Women have always been smart and have been able to cooperate with nature, discovering different natural gifts that can be applied to the well-being of their bodies and senses. Our forefathers had many tricks and skills to boost health, heal wounds, prevent diseases and take care of their appearance. These skills have been passed down from generation to generation, and thus ancient knowledge and wisdom have reached this day. We are sincerely pleased that the use of natural gifts has once again been brought to glory – not only in the treatment, more and more natural means are preferred, but also in cosmetology. Today we will write more about our favorite raw material, unrefined shea butter, which is the main component in HOIA body foams (pictured next door) and body scrubs.
Shea butter or African gold
Shea butter, an abundant fat called African gold, is derived from the nuts of the African shea tree. What makes shea tree unique is that they are found only in Africa, and shea butter is therefore also a very important local raw material for the African continent, and of course it is mentioned in almost all the documents about the history of Africa. This valuable natural product has always played an important role in the pharmacology of the Black Continent. Cleopatra is said to have already used shea butter for cosmetic procedures, among other things. Today, shea butter is consumed, for example, in Ghana to care for and protect the skin during the dry Harmattan season. In Nigeria, shea butter is used to relieve sinusitis and nasal congestion. Shea butter is also edible, in many regions of Africa it is used as a food product, as it is a fully neutral edible peanut butter!
Shea butter properties
In particular, shea butter is still a highly valued skin care product, as it is rich in fatty acids and other valuable nutrients (vitamins A, E, F). Shea butter has a caring and nourishing effect on the skin, as it contains the necessary fatty acids, vitamins, sterols and other bioactive nutrients. It is also noteworthy that compared to other oils and fats, the skin care properties of shea butter are greater, since in shea butter the so-called unseeded components form a much more significant part than in other similar skin care products. However, the super properties of shea butter do not end there: some chemical compounds found in shea butter have also been found to have anti-inflammatory properties, and shea butter also provides some protection against UV rays. Shea butter plays an important role in both hair and skin care:
DIFFERENT SKIN PROBLEMS
Shea butter is helpful in treating superficial pains, abrasions, scars, dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema, sunburn, dandruff, acne, very dry elbow and sole skin.
PREGNANCY SCARS
Ka tulevased kõhukad beebiemmed saavad sheavõist kasu lõigata, sest sheavõipõhised tooted on tõhusad rasedusarmide ennetajad ning parandavad juba olemasolevate venitusarmide väljanägemist.
BABIES
Attention to parents of tiny babies: shea butter is used very effectively to relieve diaper rash, and it can also help in case of gas pains in the baby (you need to take a small amount of shea butter and warm it in your hands, then gently massage the baby’s belly in the direction of the clockwise movement). The same job is done by a HOIA baby foam richly containing unrefined shea butter!
FACIAL SKIN CARE
In our Nordic climate and in the harsh weather of winter, however, shea butter is an excellent protection for the face, lips and hands, so that the drizzling and tweaking winter air does not hurt the skin and does not make it rough. Therefore, if you have passionate fishermen at home who also practice ice fishing with frost, then shea butter is just the right helper for them! For who would want to get home from rough lips (even though the fish catch can be pretty good!).
REJUVENATING EFFECT
In addition to all of the above, shea butter also acts as a rejuvenating agent, since in addition to its very good moisturizing properties, it also promotes cell renewal.
HAIR
Shea butter gives hair shine and vitality and a brightly healthy look. Looking at the long list of these wonderful qualities, I don’t think anyone should be wondering why shea butter is also upended on the same stick as gold – it’s just so valuable and precious! HOIA is also fascinated by shea butter and uses it in its products for hundreds of kilos. All of our body foams contain 40% unrefined shea butter, which is an exceptionally large amount, and that’s why HOIA body foams can be used in all of the above ways as a shea butter substitute: they are suitable for a hair mask (which must be washed out with shampoo); to alleviate various skin problems; coconut body foam and baby foam are an excellent care product for baby skin and are also suitable as a rejuvenating, emollient and caring tool for the face! Future belligerent baby moms also love HOIA body foams to prevent pregnancy scars and soothe and moisturize an itchy stomach!
It should also be said here that very many products actually contain shea butter (in the list of ingredients called Butoryspermum Parkii Butter), but its quantity in the product is usually quite vanishing due to the high price (especially in creams, since most of the cream is made up of water); in addition, it should be taken into account that there is a big difference between shea butter and shea butter!
UNREFINED AND REFINED?
What is very important, however, is whether it is REFINED or UNREFINED shea butter, since only pure and unrefined shea butter has all the good qualities that were highlighted above. All natural and useful substances are preserved in butter in full form only when it is unprocessed. Refining is the treatment of shea butter with the help of heat and chemicals, as a result of which its natural aroma and color are lost from butter, as well as the loss of most natural vitamins and other useful substances (it is known that up to 75% of bioactive nutrients are lost in refining). Natural shea butter is beautifully golden and temptingly nutty-scented, but when processed, it becomes a snow-white odorless bunch. So, unfortunately, refined shea butter isn’t much of a jerk anymore. So why spoil this wonderful substance through processing at all? Shea butter is a very common and effective skin caretaker nowadays, without which it is difficult to cope in the cosmetics industry (it is difficult to find a cosmetics company whose ingredients are quite absent from shea butter). This important fact that it is often this poorer variant, i.e. refined shea butter, that has often been used, is often not mentioned by the manufacturer… There are many reasons why you use processed butter. First of all, of course, the price, because processed shea butter is, of course, cheaper. Cheaper because refining is actually the only way to mass produce it – or separation is done using chemicals and significantly faster and with less displacement than unrefined butter produced in the traditional way. But it is worth remembering again that since all good things are exhausted from refined shea butter, in this case it is no longer the right thing to do. One reason is also that manufacturers want to decide for themselves what specific colour and smell their final product will be with. The smell and colour of natural and unrefined shea butter are strong and peculiar enough that they can dominate the final product. Refined shea butter, on the other hand, is odorless and colorless and thus allows you to. Unfortunately, however, this also means that it is a characterless ingredient and a so-called dead substance. Thus, in any case, our recommendation is to decide vigorously in favor of natural unrefined shea butter with a golden and peculiar smell! Because it’s not just shea butter, it’s downright pharim, or 😉
Only raw or unrefined shea butter has been used in HOIA scrubs and body foams, baby foam and lip balm, so all the good and better that hides in shea butter will also reach your body and mind. Still with all the stuff, because not a grain has been lost or removed from it. Shea butter is also the main ingredient in these HOIA products and conducts this pleiade of pleasures that reaches your skin from the jar.
In the form of unrefined shea butter, something very energetic and exotic comes to us, with great power and hundreds of years of good fame. If you want to buy yourself a particularly good unrefined shea butter body scrub or body foam, visit our epod by clicking HERE.