The Real Colour and Smell of Shea Butter.

Shea butter is the fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. Shea butter contains mainly stearic acid and oleic acid. It is also called ori, karite, kadanya etc in parts of Africa. Shea butter has
so many health and healing properties for skin, hair and scalp.

Shea butter is more commonly extracted in Africa by the people who collect the pods and extract, so most of the shea butter sold in West Africa is raw and unrefined. This is why the colour, smell and texture of shea butter vary each time you buy a new batch.

Most people wonder if the shea butter they are buying is pure, raw, adulterated or refined. Refined

shea butter will have uniform taste, texture and smell to meet the criteria set for the product. Because we have been conditioned to believe that products must always have a particular colour, taste or smell we sometimes find it confusing to know what is real.  This reasoning cannot work for natural products because the raw materials vary depending on their location. Below is how shea butter can be different in terms of colour, smell and texture. 

• Unrefined shea butter has a slightly smoky and nutty smell. 
• The smell of raw shea butter diminishes with time after application.
• Refined shea butter may be treated to remove from of the smell.
• Shea butter that has a rancid smell is not fresh and has not been kept properly.
• The colour of raw shea butter varies, depending on the nuts used. 
• Shea butter can be whitish, cream, gray, ivory and light to deep yellow.
• Shea butter that has more oleic acid content is softer than the one with more stearic acid because oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid which is liquid while stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid and is more solid at room temperature.
• Shea butter melts easily when kept under hot conditions.

So, shea butter has many colours and textures while the smell is almost the same unless rancid or very old. Raw or unrefined shea butter is the best to use if you are planning to use it for health and healing because most of the nutrients in raw shea butter is preserved during the processing. It is better to buy your shea butter in small batches because it becomes rancid with time. Store shea butter in a cool place and avoid exposing it to direct sunlight. Read here to find out more about the health benefits of shea butter.

Let's have your feedback below if you have ever used or are using shea butter. Follow on Twitter @heal2bwell for updates.