Shea butter for hair

Shea butter is used on the African continent for centuries. Its pulp is extracted from seeds of fruits Shea, which grows in a vast wooded savanna between Senegal and Nigeria. Shea hardness resembles oak. Typically, it lives about two hundred years, and reaches a height of 15-20 m. Its dark green foliage is dense during the rainy season; processes foliage and growth go together, so that Shea should never be naked. His bark is so thick that can withstand the raging fires in the savannah.

Shea - The only member of the family Sapotacea on dry soils, the African savannah. Fragrant brownish flowers bloom from December to March. Fruit of the tree resemble small avocado with flavorful pulp. Adult tree produces 15 to 20 kg of fruit. Almost half of the contents of the pulp stones accounted for "oil".

At Shea in Africa has many names: it is called in Wolof karate, in Peule - kare or kolo, in Bambara - se (hence the English name shea - shi).

Almost all historical chronicles, which tell about Africa era proceeding the 19 th century, mention Shea. Even during the reign of Cleopatra in Egypt for valuable shea butter been equipped caravans with clay jars in which the oil is transported and stored.

Many famous travelers, talking to their records for information on African culture, talk about Shea and its use. One of the most complete works devoted to shea butter, is a treatise of Ibn Battuta - the historian and ambassador of the Sultan of Morocco in Mali was written in 1348 after traveling through West Africa.

The first European to travel along the Niger River was a Scot Mango Park, he also first described the botanical characteristics of shea butter and a variety of applications extracted from it "oil". Shea butter - a link between the fledgling civilization and subsistence agriculture: a product that is growing and which is collected in the wild, and then make and keep for many years.

History and cultural traditions of Africa are inextricably linked with shea butter. The funeral of the deceased king bed cut out of the precious wood of old shea butter and shea butter is the foundation of African pharmacology. For example, it is used as anti-edema and anti-inflammatory agent for sprains and joint pains. This is a wonderful therapeutic tool is also used for healing of the umbilical cord and after circumcision.


Shea butter remarkably diverse in their capabilities; byproducts of its production are used in cooking (in the form of sauce or hot), as fuel for lamps and as an insulation material in construction.

For agricultural reasons, grow Shea possible only in continental Africa. The market is saturated with different brands of oil extraction, which is used as solvent hexane. However, currently the most popular eco-friendly products - the products obtained without the use of "chemistry".