The Savannahs of Africa are harsh and dry. Water is scarce, and there is only one rainy growing season. Villagers who used shea butter as a daily skin application had smooth, wrinkle free skin well into their 70's. Those who did not, well, it was very obvious. Based on what we saw in two countries, villagers who use raw, wild crafted shea butter on their skin every day looked 20 years younger than their counterparts who did not. They also had fewer skin fungus infections and the scaly "dermatose", so common in that part of the world (especially in non soap making villages).

Raw, organic, wild crafted shea butter differs dramatically from the hexane solvent refined product commonly sold throughout the United States and Europe. Solvent refining strips the shea butter of it's natural vitamins and healing properties. Carotene and alantoin are just two of the healing factors found in natural shea butter (and missing from solvent refined mass market products). Only properly made, raw shea butter is suitable for proper use as a hydrolyzing skin treatment.

Our soapmaker Steve Bench has a psoriasis condition we use to test natural products on. We have never seen the kind of results he is getting from the daily application of shea butter to his irritation. Formerly, the best results were obtained from organic aloe. The difference in the speed of healing with shea butter is dramatic by comparison.

We recommend applying shea butter at night, so it has time to soak into the skin. Use as lip balm, ointment, salve base, soap additive, bug repelling candle base (so we were told - you will have to test this one for yourself), and personal lubricant.

Useful for burns, all dry and irritated skin conditions (except for Poison Ivy, Oak etc., which contain irritating oils that need to be removed with Tea Tree Castile Liquid Soap). Recommended for wrinkle smoothing and prevention, and for the treatment of sun damaged skin.