Shea Butter: The empowering chemical-free skin healer

For centuries Shea Butter has been used throughout Africa as a way to keep skin moisturised,  nourished and healthy. It contains vitamins, minerals and proteins that the skin needs to restore its natural elasticity, it's anti-flammatory and has been shown to help with skin conditions such as eczema, stretch marks, scars and wounds that are currently healing, skin allergies, dermatitis, fungal infections, wrinkles, blemishes and extremely dry and flaky skin.

 

Unrefined shea butter comes from nuts of the Shea tree

Shea Butter is one of the world's most sustainable natural resoures, growing naturally in Central and West Africa. The trees do not need irrigation, pesticides or fertilizer meaning it's safe for use on delicate areas of the skin without costing the Earth.

It's mostly women who make Shea Butter

Harvesting the Shea trees is traditionally seen as a job for women and is immensely physically demanding, requiring women to walk in the blistering heat with large loads on their heads for as much as 10 miles or more every day, all the while being cautious of poisonous snakes that lurk within the tall grass.

They are mostly rural women who have little to no formal education and are therefore excluded from many jobs. Buying unrefined shea butter directly from the villages lessens the gender income inequality and helps improve the quality of life within the community. Make sure to avoid buying Shea butter that isn't fairly traded, as these women will earn only a fraction of the price despite all their hard work.