Shea Butter

What Are the Benefits of Shea Butter for Your Health?

What is shea butter exactly and what can it do for you? This ingredient, originating in West Africa, has become popular in North American and European countries in recent years. Shea butter is added to many products, like lotions, moisturizers, creams, and even soaps. But you can also use shea butter as a standalone product - and the health benefits are tremendous.

If you're suffering from skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, you might consider using shea butter. Its many healing and nourishing properties go beyond chronic dermatological ailments, though. As a skin and hair care assistant, you can use shea butter for almost anything. It's easy to incorporate into your daily routines. This guide will help you learn all about shea butter - what it is, how to use it, and which kind to buy.

What Is Shea Butter?

Shea butter is made from the nuts of a shea tree. When the nuts fall, they are harvested and crushed. Their butter is extracted, boiled and strained for impurities. Shea butter is essentially a saturated fat. The shea tree grows in West Africa, spanning 21 different countries on the continent. Shea butter has been used for health, cosmetic, and medicinal purposes for many years. The name "shea" is the English translation of the word for the shea tree in Bambara - s'i.

Shea butter is usually ivory or yellowish and tends to have an earthy smell and texture. Shea butter will stay solid at room temperature but melts once you scoop some of it up. It's used as a natural skin-boosting ingredient due to its high concentration of minerals and fatty acids. These acids will both moisturize and protect your skin.

The butter is used for several things besides skin and hair health in some African countries. It's used as cooking oil, candle wax, and in some ointments. Opinions differ on whether shea butter is healthy to consume since some of its proteins could interfere with digestion.

Several ingredients in shea butter contribute to its healthful effects. It contains vitamins A, E, and F, which help with skin circulation and cellular regeneration. There are fatty acids that help promote collagen growth and maintain the natural balance of your skin's oils. It also contains triglycerides, which nourish the skin, and cetyl esters, which moisturize.

Shea butter is used by the cosmetics industry, adding small amounts to hair and skin products. The butter is also added in soap but has its limitations. If a soap contains more than about 25% shea butter, it's considered not to have adequate cleaning abilities. Shea butter contains many unsaponifiables - substances that can't be turned into soap using alkali.

In the US, shea butter is classed into 3 main commercial grades. Grade A is raw or unrefined, B is refined, and C is highly refined and extracted with solvents. Later, we'll discuss how to choose between refined and unrefined shea butter.

What Are the Benefits of Shea Butter for Your Health?

Shea butter's most direct impacts on your health are its potential to treat skin problems, strengthen hair, and fight against systemic diseases. Let's take a closer look at each one.

Treating Skin Problems

One of the most common uses for shea butter is to improve skin and hair health. As mentioned before, shea butter contains a host of vitamins and fats to protect, nourish, and even repair your skin. The potential benefits of shea butter on the skin are numerous, but if you have a skin disease or history of skin conditions, check with your dermatologist before using it. There are currently no studies linking shea butter to allergies, even though it is derived from a tree nut. Nevertheless, if you possess a nut allergy, proceed with caution when it comes to shea butter.

One of the top skin benefits for shea butter is that it moisturizes without leaving skin oily. Those fatty acids - linoleic, stearic, oleic, and palmitic - are quickly absorbed by your skin and they stay put. They create moisture by restoring lipids and hold it in by forming a barrier. Two of these acids - linoleic and oleic - balance each other out so your skin's oils don't get thrown off. This equilibrium could also lead to fewer acne breakouts.

Shea butter is also anti-inflammatory and antiaging. It helps protect skin from irritation caused by extreme weather and can help calm eczema. Shea butter is also thought to reduce fine lines and wrinkles due to its aid in collagen production and cellular regeneration. You might also try it for its soothing properties, after a sunburn, insect bite, or small wound. These characteristics are less noted than shea butter's abilities to moisturize and nourish skin, but there is still a link suggested by some studies.

If you buy shea butter by itself, you can incorporate it into several skin and hair routines. It works as a regular moisturizer for the face and body, as a cuticle cream, as an under-eye cream for dark circles, for massages, after sun exposure, and even as a lip balm. If you feel creative you can mix it with other things to make your own products, like liquid foundation, lotion, or body butter. When applying shea butter, you can put it directly on your skin and rub it in until it's fully absorbed.

Strengthening Hair

As with application on the skin, the butter's nourishing properties will prevent your hair and scalp from drying out. Shea butter is safe to apply directly on your hair and scalp and can be used as conditioner. For thick hair you can apply the butter all over; for thinner hair it's best to just put some on the ends. When used in conjunction with other dandruff-fighting agents, shea butter is considered effective at reducing flakes in hair.

While applying shea butter to your scalp and your hair might reduce redness, irritation, and dryness, it's not necessarily responsible for preventing hair loss. Applying shea butter can strengthen hair, making it thicker and less susceptible to damage overall. But stronger hair is not directly linked with hair loss if the cause of hair loss is genetic or stress-induced.

Fight Against Systemic Diseases

Some chronic skin diseases like psoriasis and eczema could be managed with shea butter. Again, check with your dermatologist first before using any new products on your skin. Shea butter's anti-inflammatory effects have been shown to reduce redness and itching that are common to these systemic skin ailments. Shea butter can be effective against eczema in particular, with some research suggesting it works as well as medications prescribed for the disease.

Shea butter has also been linked to reducing arthritis pain and muscle soreness. The inflammation in joints could potentially be reduced by using shea butter since it has anti-inflammatory properties.

How to Choose Between Refined and Unrefined Shea Butter

Unrefined shea butter is raw and unfiltered. There might still be small specks or impurities in it. The seeds that are used for unrefined shea butter are boiled and cleaned, before extracting the fat and whipping it into the butter-like substance. It is not passed through a cheesecloth or strained in any way. If you choose to purchase unrefined, you should filter it through a cheesecloth yourself before use. Take care that the quality of the butter isn't damaged, though.

Refined shea butter is processed with chemicals that make the fat extraction faster and remove odors. This process can stamp out the beneficial qualities of shea butter, and other preservatives are often added. You can tell the difference between refined and unrefined by color. The yellowish color indicates unrefined, and white or ivory indicates refined.

Refined shea is found in most commercial products containing shea butter. It can still act as a decent moisturizer, but its effects aren't as impressive as unrefined. To really gain the benefits of shea butter, consider going with unrefined. Remember that shea butter is classed, with class A being raw or unrefined. Unrefined shea butter is also more likely to be produced according to fair trade practices than refined shea butter made commercially.

How to Store Shea Butter

Since shea butter is saturated fat, it has a long shelf life - typically between 18-24 months. In order to preserve it, don't expose it to heat. Just below room temperature is best. Keeping it away from too much light is also advised. Since shea butter has so many uses, you might find your jar empty before it spoils anyway!

Final Thoughts

When going to buy shea butter, remember to stick with raw, unrefined, or Grade A. You'll maximize your benefits with the raw stuff. Shea butter is typically safe to use on its own. If you start using it and have side effects, though, stop and call your doctor.

Shea butter has numerous benefits for your health - your hair and skin in particular. You can use the butter in a variety of ways. It's nourishing, moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, antiaging, and more. If you suffer from skin problems, consider the healing effects of shea butter as a solution.

Article by: C.Withrow