300 years!  To extract the butter, the tree nuts are cracked open and roasted.  The butter is then scooped out and kneaded.  Pure unrefined shea butter has a distinct nutty smell and is either cream or yellow in color.  I don't find the smell unpleasant and it dissipates quickly after putting it on your skin.

Shea butter is great because it's such a multi-tasker.  For one it improves wrinkles due to it's natural vitamin A content when used regularly over 4 to 6 weeks.  It treats and protects as it promotes cell regeneration and circulation with vitamin F and it moisturizes due to the high fatty acid content (oleic, stearic and linoleic).  It also has a decent vitamin E content and contains cinnamic acid which helps protect skin from UV rays in conjunction with other ingredients.  Shea butter shouldn't be used on its own as a sunscreen, however.

I find that shea butter is useful for so many skin conditions!  Here are some of the many:

- dry skin anywhere on your body (I especially love it on my hands.)
- rough skin (especially of feet and elbows but also on the face)
- itchy skin (from rashes, insect bites and even poison ivy)
- sunburned skin
- cracked skin and peeling skin
- eczema and dermatitis
- scars and stretch marks
- scalp conditioner
- dry, brittle hair
- cuticles and nails
- lips

One of the great things about shea butter is that not only is it non-toxic (it's rated a "0" on the EWG skin deep cosmetics database, meaning it's thought to be very safe) but it's also non-comedogenic.   This means that it won't clog your pores.  It's rated a 0 on a scale of 0 to 5 on the comedogenic index.  Shea butter is solid but pliable in cold weather but melts at skin temperature and is absorbed quickly as it penetrates the skin.  Shea butter is not recommended for those with nut and latex allergies.

If you're suffering from crazy dry skin like me, please check out Be Green Bath and Body's products that contain pure, unrefined organic shea butter.  It can be found in these products:  Shea Butter Tin, Shea Butter Hand Cream, Herbal Miracle Balm, Baby Balm and Organic Beautiful Skin Butter.

Thanks for reading and "Nourish your skin safely"!
Karen
begreenbathandbody.com