Shea Butter - nourish dry and sensitive skin
Shea butter is a plant lipid from African shea tree nuts rich in fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins. It's off-white or ivory-colored and has a creamy consistency that quickly spreads on your skin.
Using shea butter on your body, especially your face, can condition, tone, and soothe your skin. Shea butter contains five essential fatty acids (a significant amount coming from stearic and oleic acids), phytosterols, vitamins E and D, allantoin (good for healing skin irritations), and vitamin A.
What should you know about Shea Butter?
Shea butter is a hydrating and nourishing ingredient for skin and hair care. It is alleged to lock water and hydration to the skin, work as an antioxidant, and soothe irritation.
Shea butter is a rich and gentle component due to its chemical composition. It contains linoleic and stearic acid (essential fatty acids), phytosterols, and triterpenes. These components give shea butter moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, soothing, and nourishing properties for the skin. In addition, shea butter has a composition similar to that of green tea in catechins. These are phenolic constituents present in nature with antioxidant action.
People with dry, regular, or sensitive skin can benefit from shea butter. You can use it as much as you want if you don't have an allergy (to nuts or shea specifically).
As a butter, it works as a natural emollient to keep water in the skin cells and prevent transepidermal moisture loss. Shea works well with water-based ingredients, moisturizers, or light organic oils. Additionally, no components are known to cause adverse reactions when combined with this butter.
Benefits of Shea Butter for your skin
The rich chemical composition of shea butter gives it gentle benefits for skin treatment. However, its components may vary according to the African region where the shea fruits are extracted. But, generally, they have similar properties.
- Hydrating: Shea Butter is great for hydration and calms the skin. It goes into the skin well and protects the face from extreme temperatures.
- Plumps skin: Shea butter is used to help moisturize, nourish, and soothe the skin. It is ideal for dry skin and can create softer, hydrated, plumper skin, especially during the dry winter. Shea butter is also in many lip balms to help with chapped lips and moisturizers to soothe stretch marks.
- It helps fade scars from acne and non-acne-related causes and heals sunburned and peeling skin.
- Calms and protects the skin: Due to its composition of phytosterols and catechins, shea butter may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Antioxidants protect the skin against free radical damage depending on their stability. Therefore, these compounds prevent early aging, cell damage, and skin dehydration.
In addition, shea butter could also soothe skin allergies and conditions like contact dermatitis and psoriasis.
Many acne-prone patients are worried about excessive moisturizing, fearing it will clog the pores. However, Shea butter is non-comedogenic and should not clog the pores.
How to use Shea Butter products
You can apply shea butter on its own, but it's just as commonly used as an ingredient in cosmetics, so it's up to you how you use it. Also, Shea butter may be better to avoid if you have an allergy to tree nuts.
Shea butter can be in pure form for direct application to the skin or included in various cosmetics. Raw shea butter is meant to be rubbed on the skin to moisturize and protect the skin barrier. Meanwhile, shea butter can also provide moisture when included in balms, creams, or lipsticks.
This butter is solid at room temperature, and in the raw state, it is enough to rub it in your hands and apply it gently to the skin. As a moisturizing component, we recommend including shea butter as a final step in the routine. Moisturizing products that create a light layer are ideal for locking in hydration and active ingredients and protecting the skin.
The Craft and Care alternative: Butters to nourish, protect and moisturize
Butters and waxes derived from plants and seeds can add many nutrients to skin care. We at Craft and Care believe in organic and complete treatments to create routines with gentle skin benefits.
Our Glory Balm is composed of organic oils, beeswax, and cocoa butter, ideal for the nourishing care of normal to dry skin. Cocoa butter soothes and can stimulate skin regeneration. And this butter from organically controlled cultivation is rich in antioxidants and vitamin E, therefore, acting against free radical damage.
We wish you the best results, well-being, and comfort in your care.