Ingredient Spotlight: Shea Butter

This ingredient is ubiquitous in skincare products, so here we dive into shea butter in more detail to see where it comes from and how it's used. 

Shea butter, which you may also see listed on your cosmetics products by its INCI name of Butyrospermum parkii, is derived from the fruit of the shea tree, Vitellaria paradoxa/nilotica. Shea butter is an interesting example of the INCI name seeming entirely random, because it is in fact the old Latin name for the shea tree. Taxonomists updated the tree genus and species name, but the INCI name remains the same. Shea trees cover an area of approximately 3 to 4 million km2 across sub-Saharan African countries, and most of the world's shea butter comes from Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. It is prized in skincare for its emollient properties. 

Shea butter mainly consists of oleic acid and stearic acid, with small amounts of palmitic, linoleic and arachidic acids. Oleic acid can help to increase skin penetration of ingredients, so works well in combination with high-performance cosmeceuticals. It is also anti-inflammatory and moisturising. This moisturising action is complemented by the stearic and linoleic acids, with the latter in particular helping to repair damaged skin. Although a very thick, rich butter, the fatty acid profile of shea butter means that it is similar to the skin's natural sebum, and therefore unlikely to aggravate acne. 

Shea butter is actually one of the most ancient cultivated vegetable oils, with archaeological evidence of its use dating back over 1000 years. The fruits are hand-picked from the ground and processed into shea butter, which can be purchased in its raw form for maximum nutritive content, or in a refined and deodorised version. I prefer to use unrefined shea butter in my formulations where possible, in order to preserve the natural goodness of the plant in the finished product. 

Although ubiquitous in skincare products, shea butter can be challenging to work with as a formulator. This is because the different fatty acids in the butter have very different melting points, with that of stearic acid being around 70 °C, and oleic acid melting at around 15 °C. This means that the fatty acids cool at different times, and can form crystals as they solidify, resulting in an overall gritty texture to any product containing high amounts of shea butter. If you've ever had a body butter that developed a gritty texture like this, chances are that it contained a lot of shea butter and was heated (in a warm bathroom, for example) and then cooled. In order to avoid this texture, rapid cooling with much stirring is required when formulating with shea butter. 

Now we come to the main issue with shea butter: its sustainability and the ethics of sourcing. It will not have escaped your attention that the main producers of shea butter are countries with extremely high levels of poverty. Shea fruits are traditionally harvested by women from managed forests, and processed nearby to extract the shea butter. It is important to note that there are companies who exploit workers for the production of cheap shea butter, so research is necessary to ensure that the butter is from an ethical source. Fortunately, the United Nations and other organisations sponsor a number of well-regulated schemes that ensure fair wages and good working conditions for shea butter producers. The shea butter that I use comes from a women's co-operative in Ghana, where the workers profit directly from the sale of their shea butter and provide services such as free education for the children of all their members. 
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In terms of sustainability, the shea trees themselves are a valuable source of carbon sequestration, and actually serve to protect huge areas from the risk of deforestation, because of the beneficial resource they provide. 

Which of my products contain shea butter? 
Luscious Lipstick 
Kitchen Soap
Gardener's Soap 
Christmas Soap