Shea Butter: The “Women’s Gold” of Afrika

Shea Butter:  The “Women’s Gold” of Afrika

By Nierika

Shea trees grow naturally in 19 countries across the Afrikan continent

Shea nut butter is a slightly yellowish or ivory-colored natural fat extracted from the seed of the shea tree by a laborious 9-step process.  This fatty extract is known to contain certain number of ingredients with biological activity.   A combination of fatty acids (linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acids), sterols and vitamins A, D, E and F promote cell renewal and increased circulation in the skin. Shea also contains cinnamic acid which is a natural sunscreen that helps protect the skin from harmful ultraviolet rays.  It provides the skin protection from environmental and free radical damages. Shea butter has anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties.  It will no clog pores nor block the hair shaft.  Shea butter has been used since ancient times by Afrikan healers as a therapeutic skin treatment.

Karite trees, or shea trees, are not cultivated and grow only in the wild.  The tree will produce its first fruit (which resemble large plums) when it is about 20 years old and will reach its full production when the tree is 45-50 years old. It will produce nuts for up to 200 years after reaching maturity.

The Shea tree grows in the dry Savannah belt of West Afrika from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, as well as the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. Shea trees grow naturally in 19 countries across the Afrikan continent:  Benin, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Afrikan Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Cote DIvoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo Uganda, Zaire and Guinea.   The destruction of shea trees is prohibited by law because the mature nuts provide a valuable source of food, medicine, and income for the population. So many women are employed in the production of shea butter that it is also referred to as ‘Woman’s Gold’.  Women shea butter collectives exclusively produce shea butter and market the fruits of their hard labor as a source of income for their families.

Ghanian woman kneading shea nut paste

There are two main varieties of shea butter, Butyrospermum Parkii (West Afrikan) and Vitellaria Nilotica (East Afrikan). Butyrospermum Parkii is produced in West Afrika, Vitellaria Nilotica is produced only in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. Eastern Afrikan shea butter is rarer because of lower shea production due to the civil unrest in Uganda and Sudan.

Afrikan craftswoman pounding shea nuts

The ancestral art of shea butter making is an intensive process of sorting the nuts, cracking, roasting, grinding, kneading, boiling, filtering and stirring, then bulk packaging the shea butter  for resale.  The organic residue of shea butter processing is used as plant fuel for cooking and as a source of potassium (lye) for the crafting of traditional black afrikan soaps.
Shea butter is available in 2 forms:
Unrefined shea butter–natural nutty scent, ivory to yellow-beige in color with the highest healing properties.
Refined shea butter– chemically processed to remove shea butters natural scent, bleached white and minimally retains its natural healing properties.
(Shea butter is not recommended for people with nut or latex allergies.)

Please purchase only Certified Fair Trade, Handcrafted Unrefined Shea Butter products which contain a minimum of 30% shea butter for therapeutic results.
I personally use both pure unrefined shea oil and shea butter to control my psoriasis/eczema.

To purchase Shea Butter Products and Books on the history of Shea Butter please visit our Amazon Store

Finished unrefined shea butter

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The American Shea Butter Institute says:

21 Reasons to use Shea Butter

Shea Butter will provide improvement in all the conditions listed below. As you use this multi-purpose cream you are likely to discover additional uses. The amount of time required for optimum results with various conditions may vary with each condition. Wrinkles, for example, require 4 to 6 weeks of daily use. Itching is relieved immediately.
1. Dry skin

2. skin rash

3. Skin peeling, after tanning

4. Blemishes and wrinkles

5. Itching skin

6. Sunburn

7. Shaving cream for a smooth silky shave.

8. Small skin wounds

9. Skin cracks

10. Tough or rough skin (on feet)

11. Cold weather

12. Frost bites

13. Stretch mark prevention during pregnancy

14. Insect bites

15. Healthy skin

16. Muscle fatigue, aches and tension

17. For before and after strenuous exercise

18. Skin allergies such as poison ivy or poison oak

19. Eczema

20. Dermatitis

21. Skin damage from heat (hot grease while cooking, radiation treatment for certain medical problems, etc.)

Credit: The American Shea Butter Institute – www.americansheabutterinstitute.com
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Shea Butter Nuts

Shea: From Nuts to Butter

Description: Artisanal shea butter production in a rural village in Mali, West Afrika. One woman teaches another how to improve her practices in order to make export-quality shea butter. The video’s intended audience is rural Malian women. It has been used in training events and may be aired on Malian national TV. In Bambara with English subtitles.

http://www.eastafricantube.com/media/21474/Shea_Butter_Nuts/

Shea Butter Producers – Economic Empowerment

Sekaf Shea Butter Village is a pilot scheme to process premium quality Shea Butter in a collaborative commercial project with the village women of Kasalgu and Sekaf Ghana Ltd in the Northern Region.

http://www.eastafricantube.com/media/21476/Shea_Butter_Producers_-_Economic_Empowerment/

Shea butter production process using solar cookers (solar energy)

This Video is a result of a solar energy project of SEWA in Burkina Faso. Lookup http://www.solar-afrika.de/neue_version/php/projektdetail.php?id=5&lang=de for details. Language: german. Feel free to donate for this project – visit our website! we are always looking for translators who want to contribute by translating little thingies (text, not video) for free. contact us if you are interested!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-588929211095552121&ei=gkOCSou7KKKgqQPLudyfBQ&q=shea+butter&hl=en