Shea Butter Info
The Best Shea Butter
| Click here for our many shea butter products that are infused with essential oils. Click here for shea butter with no essential oils. |
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| Click here for our shea butter lip balm. The minute you put it on your lips you'll feel the difference shea butter makes. |
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| Click here for our beautiful handcrafted luxury soaps - all made with shea butter. Click here for our authentic shea butter black soap. |
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| Click here for our shea butter products that are formulated to deal with a wide variety of skin problems. |
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Shea Butter
Shea Butter has been used for centuries in Africa to keep skin healthy and beautiful. Shea Butter's almost magical effects are due to the fact that it has both a high moisturizing fraction and an extraordinarily high healing fraction.
Shea Butter Lip Balm
In early adulthood, all of our skin cells -- including those in our lips -- begin to become more porous and less elastic. If shea butter -- a substance that not only moisturizes the skin but also restores its elasticity -- is applied to the lips, then not only are the cells hydrated, but they gradually regain their natural elasticity so that they are better able to keep moisture from escaping. Because unrefined shea butter contains both a high moisturizing fraction and an extraordinarily high healing fraction, it is a wonderful agent for revitalizing our skin cells so that they get back their moisture retention capacity.
Shea Butter Soap
Our fine, handmade shea butter soaps have incredible healing and moisturizing properties and will transform your bath, shower, or facial cleansing into a multi-sensory experience. Formulated to promote relaxation and relieve pain and tension, our subtle aromatic blends trigger your senses, enabling your body to respond to the soap's healing elements. Because they are 100% natural, there are no chemicals or detergents in our soaps!
Pure Unrefined Shea Butter
Our products are all made from pure, unrefined shea butter. We infuse most of our shea butter products with essential oils to amplify the healing effects of the shea butter. These shea butter products are popular because the shea butter and the essential oils work synergistically together to soften and moisten your skin. We also sell shea butter without essential oils. Our luxury shea soaps are 20% shea butter. The shea soaps we import from Africa are 30% shea butter. Our lip balm is 36% shea butter. And our shea butter lip balm comes in both tubes and tins.
Unrefined versus Refined Shea Butter
Our shea butter is produced using the traditional natural process. Shea butter comes from the shea nut which is inside the fruit of the Karite (Shea) tree. After the shea fruit is harvested, the shea nuts are extracted and dried and then processed into shea butter. The pure unrefined shea butter that we use in our products is made by cracking the shea nuts open and boiling them, which releases the shea butter; then the shea butter is kneaded for many hours until it has the right buttery consistency. There are less expensive ways to process shea butter. Refined shea butter is produced through a process of solvent extraction; however, this cheaper refined shea butter removes most of the rejuvenating, healing and antiseptic qualities of natural shea butter.
Nothing is Better than Shea Butter for Natural Skin Care
Although there are many plants that produce moisturizing butters and oils, shea butter is superior because it not only contains a high moisturizing fraction, but also contains an extraordinarily high healing fraction. This healing fraction revitalizes skin cells so that they regain their moisture retention capacity. Because of these powerful properties, shea butter is nature's most effective skin care product.
The Healing Fraction: In early adulthood, our skin cells begin to become more porous and less elastic. When a moisturizer is applied, it hydrates the cells, but the cells quickly lose the moisture. The essential oils we add to Karite Gold work synergistically with the shea butter's healing fraction to restore the skin cells' elasticity. As the healing progresses, the cells continue to admit moisture as before, but after the healing are better able to keep it from escaping.
The Moisturizing Fraction: Shea butter is a particularly good moisturizer because it penetrates the skin quickly, while leaving it feeling soft and smooth with no oily residue.
To experience the benefits of natural cosmetics, apply a moderate amount of Karite Gold daily. After you have coated an area of your skin with shea butter, spend some time making sure that the shea butter works its way down under the surface of your skin. Move your fingers in a circular motion as you apply the shea butter.
Click here to see brief descriptions of each of our shea butter lotions.
Click here to see brief descriptions of each of our shea soaps.
Click here to see brief descriptions of each of our shea butter lip balms.
Karite Gold products are not only made from 100% pure shea butter, but are developed from shea butter processed differently from other available shea butters. Karite Gold products begin with the finest shea butter available, each ounce hand chosen by a Karite Gold American team during expeditions to Ghana, Africa. The Karite Gold team oversees the shea butter development process described below. Only the few villages that use sanitary piped water produce the shea butter used in Karite Gold products. This is critical because once shea butter has been contaminated, the healing effects and functional life of the product is compromised. Most other shea butter products are not painstakingly protected from contamination.
Shea Butter Harvesting
Living up to two centuries, the Karite (Shea) tree bears fruit after 15 years and produces a full crop after 25 years. It grows mainly in West Africa, and can reach a maximum height of 15 to 20 meters. The Karite Tree cannot be cultivated. It blooms from June to July and bears dark green fruits which fall to the ground when ripe. Each fruit contains a nut with a hard white kernel - the source of the Shea Butter.
Village women trek long distances from home to pick and gather fruit from the Karite tree. Each fruit contains a nut with a hard white kernel which is the source of the Shea Butter. The fruit must then be carried back to the village for inspection. The Karite Gold team accepts only fruit that is in good condition.
Upon their return to the village for fruit inspection and selection, the women boil the Shea fruit in piped, sanitized water to remove the fruit from the Shea nut. Few villages have this water available, and Karite Gold uses only the shea butter processed with sanitized water. The Shea nuts are then spread on a stable surface near their huts to dry in the sun. When dry, they are hand-pounded to crack them open. The cracked shea nuts are then boiled over a wood fire, while being constantly stirred, releasing the shea butter from the nut.
After the Shea butter is released, many hours of kneading take place, transforming what begins as a thick grey fluid to a smooth, buttery ivory-colored paste. The fully kneaded mixture is then poured into sanitary containers and sealed, before before being shipped to our Massachusetts facility for the final step in the Karite Gold process.
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