Raw African Shea butter has so many uses, it’s one of the reasons so many people love it. Used alone it does absolutely wonderfully as a healing and anti aging balm for the skin, and is equally compatible and useful when mixed with other skin care ingredients. But why stop there? One of the best uses for raw Shea butter is as a base for other skin care products. It melts down beautifully, whips up perfectly, and is extremely easy to use.
One of the most important factors in choosing a Shea butter to use as a product base is of course the actual quality of the Shea itself. Inferior and over processed Shea butters with inconsistent product quality will naturally yield a less than ideal product base. But once you’ve found a high quality raw, unrefined Shea butter from a reputable source, the next thing you need to know is how to properly melt it down so that it does not become grainy.
When melting down Shea butter to mix with other ingredients the key is to keep the heat low and let it melt the Shea butter down over a longer period of time. No high heat here! With Shea butter, low and slow is the way to go. Plus, keeping the heat lower makes sure that all of the heat sensitive natural therapeutic components in the butter will stay intact and active, and any other potentially heat sensitive ingredients being added to the melted Shea butter will not be damaged either.
With these two simple principles in mind, you can then successfully use raw African Shea butter as a product base for skin care products such as body butters, scrubs, masks, conditioners, soaps, lotions and therapeutic healing rubs for an incredibly wide range of skin irritations and conditions that include eczema and dermatitis. The Shea butter provides a very smooth texture that is pleasant to put on and holds all of the other ingredients in a perfectly mixed combination.
Whether you have your own skin care line or simply like to make your own beauty and skin care products at home, Shea butter is a must have DIY ingredient. It can be used for virtually every kind of product you can think of, from salves and balms to butters and even soaps. It truly is a multi dimensional miracle.