Why shea butter is good for skin

The easiest way to use shea butter for your face is to purchase a cream that includes shea butter from a health food store, pharmacy, or online retailer. Shea butter can be applied directly to your face before you go to sleep.

Applying cream with shea butter as part of your skincare routine in the morning might take some getting used to. The fatty acids and oils in shea butter may make applying makeup on top of it difficult. You can also make a facial mask using shea butter and several other ingredients. Wash your face first with a cream cleanser or warm water. Mix well and spread out over your face. Leave the mask on for 10 to 12 minutes before gently cleansing your face with warm water and a soft washcloth for best results.

Shea butter is an incredibly low-risk topical ingredient. Allergic reactions to shea butter are rare. Even people who are allergic to tree nuts, the family that shea nuts belong to, have a low risk of reaction to shea butter on their face. Researchers believe this is because shea nuts contain little of the tree-nut proteins that trigger allergies. Shea butter can be used on its own, but it's just as commonly used as an ingredient in cosmetics, so it's up to you how you use it. Although, Wong makes sure to note that "Shea butter is best incorporated into a moisturiser with other ingredients so it's easier to spread, since it's usually a thick solid at room temperature.

If you're looking to use it on its own or make your own products, your best option will probably be buying it in bulk online from a wholesaler. Raw shea butter is meant to be rubbed on the skin as a method of moisturizing it and protecting the skin barrier.

Refined shea butter included in something else lipsticks, lip balms, body creams, body butters is used as a moisturizing ingredient in those as well. Combine the ingredients in a microwave-safe glass container or measuring cup. Microwave to gently heat up the shea butter and beeswax. Pour into a 4 to 5-ounce glass jar and let cool.

Stir again. Use on dry areas. It's great for the knees, elbows, and can even be used to treat and prevent chapped lips. Heat two teaspoons coconut oil, one teaspoon of almond oil, one teaspoon of cocoa butter , and one teaspoon shea butter in a microwave-safe bowl or container on low.

You should only heat them for about two to three seconds, until the ingredients are melted, but not at all boiling. Stir them together, and massage them into your hands. It's a great moisturizing hand treatment to use during the winter months.

Melt three teaspoons grated beeswax and three teaspoons castor oil in a microwave or double boiler. Stir and remove from heat. Add six to ten drops of the essential oil of your choice along with a teaspoon of honey. If you want to add a little color, shave off a little of your favorite lipstick into the mixture. Pour into lip balm tins, a small glass cosmetic jar, or even into a lipstick tube.

Let the balm cool uncovered for about 20 minutes. Lipsticks that promise to be hydrating are often, well, not. Least of all when they're liquid. Even if they don't dry out your lips, usually it's a good idea to put on a layer or two of a hydrating lip balm underneath any lipstick if you don't want to deal with flaky lips later.

This isn't the case with Dior's Ultra Care line, which uses botanical oils and shea butter to prioritize your lips first, and color in a very close second. By the name, you can probably tell that shea butter isn't the only hydrating ingredient in these cult-favorite balms. You can add moisturizing oils or essential oils to your shea butter to give it a little extra oomph.

Rosehip oil a carrier oil and lavender essential oil are great options to start with. Warm up your shea butter between your palms and add a few drops of the oil of your choice.

Another method is to soften it over low heat in a double boiler. Moisturize dry skin with a shea butter face mask. Mix the ingredients together, apply to your face, and leave the mask on for about 10 minutes.

Optimize shea butter to target acne with other skin-friendly oils. Mix these ingredients together and apply to acne as a spot treatment in the evening. Apply shea butter in a thin layer, leave on for about 10 minutes, and then wash it off rather than leaving it on overnight. Create this facial butter for a youthful boost. Apply this to your face focusing on fine lines and wrinkles, and then leave it on overnight to soak into your skin.

Always do a patch test before trying a new essential oil. When trying any new ingredient on your face, there is some risk of an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions to shea butter are rare , even for people who are allergic to tree nuts the nut family shea nuts are from.

If you have sensitive skin, you should apply shea butter to a small area of your skin and wait 48 hours to see if you have an allergic reaction. Also, pay close attention when mixing shea butter with other ingredients like oils. Those can also cause irritation for some users. If your face needs a little TLC, try letting shea butter come to your rescue.

