About Shea Butter

 

24K Shea is high quality, pure, African shea butter with a rich history. Stop by to learn more about why raw shea is a miracle hair, skin and body product!

Most of us know that Shea Butter is good for our skin, but it is also good for so much more! We've complied a list of our top ten favorite alternative and lesser known uses in order to demonstrate just what an amazing and versatile product this is. From cooking to cosmetics, the many purposes of Shea Butter make it a miracle product. Take a look at the links below to find out what Shea Butter can do for you!

If you have any questions about these or any other uses for Shea Butter, please don't hesitate to Contact Us.

Upgrade Your Eye Makeup Remover

Did you know that you can use raw African Shea butter as an eye makeup remover? Not only is it extremely effective, economical and easy to do, but the Shea butter actually moisturizes and nourishes your skin instead of stripping and potentially irritating it like most conventional makeup removers.

One of the beautiful things about pure African Shea butter is that it contains a very high concentration of Oleic acid, which is a deeply healing and moisturizing essential fatty acid that leaves skin smooth, firm and glowing. By replacing more typical and often chemical laden make up removers with Oleic acid-rich Shea butter, the delicate and easily aged skin around your eyes is protected, soothed and strengthened- and so are your lashes!

That's right, Shea butter helps to strengthen and protect your eyelashes. The same essential fatty acids that nourish your skin also help to keep your lashes thick and healthy, while also providing a protective balm that can be especially therapeutic if you regularly wear makeup. The many nutritive vitamins, antioxidants and moisturizing compounds found in Shea butter nourish healthy growth, thickness, and shine. Raw African Shea butter provides easy, deep conditioning for your luscious lashes so that even on your makeup-free days you can feel confident in their health, length and fullness.

To use, gently rub your eye area with a Shea butter covered finger or Q-tip, and repeat as necessary until all makeup residue has been removed. At this point you can choose to completely remove the Shea butter used to take off your makeup and reapply with a coat of fresh Shea butter, or simply leave your eye area as is. Either way, you will have transformed you makeup-removing routine for good!

Nourish Your Hair

Raw African Shea butter is the perfect hair restorative balm. Whether your hair is in need of some serious restoration from over-processing and heat styling, or you simply wish to maintain your hair's health and sheen, Shea butter is an easy, effective and natural way to do this.

There are a variety of components needed to maintain healthy and happy hair, a couple of them being essential fatty acids and nourishing antioxidant filled vitamins. Raw African Shea butter contains both of these things in abundance, and these nourishing hair components are delivered into your hair easily and with beautiful results.

Essential fatty acids and nutritive vitamins such as A and E help to maintain the proper texture and strength in your hair. Along with keratin, they help to prevent your oh-so-valuable ends from splitting so your hair can grow longer, faster, and healthier. This kind of intensive therapeutic treatment also helps to prevent further damage to the hair shaft because hair that is healthy and strong is naturally more resistant to stress and the occasional potentially damaging factor, such as heat styling.

You can choose to use it just on your ends, or on your entire head for a deep conditioning and restorative hair mask. The Shea butter can also be massaged into your scalp as well to help prevent flaking and increase circulation, which in turn helps to further nourish your hair by delivering more nutrition to the follicles via the blood. And if your hair really needs some help, you can put on a hair net and sleep with your Shea treatment on over night. However you choose to do it, remember to shampoo twice to thoroughly remove the butter from your hair.

Love Your Lips

Do you give very much thought to how you care for your lips? Chances are, other than using some kind of lip balm, you don't do anything else for them. But just like the rest of your body, the skin on your lips can benefit tremendously from gentle exfoliation. Aside from removing unsightly dead skin, any moisturizer you are putting on your lips is much better absorbed and utilized after a session of exfoliation, and what better moisturizer is there than raw African Shea butter?

There are a myriad of different manual exfoliating substances that can help to take off the thin and easily dried-out layer of dead skin from your lips, such as Apricot kernels, sea salt, Jojoba beads and sugar, just to name a few. We prefer to use sugar due to the very gentle yet effective exfoliation it offers. Remember, your lips are sensitive and they don't need a really rough scrub.

Simply mix some raw African Shea butter with a high quality sugar until your preferred texture is achieved- we like it pretty grainy and prefer a ratio of almost 1:1, but experiment and see what you like best. Feel free to make as large or small of a batch as you like. If you want, you can even mix a little bit of scrub in your hand each time you use it. Either way, once your Shea butter sugar scrub is made, simply rub a small amount all over your lovely lips and enjoy as you make way for a new and juicy softness. Once you are finished scrubbing, gently wipe your lips with a warm, damp towel to remove the sugar and leave a light and moisturizing layer of Shea butter to nourish your perfectly primed pucker.

