Shea butter for people and planet
Our beautiful unrefined organic and fair trade shea butter comes from a small village in Northern Ghana and is handmade by women using traditional methods. These methods have been passed down for generations by their ancestors, centuries of practice without the use of chemicals - just pure organic, unrefined handmade goodness.
We take great care in sourcing each of our ingredients to provide you with the the purest and closet to nature plant oils/butters to nourish you from the outside in.
Unrefined Shea Butter
It's incredibly important to us to use unrefined shea butter, which in our sources case means that it hasn't been bleached, deodorized and extracted with hexane and other petroleum solvents. Not all unrefined shea butter is the same. Many companies will send off the harvested shea nuts to a third party for processing - they extract the oils using harsh chemicals, so unrefined doesn't always mean chemical free. Having a third party process the nuts also takes money away from the women and their communities and limits them to just harvesting the shea nuts.
So how do we guarantee that our unrefined shea butter is chemical free? We use unrefined, handmade/handcrafted and certified organic and fair trade shea, which is produced full circle in communities using old traditional methods without chemicals. The positive economic impact supports the women, their families and communities.
Refined Shea Butter
In addition to toxic chemicals, the refining process requires high heat to process, which removes most of the bioactive healing compounds (like Vitamin A and Vitamin E by up to 75%), so we would never want to use refined shea butter, as it would lose its potency and purity. Many companies use refined shea butter because it's cheaper. How do you tell the difference? Refined shea butter is white and very hard, and unrefined is lightly golden with a green tinge (from mineral content in soil where trees grow), buttery, soft and creamy. If you come across a shea butter that is very yellow, it has most likely been dyed.
Shea Benefits
Shea butter is made from the fruit of the African karite tree, meaning 'Tree of Life'. It’s buttery, light, healing, vitamin-rich, non-comedogenic (won't clog pores), nourishing, rejuvenating, non-greasy, and has a subtle yummy nutty smell. Shea butter is also rich in fatty acids, soft, and super emollient - we think it’s the ultimate nutrient rich protection for skin! Shea butter is not only revered as a god-send for skin health, but also as a vital food source in Ghana.
Environmental Impact
Shea trees not only produce amazing butter, but they sequester carbon dioxide, which helps to reduce global CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Shea trees can produce fruit for over 200 years! Our shea butter is wildcrafted (most shea is) from naturally growing trees in the savannah region of Northern Ghana - they thrive and grow wild in this climate, so no deforestation has happened or will happen to clear the land to plant more karite trees. This is very unique and a core reason why we use shea butter in our products instead of palm oil and coconut oil.
Ingredient Love
We feel so honored and humbled to be able to work with this shea butter. Knowing that it is being passed from the hardworking and loving hands of Ghanian women to ours and then to into yours is a beautiful exchange and one that we cherish.
With each purchase of one of our products containing organic/fair trade shea butter, you are making a positive impact on the women, their families and communities in Northern Ghana. The women take incredible pride in producing and providing the highest quality shea butter, and are so happy that you get to experience the magic and tradition that they are preserving every day.
~ Offerings with Shea Butter ~
Whipped Deodorants, Sea Salt Body Scrubs, Facial & Body Cleansing Bars