To get the most out of your probably expensive skin care products, you need to apply them in the right order. Feeling good in your body is a little more than workouts and showering. It is rich in fats that make it an excellent emollient and skin moisturizing agent. Experiments also showed it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. These can help reduce inflammatory skin diseases and the damage the skin and hair have undergone due to free radicals.

These components give shea butter a mild sun protection factor SPF. Now, when it comes to the types of shea butter available in the market, there are a handful of varieties.

Raw or pure shea butter is the most natural form that is usually yellow or green. It may contain a few impurities as it has not been processed at all and is sold right after extraction from the nuts. This raw version can be processed in different ways to yield different varieties of shea butter. We shall discuss these below. Shea butter may be refined or unrefined. Unrefined shea butter is the purest form of shea butter, which is the most natural and the least processed.

Since it is extracted manually, it is able to retain its vitamins, minerals, and other natural properties. It is subjected to a basic filtration process using clays, cheesecloth, or other methods. It is melted, set into molds, and sold in the form of bars or sticks. Unrefined shea butter is further categorized into grades ranging from A to F, with grade A being the best quality. Refined shea butter, on the other hand, is the processed form.

Apart from the filtration process, it also undergoes a deodorizing process by airing or usage of chemicals. It is also bleached to make the butter whiter. Addition of additives is common to add a suitable scent and increase the shelf life preservatives of the butter. All of these processes make the butter white and very smooth.

A major disadvantage of using the refined version of shea butter is that all the processing it goes through reduces its nutritional value. This refined version can be refined even further, which implies the involvement of more processes to make it even more smooth and white. This is often done when shea butter needs to incorporated into cosmetics or skin care products. Quite a few of the nutritional benefits get destroyed after so many refining processes. This type of shea butter is often referred to as ultra-refined or highly refined shea butter.

Some companies also market their shea butter as being organic. This is the unrefined version that has been grown and harvested using natural processes only. The healing and moisturizing properties of shea butter can be attributed to its nutritional value. Here is the nutritional data for shea butter. Shea butter contains UV-B absorbing triterpene esters, such as cinnamic acid and tocopherols. In addition to these, it also has a high percentage of phytosterols, triterpenes, and hydrocarbons such as karitene.

It also contains:. Shea butter is considered as a superfood for the skin as it is rich in unsaturated fats, with a large proportion of non-saponifiable components, essential fatty acids, vitamins E and D, phytosterols, provitamin A, and allantoin. It has been used since time immemorial for skin care, baby care, and consumption.

Given below are its various shea butter benefits for the skin. Shea butter is an excellent moisturizer for the face and the body. Its fat content is responsible for its emollient and humectant properties 6. It locks in the moisture in the skin and keeps it hydrated for long. Dehydrated and dry skin becomes rough and scaly.

Certain areas of the body can even develop skin cracks due to dryness. Shea butter can nourish the skin with its fat content.

It can also help to soften the skin on your hands and feet and make it supple. It penetrates the skin easily, without clogging the pores, and is effective for dry skin. Use shea butter to heal cracked heels, dry cuticles, and rough patches on your skin. You can also use it to simply moisturize your skin during the colder months. Shea butter is known for its healing properties, which can be attributed to the presence of several fatty acids and plant sterols such as oleic, palmitic, stearic, and linolenic acids.

These oil-soluble components do not undergo saponification or convert into soap on coming in contact with alkalis. Shea butter is more non-saponifiable than other nut oils and fats, thus imparting it great healing potential. Raw, unrefined shea butter is effective in curing skin rashes , skin peeling after tanning, scars, stretch marks, frost bites, burns, athletes foot, insect bites and stings, and acne 7.

Shea butter has several derivatives of cinnamic acid that exhibit anti-inflammatory properties. These properties make it beneficial for the improvement of skin conditions that result from an increase in inflammatory compounds 8. Generalized inflammations from conditions like dermatitis and rosacea can be alleviated by using shea butter on the affected area.

Sunburns, rashes, cuts, and scrapes that can result in swelling can also be treated using this butter. Shea butter is considered as one of the best anti-aging agents for the skin. It stimulates the production of collagen, the youthful scaffolding protein in the skin. The vitamins A and E found in this butter keep the skin supple, nourished, and radiant.

If used regularly, it reduces wrinkles and also prevents premature wrinkles and facial lines. Its anti-aging properties can also be attributed to its ability to increase circulation to the skin and promote cell renewal.

These vitamins, along with catechins, also exert an antioxidant effect against free radicals that damage the skin.