Cook With It!

There are so many interesting things that you can do with Shea butter, but the most interesting of all might be the fact that you can actually eat it! While not exactly a popular cooking fat in North America, it is occasionally used in the chocolate industry in both the United States and in Europe. In Africa, Shea butter has been used for centuries as a cooking fat, and though it may seem a bit strange to the uninitiated, this nutrient rich and heat stable plant fat is perfect for the culinary inclined.

The flavor of raw African Shea butter is not particularly strong, and it shares many similarities to Cocoa butter, which would explain its use in the chocolate industry. If you enjoy chocolate making at home, Shea butter is a great fat to try. It's also very high in beta-carotene, vitamin E and plant-based vitamin A. If you enjoy making smoothies from time to time, a small ¼ to full teaspoon added to the blender will give your smoothie a nice boost of nourishing vitamins and essential fatty acids that supply your body with a welcome boost of energy. Many of the same things that make Shea butter so good for your skin also make it such a nice cooking oil. The many essential fatty acids present in the thick butter nourish the skin from the outside as well as the inside. Regular essential fatty acid consumption has been linked to healthy hair and skin for years, and this is no doubt one of the most interesting ways to ingest them. Some easy places to start are in a stir-fry or the next time you do some baking. Don't be afraid to experiment and see what you like best!

Burn Balm

Do you cook a lot, or spend much of your time in the sun? Both environments are conducive to getting burned quite often, and if you're not careful a little extra time in the sunshine or a thoughtless touch of a hot pan can leave you in a lot of pain, and with a potentially difficult-to-heal burn. Many popular remedies for burns such as Aloe Vera or Coconut oil can be quite helpful, but they typically require repeated application, and usually don't succeed in taking away the pain right away. Enter: raw African Shea butter!

The essential fatty acids, skin soothing and nourishing vitamins, and unique cinnamic esters found in Shea butter all contribute to the rapid and pain reducing healing we have come to know it for. A hefty serving of vitamin E, skin reparative Oleic and Linoleic acids, and naturally occurring anti bacterial compounds all lend themselves to seamless, quick and comfortable healing.

Next time you find yourself with a sun or kitchen burn, instead of going for the Aloe or over the counter burn cream, put a generous layer of raw African Shea butter on the affected area instead. We have found that the pain is gone almost instantly, and the rich and nourishing components of the Shea butter quickly heal and soothe the burn in a way that prevents blistering and the leaving of a mark or scar. If you want to get creative with it, you could even add a drop or two of a high quality Lavender essential oil to your Shea butter for some extra added healing. Remember, Shea butter is incredibly versatile and easy to work with, so using it to make your own DIY burn cream is another fun and effective way to incorporate it into your burn-healing strategy.

Massage Balm

An achy body takes the fun out of everything. Even laying in bed doesn't feel as good! Whether you're an athlete, someone who works on your feet all day, or you just need some extra TLC, a good massage can work wonders for a body full of sore and stiff muscles. And while you don't have to have a fancy massage balm to get the job done, it definitely makes a difference to have a nourishing oil or butter to rub into your stressed and struggling muscles.

Shea butter has been used in Africa as a massage balm for sore and tired muscles for years, and for very good reason. Raw African Shea butter not only softens the skin, it also has the very beneficial quality of increasing capillary circulation, which stimulates healing and pain relieving blood flow to the affected area. This is helpful because healthy circulation is important for delivering enough nutrition to the skin and muscles via the blood. This process helps to oxygenate the tissues, provides a sense of warmth, and aids in some much needed healing relief when you're feeling tired and achy.

Raw African Shea butter also provides the perfect glide for a sore muscle massage that rejuvenates, heals, and simultaneously moisturizes the skin. The slight heat generated from the massage helps the Shea butter to penetrate into the skin with greater ease, while the increased circulation brought on by the Shea butter and massage motions help to further oxygenate and relieve sad and sore tissues. If you like, you can also add an essential oil or two to the Shea butter for an extra healing and aroma-therapeutic boost (Marjoram is particularly good for this). But with or without added oils, Shea butter massage brings a welcome relief to sore, inflamed and stiff muscles. Give it a try!

Protect Your Hairline

Do you ever color your hair? While it can be really nice to get your hair color professionally done at a salon, it isn't always possible. Whether you're trying to save on money, are pressed for time, or simply want to try doing it yourself, at-home hair color is something many of us find ourselves doing at one point or another. And when you do find yourself staring into your bathroom mirror while you try to keep the color from bleeding onto and staining the skin around your hairline, do yourself a favor and remember your trusty jar of Shea butter.

