Most people have heard of shea butter or seen it on their beauty product packaging, but many may not know the benefits it provides. It has been labeled a "superfood" for skin and "Mother Nature's Conditioner" for the many moisturizing properties it contains. Shea butter's healing properties are one of the many reasons it's a regularly used ingredient in skin and hair care products.

What Is Shea Butter?

Shea butter is the fatty oil produced from the white kernels inside of the nuts and seeds of the shea tree. Depending on the grade, shea butter can be a white, creamy yellow color with a faint scent or a yellow color with a stronger fragrance. Experts classify shea butter into five different grades with unrefined and refined being the most popular and ultra-refined being the one used in manufacturing beauty products because of its smoother consistency. While shea butter has a rich and oily texture, it spreads and absorbs quickly into the skin.

Why Is Shea Butter Used In Beauty Products?

Shea butter has been used as a beauty ingredient for centuries thanks to the many beneficial properties it contains. It is high in fatty acids and vitamins and has anti-inflammatory and healing properties, making it a perfect ingredient for beauty products to help soften, condition, tone, and moisturize skin and hair. It can be used topically to protect the skin, as a body lotion to address many different skin conditions, in hair for heat protection and growth, or in massages for added moisture and relaxation. Shea butter comes in various forms ranging from lotions, creams, soaps, facial serums, lipsticks, lip balms, shampoos, and massage oils and balms, along with other hair care products.

What Are the Benefits of Using Products With Shea Butter?

Rich in vitamins A, E, and F, shea butter is also known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, smoothing, regenerative, and circulation and collagen-boosting properties. These all work to help support healthy skin and hair. When used in skin care, the benefits that shea butter offers are endless. It helps not only to hydrate and soothe but to reduce the appearance of acne, dark spots, discolorations, stretch marks, wrinkles, dryness, rashes, eczema, psoriasis, as well as increase skin elasticity to help with signs of aging. What truly sets the product apart is that people with sensitive, dry, or oily skin can use shea butter because of its gentle, oil balancing, and non-pore clogging nature.

When used in hair care, shea butter still moisturizes and nourishes, but acts as a barrier to protect hair from damage due to heat styling and environmental factors. Despite its consistency, shea butter readily absorbs into hair and does not leave it looking sticky or greasy, nor does it irritate the scalp with dandruff and itchiness.

Now is as good a time as any to try out new products or restock those products containing shea butter with the many benefits it offers to skin and hair. Remember to visit Nectar to check out all the products containing shea butter.