Benefits of Shea butter

Do you know that the heavenly scent in most moisturizing creams and lotions comes from Shea Butter? This amazingly good smelling fat is added to most of the beauty products nowadays because of its tremendous benefits on our skin. So don’t wait any further and get your hands on the skin products with shea butter in order to get smooth, toned, and conditioning skin. Let’s explore this vegan butter a little more and we bet you are going to rush to get one. 

How Shea butter is made and where it comes from?

Shea butter is a kind of fat that is obtained from shea tree nuts. This butter comes from two seeds that lie within the shea tree seed. These two oily seeds are ground in fine powder and boiled in water. The butter then comes on top of the water after it is cooled down. The butter we get is the purest and safest form of shea butter as it has no additives in it.

The history of Shea Butter dates back thousands of years and goes back as far as Cleopatra in Egypt, where it was used as the main cosmetic ingredient and stored in clay jars. In those times, shea butter used to be traded in many parts of the world, and because of its trade, it reached West Africa where its healing powers were discovered. Apart from West Africa, it was also traded in Europe and due to its wide availability, shea butter began to be added in soaps and other cosmetic products.

Shea butter is the best substitute for cocoa butter for those who are allergic to chocolate. This butter has been used in skincare products from ancient times and the practice is still ongoing in modern times.

Nutritional facts of shea butter

This butter is best in moderate amounts because of its saturated fat content. The following nutritional facts are for 1 tbsp. of Shea Butter:

Because of zero content of carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, shea butter has a low glycemic index, and all the calories come from the fat content of this butter.

Benefits of Shea butter

This butter has tremendous benefits, especially in skincare. Let’s peep into some of these amazing benefits:

1. Eczema Treatment

From a very early age, shea butter is very accommodating in healing eczema and other skin issues like dermatitis, dryness, or itching. This butter can be used in raw form and alone as well as mixed with other cosmetic ingredients. In the modern world, anyone having any sort of allergies while using any cosmetic, are recommended to use shea butter containing products because of its healing properties. This butter locks the moisture inside the pores of the skin and fends off dryness. Because of this locking ability, shea butter acts as an Emollient Agent. Hence, this butter is perfect for treating skin related problems in children as well as adults.

2. Anti-inflammatory Properties

We all have been in a situation where you applied any mask or cream on your face and got an allergic reaction as a result which leads to any redness or swelling on the face. No need to apply medical ointments to the face as there is a natural solution to it, apply shea butter on the face and this redness or swelling will ward off in a while. Shea butter has natural anti-inflammatory properties that are responsible for the soothing effect on the skin and also protect the skin against various allergic reactions.

3. Protection Against Aging

With exposure to UV light, stress, or poor diet, our skin oxidizes, where the cells of the skin degenerate and cause aging in people. Many people, especially women, apply shea butter on their skins, age gracefully as the presence of vitamin E and phenolic compounds in this butter, slows down the oxidation of skin and cells. Therefore, shea butter is the perfect solution for decelerating the aging process and aids in maintaining the elasticity of the skin for longer periods of time. 

4. Hair Care

Cleopatra used to apply shea butter on her hair for conditioning them which authenticates the use of this astounding butter as a conditioner since olden times. Even in modern world cosmetics, many hair conditioners have shea butter as the main ingredient which perfectly diminishes split ends, frizzy hairs, dandruff, etc. Regular use of this miraculous butter will eventually solve all your hair related problems and nourish hair from scalp to tips.

5. Prevents Nose Congestion

Children or adults having any sort of nasal congestion, are suggested to use shea butter as a natural remedy. This butter is applied as topical medicine in the nose and this application soothes the common cold or arthritis. This amazing shea butter also works wonders in healing inflammation of the nasal cavity as well as sinuses.

Side effects of Shea butter

There are no potential side effects of the natural form of shea butter but if mixed with any other ingredient or product, it can cause few possible side effects. Shea butter is often used in cholesterol lowering diets, so people with blood disorders or who take blood thinning medicines must avoid taking the supplement as it may lead to blood thinning to a dangerous level. It may even prove fatal in a few cases. 

Final verdict

After viewing the above mentioned positive and negative effects of this shea butter, it is advisable to use the natural form of this butter. Though the natural form of shea butter might be expensive to invest in but owing to the positive effects it is always worth it as it has astounding good effects on our skin as well as body.