For those days when you’re sick, can’t breathe through your nose, have a sore throat and your body aches, you need something to break up all that congestion and fight the infection causing you all that trouble. And while it’s common for people to go to the store and buy a pre-made de-congesting balm to rub on their chests, you can easily make your own at home. Not only is it fun and easy, but all of the ingredients are pure, natural and safe- and they even help to fight the infection instead of simply clearing your airways. So whether you’re already sick or would like to have this ready to go ahead of time, below is a recipe for...
Most products have an expiration date, whether they’re in the skincare category or not. It’s typically the most basic thing that consumers are aware of when purchasing and using any given product since using an expired product can turn out to be a rather unpleasant experience. Thankfully, raw Shea butter is an exceptionally stable substance and as long as you take a few certain precautions to prevent it from going off, the printed expiration date on your jar is really just there for quality control. So, what are the habits and actions you need to stay away from in order to preserve the shelf life and product integrity of your Shea butter? Keep it out of water. Seriously, if you only...
Let’s face it, Shea butter is one of the best DIY skincare ingredients. It’s versatile, easy to work with and wonderfully long lasting. Its chemical composition is stable and potent, and when the natural purity of this fantastic plant butter is kept in tact, you really don’t need much else to make your skin happy. With it you can make creams, salves, solid perfumes, deep conditioning hair masks and paw protective products for your pooch. The list is truly endless and you can bet we’ve tried our hand at the lot of them. And one DIY raw Shea butter product that we find ourselves coming back to again and again in one version or another is this simple, Shea butter...
One of the things that many people really like about Shea butter is its texture. Rich, luscious, soothing and protective, this botanical balm makes a great DIY product base and goes on just as well on its own. But that same luscious texture can start to feel a little heavy when it’s already hot and even sticky outside. So what’s a Shea butter fan to do? The good news is that you don’t have to give up using your Shea butter. With the help of a little bit of modern technology you can transform that heavy texture into a light, airy skin crème. All you need in order to transform your Shea butter into a Shea soufflé is a bowl,...
People love Shea butter for all kinds of reasons. They like what it does to their skin; they enjoy the texture or how well it goes as a base for making their own DIY skincare recipes. Some folks even make candles with it. We love it for all these reasons too- but we also love it for another one: the Shea butter economy. Now, at first glance you might think we’re talking about nothing more than the buying and selling of raw African Shea butter. But what we’re actually talking about is the importance of the Shea tree to the ecosystems within which it grows, the wonderful people and collectives that harvest and process the Shea nuts into butter and...
