Have you ever wondered how to make Shea butter? Wondering how to make Shea butter is a good question, even if you may not ever actually try to make Shea butter yourself. In fact, most people will never have to do the work themselves. Still, understanding how it is made can help you gain an even greater appreciation for this amazing product.

It All Starts with the Right Tree

In West Africa, Shea butter has been extracted for years from the Shea or Karite tree. Here, the tree grows wild throughout many different countries that are located in the savannah in this region of the world. Therefore, the first step in making Shea butter is to locate the right kind of trees. Then, you have to find one that is at the right maturity level to produce the nuts needed to make Shea butter.

For about the first twenty years, a Karite tree will not produce any nuts at all. After it starts growing nuts, it will be another 25 years before the tree is at its prime production point. Then, the tree needs another 200 years before it begins to produce the nuts needed to extract the Shea butter.

Preparing Shea Butter for Use

The fatty acids found in the nuts of the Karite tree are what give Shea butter its unique properties. Still, the butter is not ready after simply extracting it from the nuts. Instead, Shea butter still needs to go through several stages in order to get it into a form that is usable for cosmetics or cooking.

In the local regions of West Africa, the nuts are picked from the tree and then cracked. They will next go through a grilling process before they are pounded. This process helps to get to the fatty acids within the nut, but it is during the final process of boiling the nuts that the Shea butter rises to the surface of the pot. At this point, the fatty acids are scooped carefully from the pot and put aside to cool. After a while, it will solidify into a consistency like butter and then it is ready for use.

Using the Final Product

In its final form, Shea butter can be used in a variety of ways including as a skin emollient or moisturizer. It is in this cosmetic use that most people are familiar with the properties of Shea butter. Shea butter is also good as a hair moisturizer, however, where it can help with avoiding breakage and restoring the shine.

While there are no claims that Shea butter is medicinal in nature, its healing properties are also renowned. Many people choose to apply it on minor burns in order to speed up the healing process. In addition, it can be useful in reducing itchiness caused by rashes or other skin disorders. Shea butter is also useful when it comes to softening the tough skin on the bottom of your feet. It may take repeated use over a long period of time to see some of the desired effects of Shea butter. If it is being used to relieve itching, however, most people experience the effects almost immediately.

It is believed that one of the components of Shea butter, cinnamic acid, plays a part in the effectiveness of the product. In its unprocessed state, the cinnamic acid will bond to other components. As it is refined and processed, this breaks up the bonding and also appears to reduce the ability of Shea butter to serve as a healing substance. While it will still be effective as a moisturizer at this point, you may not see the results you had hoped for if the Shea butter is overly processed.