Dry Skin? Try Shea Butter

Whenever the climate shifts I find myself reaching for my tin of shea butter a few times a day.  Whether to moisturize my hands, smooth a dab under my eyes when my face feels tight, or rub into the nape of my neck I love it's natural, slightly nutty scent and rich moisturizing properties.

I also love it's story.  Shea butter comes from the seeds of wild shea trees in the wood and fields of the savanna of central and northern Togo, Africa.   Considered one of the world's most sustainable resources, Shea tress grow naturally without the need for irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides.  Efforts to create shea tree plantations have not been successful and shea butter remains a wild product.  Shea butter is harvested and produced by hand.  The lbor intensive process involves walking miles a day to collect nuts, drying and cracking the nuts, extracting the kernals and finally crafting the butter.  Our Shea Butter comes to us from the Agbanga Karite Cooperative, a group of mostly women who control the harvest, production and export of their shea butter to ensure compliance with Fair Trade criteria and organic standards.

Shea Butter has been a mainstay of African skin care for centuries.  As the Agbanga Karite website states, "unrefined shea butter contains an abundance of healing ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and a unique fatty acid profile, and is a superior active moisturizer. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, shea butter actually restores the skin's natural elasticity. Shea butter enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air, and as a result, it becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer. In addition, shea butter has natural sunscreen properties and anti-inflammatory agents. Perhaps it is most effective when applied to the skin in its pure state. Regular users of pure, unrefined shea butter notice softer, smoother, healthier skin."

Purchasing Fair Trade Shea Butter supports the preservation of an age old sustainable African resource, provides equitable and steady income for village women in Togo, and is a lovely way to moisturize and heal your skin. 

Karen