Useful properties and application of shea butter (shea butter)

How the world learned about shea butter

It all started with the fact that 24 years ago, in 1989, Olivier Baussan, the founder of the French brand of natural cosmetics L'Occitane (L'Occitane), was apparently in search of new ideas and components for cosmetics or in order to collect traditional beauty recipes of various nations went to a distant African country with the unusual name of Burkina Faso. It was there that he noticed that dark-skinned beauties use a thick white ointment to protect them from the sun, wind and sand.

Local women revealed to Bossan the secret and told about the extraordinary and nourishing properties of the oil obtained from shea nuts. It turns out that African women have been taking care of their skin for centuries and nourishing it with shea butter, after using it, the skin becomes truly amazingly soft, velvety and elastic.

Since then, shea butter has become a symbol of the L'Occitane brand, and a little later, when other Western countries received the knowledge of the peoples of Africa at their disposal, they immediately began to use shea butter as the main ingredient for the production of cosmeceutical products.

By the way, locals also use it for medicinal purposes and as a cooking oil in cooking, and some companies that produce sweets, by the way, replace cocoa butter with shea butter.

What Shea Butter Looks Like and How to Choose the Right One

So, shea butter (also known as shea butter) is a natural fat of vegetable origin, which is manually extracted from the seeds of the African Shea walnut fruit, its largest plantations are located today in Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Uganda.

Duck is Shi or Karite? In fact, this is all the name of the same tree. The French name for the oil is “karite” (le karite), they borrowed its name from the locals, who call the caredier or caré tree. And in Sudan, this tree is called - se, si, and hence the English name - shi, shea (shea).

It is very important to choose high-quality and not expired oil. Despite the fact that shea is very difficult to fake, you still need to be very careful, because when you add some aromatic components, it can completely lose its properties.

What to look for: color and smell.

1. The natural product is obtained with an oily consistency and has an ivory color or sometimes a yellowish tint. If the oil is white, then other ingredients were added to it, which

2. The smell of shea butter is pleasant with a slight nutty tint. If the oil does not smell, then it either has grown old, or there are some impurities in it. In both cases, the oil is useless.

It is recommended to store shea butter in the refrigerator, although this is not necessary, it keeps well for a couple of years in a dark, cool place.

The best cosmetic and pharmacological properties, of course, are in pure oil. But if you have the opportunity to buy only a cosmetic product with shea butter, then you should know that shea butter must be listed in the first place as the main and main ingredient. If a dozen more components are present, then it is better not to take such products, all the beneficial properties of the oil will be drowned out by the "neighbors".

Useful properties of shea butter and products based on it

Moisturizing

Due to the fact that shea butter perfectly retains moisture in the skin and nourishes it, it is successfully used as a moisturizer and shaving cream.

Mitigation

Shea butter is perfectly absorbed without leaving a greasy sheen. As part of creams, soaps, and other products, shea butter copes well with dry skin, and as part of balms and masks, it softens hair and helps to easily comb out curls or tangled hair.

Rejuvenation

The oil contains special fats (there are ~ 15%) that stimulate the natural production of collagen. Thanks to these fats, shea butter and products based on it perfectly rejuvenate the skin.

Healing

If you use shea butter in its pure form, you can cure eczema, post-acne and acne, heal burns and accelerate the regeneration of the skin.

UV Protection

Shea butter has a high natural SPF factor (6), due to which, after its application, as we have already written, a protective film is formed on the skin, which, in fact, does not transmit harmful rays.

The article was prepared with the support of the site LadyLama.ru.