What are the benefits of Shea Butter?

It is a common saying that beauty is skin deep, but don’t we all look for products that are natural, organic, and go beyond skin deep with their permanence and promising ingredients? A superfood for the skin, Shea butter is your one-stop skin beauty solution. Winter calls for hot coffee and gifts during Christmas, but it also brings with it dry chapped skin and hairfall problems that know no end. 

What is Shea Butter?

A powerhouse of antioxidants, the elixir for glowing skin and growing beautiful hair is the Shea butter, originating in the wide Savannah region of West Africa. Extricated from the nuts that grow on Karitey (Shea)Trees in West Africa, Shea butter goes through a thorough process before it is ready to be used. The most natural remedy to your hair and skin problems, Shea butter is the purest organic butter that heals the skin from within. 

What is the secret to the goodness of Shea Butter?

Shea Butter has been used since time immemorial for skin care, baby care, and hair solutions.  Bounteous in unsaturated fats, with a large proportion of non-saponifiable components, essential fatty acids, Oleic, stearic, and linoleic acid, allow it to retain moisture in the skin and keep it hydrated. 

Shea Butter contains Vitamin A, E, and F that boost the treatment of skin conditions like eczema, dermatitis, and even help in resisting premature aging. Each of these vitamins plays a fundamental role; Vitamin A helps skin remain healthy, all the three vitamins together help stave off facial lines and wrinkles, and vitamin F soothes chapped, dry or rough skin and helps skin heal. 

With the mild presence of SP6, Shea Butter also protects against UV rays. Its anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects help soothe the skin to a certain extent and are often suggested by dermatologists.

What are the benefits of Shea butter for the skin?

Shea Butter protects the skin in ways more than one. As refined Shea butter has a lot of chemicals, it is always preferred to use unrefined raw Shea Butter, which is completely natural and works wonders for the skin. Let’s find out the other benefits of Shea Butter for the skin:

1. Keeps the skin moisturized

Shea butter restores hydration, nourishing the skin cells from within. It has anti-aging properties which retain the skins from getting wrinkles and stretching. A pure miracle for the skin, Shea butter extracts have fatty acids which revitalize the skin cells, healing rough and damaged skin by restoring its elasticity and radiance. Add Shea Moisture’s Raw Shea Butter Soap to your skincare regime to keep your skin hydrated from deep within.

2. Prevents Severe Acne and Blemishes

Shea butter contains fatty acids and plant sterols such as oleic, palmitic, stearic, and linolenic acids which acts as anti-inflammatory properties along with Vitamin F to reduce inflammation around scars and rejuvenate moisture into them, gradually reducing the appearance of acne scars. You can easily make a Shea butter scrub and apply it onto your face every day to keep the radicals away and breathe new life onto your skin.

3. How to prepare Shea Butter Mask

Take the following ingredients first in a container:

½ cup of olive oil;

½ cup of 100% raw (unrefined) shea butter;

fresh lemon peel;

Mix these in a jar or blender until they become smooth like butter, then gradually add sea salt and blend at a slower speed, until all the ingredients have mixed properly. Use this as a face mask once every day and your skin will stay moisturized, and glowing with all the goodness of Shea butter extracts. You can also try our Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Body Scrub to restore softness.

4. Helps in reducing stretch mark

Owing to the collagen forming abilities of Shea Butter that helps in forming new skin, it aids in reducing stretch marks and scars. Shea Butter acts as a natural emollient for skin beauty, and upon daily massage upon the affected area, the stretch marks lighten. 

5. Soothes skin and helps in baby diaper rash

Apart from being the best natural lotion for dry skin, the therapeutic properties of Shea butter extracts help soothe baby soft skin, healing diaper rashes by fighting off yeast. Instead of resorting to chemical-infused baby creams and lotions, it is always a good idea to use natural Shea butter after a bath for rejuvenation of your baby’s healthy skin. You can apply Soft & Precious Nursery Jelly Shea Butter on your baby’s soft skin and keep it healed and moisturized.

What are the benefits of Shea Butter for hair?

A phenomenal natural product for hair, Shea butter restores hair to natural softness and adds volume to hair. These days almost every hair product we use contains a lot of Sulphates and Parabens along with other chemicals that might work temporarily but causes a lot of damage to our hair in the long run. Just as much as we care about skin beauty, our hair deserves equal attention, and Shea butter comes to the rescue. 

Let’s look into the other qualities of Shea butter that benefits our hair:

1. Repairs Damaged Hair

Being the epitome of hair and skin beauty, Shea butter protects the hair from damage by rough weather or sun with its moisture-sealing properties. Upon application on damaged hair, Shea butter is absorbed by the hair shafts and protects the hair from external damage or any heating tool. It allows the hair to retain its hydrating properties and protect it from external damage. Products such as Cantu Shea Butter Natural Hair Deep Treatment Masque and Fantasia IC Original Hair Polisher Shea Butter Oil restores and strengthens dry, damaged hair, increasing hair elasticity for reduced breakage.

2. Tames Curls and Fights frizz

Keep those curls in place and carry yourself in style as Shea butter’s richly smoothing effect keeps the hair in place, controlling unwanted frizz. It keeps the hair healthy, giving you beautiful bouncy curls locking in hydration, to keep your curls away from heat and external damage. Cantu Shea Butter Natural Hair Coconut Curling Cream defines curls without weighing down the hair.

3. A Natural conditioner, treating split ends

With high potions of Vitamin A and E present in Shea Butter extracts, upon application, it acts as a natural conditioner making hair healthy and bouncy, protecting each hair strand from breakage or split ends.  A miracle potion for hair, Shea butter gives your hair the right amount of moisture without leaving it greasy or heavy. Cantu Shea Butter Hydrating Leave-In Conditioning Mist instantly hydrates, shines, and repairs the hair and is great for medium to thick textures.

4. Know your skin

Last but not the least, it is important for us to know our skin and hair types, so that we can apply the right product in the right amount. If you are facing skin or hair issues that have been ongoing for quite a few years, it is always advisable to consult a dermatologist. 

Shea butter is available in two forms, refined and unrefined. It is suggested that unrefined Shea butter goes through a basic filtration process, and can retain all the essential vitamins and minerals, and is more effective.  Whereas, refined Shea butter, on the other hand, is the processed form, undergoing decolorizing and deodorizing processes chemically. Hence, it is always advisable to do a patch test to be sure.

To conclude, Shea Butter has been a true potion since the times of Cleopatra, and one who used it once has not stopped doing so. Because, what is better than something natural, that keeps you naturally beautiful?