What is Shea Butter?

What is Shea butter?

Shea butter is fat that’s extracted from the nuts of the shea tree. Shea trees are native to West Africa, and most shea butter still comes from that region.
Shea butter has been used as a cosmetic ingredient for centuries. Because of its high concentration of vitamins, fatty acids and it's consistency is easy to spread, it makes a great product for smoothing, soothing, and conditioning your skin.
Shea butter contains linoleic, palmitic, stearic and oleic fatty acids, all ingredients that balance oils on your skin. It also has vitamins A, E and F, antioxidant vitamins that promote circulation and healthy skin cell growth. It has triglycerides, the fatty part of the shea nut that nourishes and conditions your skin.

What are the benefits of shea butter?

Shea butter has many useful benefits that you'll love! Shea butter is great for your skin, hair and diaper rashes.

Shea butter moisturizes irritated dry and flaky skin. During winter your skin can be extra dry and painful. Putting it on your hands, feet, elbows, and even your cheeks can help reduce redness and irritation that dry air and winter weather may cause your skin. Shea butter is gentle enough for everyday use on red, scaly dry skin.
Unrefined, raw shea butter can improve skin conditions like blemishes and wrinkles, stretch mark prevention during pregnancy, muscle fatigue, dermatitis, and radiation treatments for certain medical problems. Raw shea butter can encourage tissue cell regeneration and softening of the skin, which can help to decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Shea butter is great for your hair and scalp. It helps to seal in moisture, conditioning the scalp, relieving dandruff and providing protection from harsh climates. Because of its anti-inflammatory qualities and rich fat it can get absorbed into the scalp without leaving a greasy feel or clogging the pores. By reducing inflammation, shea butter helps to rejuvenate hair follicles, giving a
better environment for healthy hair growth. Shea butter can help to reduce hair breakage, split ends and improve the shine and bounce of your locks.
Since shea butter is anti-inflammatory and antifungal it makes a great diaper rash ointment for your baby. Raw shea butter can help improve blood circulation encouraging cell regeneration and providing improved collagen production. Cell regeneration and collagen production are important to healing diaper rashes quickly.
Most sunscreens are filled with harmful chemicals that penetrate the skin and enter our bodies. While the SPF is only about 4-6 it can provide some protection in a more natural way and is great underneath makeup. It’s also great for applying if you do get a sunburn.

Conclusion 

Shea butter overall is a great choice and something you should definitely be using instead of water based lotions filled with chemicals and preservatives. Companies like Livity ByKushites use shea infused with softer oils to give the shea butter a silky, soft and easy to use application. These oils add extra benefits for the skin and hair while remaining natural, chemical and preservative free.