Shea Butter- Things you must know

Author: thomasgalvin | Posted: 09.05.2012

Each summer, Shea Nut trees produce their fruit which is about the size of a plum. The fruit is an oval shape and green and orange blend of colors with a shell thickness around the same as a pecan. The seed is contained within the nut's shell. Its center resembles a small avocado with flavorful pulp if eaten. The fruit is rich in Vitamin C and has more nutrients per gram than an orange.

Shea Butter can be both moisturizing and healing. Moisturizing properties make up more than 90% of Shea butter. The amount of healing properties from most nut/fruit/vegetables can be 1% or less. The healing properties in Shea Butter is often 5% or greater with some reports of 17%. The measurement of healing properties is what actually sets Shea Butter apart from all other oils. For example; oils like baby oil and mineral oil have little or no moisturizing benefits at all. Refined Shea butter has less moisturizing benefits than Avocado or Wheat Germ oil and Unrefined Shea butter has the highest concentration of healing and moisturizing benefits of them all. Healing properties are an indication of how much more beneficial Shea butter is in treating skin ailments. Shea butter is high in both Vitamins A and E.

Natural Shea Butter

Shea Butter is naturally a soft beige/yellow colored cream that melts with your body temperature (like coco butter) and quickly absorbs. Shea butter melts at 86-100 degrees Fahrenheit (28¿C) and should be kept away from the sun. If melting does occur; the Shea Butter will turn completely into an oil. Allowing the Shea Butter to sit out at room temperature will return it back to a solid state. Shea Butter may vary in quality and composition. When purchasing Shea butter, the quality and composition must be carefully considered. Many manufactures get their raw materials for Shea butter from sources over which they have no quality control. In turn, the consumer is unaware of the quality of the natural butter.

Whipped Shea butters

Whipped Shea Butter is much easier to apply to the skin than Unrefined Shea. Some suppliers scent their Whipped butters and add ingredients such as Vitamin E and Rosemary extract to preserve the Butters. Some Whipped Shea Butter is scented with fragrances such as Egyptian Amber or a natural Lavender or Grapefruit. Applying Whipped Shea Butter to moist skin, after a bath or shower works best. Whipped Shea butters melt very easily if they are in the sun. Most will melt in the summer months if they are shipped. Adding beeswax will help with this, also using thermal packaging is ideal.

Type of Mixer to Use

The longer you whip butters, the fluffier and lighter they become. Butters can be whipped from as little as 5 minutes up to an hour. The consistency of Whipped Shea butters has a lot to do with the mixer. A heavy duty stand mixer produces a much lighter butter in a much quicker amount of time. An electric hand mixer works fine, but requires more pressure. Mixers with a whip attachment work well. For hand mixers, the whip attachment can be added after beating for 5-10 minutes.

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