The sheanut tree grows on the African continent and has been highly prized for its nutritional qualities by generations of women for millennia.
When the nut is processed into butter using traditional techniques, it maintains its health properties and when applied to the skin, you get a good dose of essential fatty acids and vitamins A, D, E, F and K making sheanut butter great for hair, face, hands and lips
and babies.
The sheanut tree grows wild in twenty or so African countries, mostly in West African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Mali, but a subspecies also grows in West Africa. The tree produces an edible fruit, the fruit contains a nut, the kernal of which comprises a fat, which is turned into butter.
The butter is bought and sold around the globe and its popularity increases as more scientific research supports what most Africans have known for years: the sheanut is good for our health. Researchers at the University of Wyoming even developed their own edible butter made from sheanut to combat coronary illness associated with dairy butter. Click here to read more.
Uses and applications
In African countries the fruit of the tree is a major source of dietary fat and is added to enhance the taste and texture of many dishes. The fruit is similar to an avocado so makes a perfect creamy snack for children because it is rich in vitamin A - essential for skin health. Acne is often as a result of a lack of vitamin A (many pharmaceutical cures for acne replicate vitamin A) and almost 1/2 million children each year suffer blindness due to vitamin A deficiency.
As a moisturiser and hand cream sheanut butter is excellent. I have been trying it out on my hands in the form of SheaAlchemy's Intense Hand Cream.
Shea Alchemy source their shea butter from a fairtrade cooperative in Ghana and blend it with other natural and paraben free ingredients to make a smooth hand cream that has softened my hands, strengthened my nails and repaired my cuticles. It's non sticky, absorbs easily and comes in a variety of scents to suit your mood.
I've already written about the dangers of parabens in our skin care products (see here) and believe we can look after, and improve, our skin, hair, teeth and nails without the use of harmful chemicals and preservatives.
There are plenty of natural ingredients and harmless preservatives, like tea tree, grapefruit extract and many other bacteria killing essential oils and when combined with organic, natural products like sheanut butter, we can't help but make wiser consumer choices while improving our skin and hair health.
Look after your health with emollient rich shea butter cream or moisturiser.