The wonderfully thick and rich texture of raw African Shea butter lends itself perfectly to the task of acting as a barrier between your skin and the hair dye on your head. While some people choose to use petroleum jelly for tasks such as this, why bother using a petroleum product when you can use a high quality plant butter that not only performs perfectly for this specific task, but also heals your skin in the process?

The method is simple: apply some raw African Shea butter to your hairline before you begin coloring. There's no need to slather it on either. Add enough that there is a noticeable barrier, but not so much that the amount of Shea butter along your hair line feels like it might start bleeding down your face. Once you have let your color of choice sit for as long as it needs to, you can wash it out before removing the Shea from your hairline. Once done, wipe the Shea butter from your face with a warm and slightly damp towel. And voila! You will have successfully protected your hair line from becoming stained.

Styling Cream

Do you like to use a styling pomade in your hair? It can be hard sometimes to find one that you really like. Sometimes it's too sticky, others too heavy, and some just can't keep your hair in the right place. And then there's the issue of what the pomade does to your hair. Chances are that if you have to worry about not washing it out, it's probably not the best ever. And while finding one you really like can be trying and time consuming, it just might be worth it to try a little bit of Shea butter.

The texture of raw African Shea butter provides the perfect amount of hold for hairstyles that require a little extra styling support. Especially for those of us with short hairstyles, a small amount of Shea butter used on the ends provides texture and hold without being sticky, greasy or too heavy. Another beneficial thing about using Shea butter as a styling cream is that it actually helps to keep your hair healthy. Because there are no chemicals or strange additives, your hair gets to soak up a nourishing and rejuvenating cocktail of hair healing vitamins, moisture and essential fatty acids.

You also don't need to worry if you forget to wash your hair at the end of the day. Leaving Shea butter in your hair over night is a great way to further hydrate and repair your hair, so think of it as a convenient excuse when you don't feel like washing it. And if you don't have short hair, but still like using some product on your ends for texture, a light application of Shea will do the trick. Long or short, using Shea butter as your styling cream is well worth a try.

Itch Relief

 

Is there anything worse than an itch that just won't go away? Whether it's from dry skin, irritation or a bug bite, the sooner you can get rid of that itch, the better. There are plenty of over the counter anti-itch creams and balms, some of which work better than others. We like to use raw African Shea butter because no matter where your itch comes from- dry skin, a bug bite or other irritation, it gets taken care of.

If your itch comes from dry skin, Shea butter works to not only quell the itch, but to prevent it from happening again. It does this by deeply moisturizing your skin and providing your skin cells with the building blocks they need to maintain their ideal balance of permeability. Dry, itchy and flaky skin is replaced with firm, juicy and soft skin that is well nourished and hydrated.

Bug bites and other irritations, such as minor scratches and abrasions, might seem a bit more challenging to deal with than dry skin. But don't worry, they're not! Two things happen when you apply Shea butter to the areas you're struggling with. First, the Shea butter acts as a protective barrier, so that any outside factors that might be contributing to the itchy irritation you're experiencing are kept out. Second, the anti inflammatory properties of the Shea butter soothe and calm the inflammation that is often responsible for the discomfort and itching. The result is that your itches and irritations are soothed and quieted, allowing you to get along with your day in comfort and peace.

Save yourself the time and effort of looking for an anti-itch cream at the store. Take out that jar of Shea butter and generously apply it to all your itchy needs. Be they bug bites, minor scratches, or dry skin, raw African Shea butter easily delivers the relief you need.

Non-toxic Leather Conditioner

Whether you have really nice furniture, a coveted pair of leather shoes or horse tack, taking proper care of your leather wares is imperative to keep the leather functional, pliable and long lasting. But most store bought leather conditioners contain potentially harmful chemicals and irritating fragrances. So what do you do? Raw African Shea butter is the perfect all natural and non-toxic leather conditioner. It's fragrance and chemical free, affordable, and works like a charm.

In the same way that Shea butter skin care moisturizes and protects your skin, it does the same thing to your leather. Raw African Shea butter works to soften the leather and maintain a proper moisture balance within it. It is both hydrating and protective, keeping the leather pliable while acting as a natural barrier against water and dirt. The application process is simple. First, clean the leather of any dirt or other debris with a damp rag and a bit of very gentle soap, if needed. Allow the leather to thoroughly air dry, and then proceed to apply the Shea butter. You can use a clean rag or your hands, whichever you prefer. Apply a thick coat of Shea to the leather and rub it in for a moment. Then, allow the Shea butter to soak into the leather for a minimum of 24 hours. If your leather is more stiff, allow the Shea to penetrate for up to four days. Once it has had ample time to soak in, use a clean cloth to wipe off any excess Shea butter that has been left on the leather, using a circular motion to do so. What you will be left with is properly conditioned and protected leather, minus any irritating fragrances and chemicals!