5 Amazing Benefits of Shea Butter for Your Curls

You've probably heard of lip balms, body lotions, and hand creams that contain shea butter. But did you know that this delicious nut butter is also found in a variety of hair products? In fact, it's a classic ingredient for dry locks to moisturize and soothe a flaky scalp.

Our Styling Gel and the All-in-One treatment have this amazing ingredient and that is why we want to give you some more information about it.

Shea butter for hair: a gift from Mother Nature.

Shea butter, also known as karite butter, is traditionally used in sub-Saharan Africa as a natural ingredient for medicinal and culinary purposes. As a beauty ingredient, specifically for hair care, shea butter has superior moisturizing properties compared to other types of vegetable butter.

Since the shea butter industry provides many employment opportunities for women in Africa, the butter is also known as "the gold of the woman". Since unrefined shea butter has a yellow-golden hue, that's an appropriate name.

Shea butter comes from the nuts of the shea tree (also called karite tree). This tree is native to the Sudano-Sahelian belt in Africa and is further divided into two subspecies:

• Vitellaria paradoxa, which grows mainly in West Africa.
• Vitellaria nilotica, which occurs in East Africa.

The shea tree is valued for three things:

• Pulp, which is rich in vitamin C
• Seeds, which are rich in fats
• Butter, which is extracted from the fats in the kernels.

Traditionally, African women gather the nuts of the shea tree. They shell the nuts and boil the kernels in water. Once the mixture has cooled and solidified, they scoop out the butter. Voila! You now have unrefined shea butter, also called raw shea butter.

In commercial settings, the production of refined shea butter for hair is mechanized using screw presses. This improves the extraction rate for product consistency and quality. Shea butter made this way usually has a ivory white color without odor.

According to science, shea butter is packed with hair nutrients ranging from fatty acids to vitamins:

• Palmitic acid
• Stearic acid
• Oleic acid
• Linoleic acid
• Arachidonic acid
• Carotene
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin E
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Iron

With a legion of antioxidants, it's no wonder so many people have turned to shea butter as part of their hair care routine.

Fun fact: Shea butter is commercially known as Butyrospermum parkii, although the correct botanical name is Vitellaria paradoxa.

5 Benefits of Shea Butter for Hair

1. A natural moisturizer for dry hair

Due to its high fatty acid and vitamin E content, shea butter is a powerful emollient that acts as a natural moisturizer for your hair and scalp. Research shows that shea butter has “good water-binding properties” to help your strands attract water into their fibers. In other words, jYou can count on shea butter to maintain and improve your hair's hydration.

In addition, shea butter easily sinks into the hair shaft without to leave a greasy layer.What it does leave behind is a thin moisturizing layer on the hair scales that works as a sealing. This helps your hair strands retain moisture, a boon for hair with a high porosity that tends to lose an extreme amount of moisture. And we all know what hydrated curls mean - hair that feels oh-so-soft, without fluff.

2. A defense mechanism against hair damage

One of the biggest causes of hair damage is raised cuticles. The increased number of pores on the cuticle means that your strands are losing moisture faster than they can retain it. Worse yet, fiber-damaging chemicals can now easily penetrate the hair shafts. So your first priority is to fill in the cracks in your cuticles so that you can nip hair damage in the bud.

As explained earlier, shea butter for hair does a great job of coating your hair cuticles with a moisturizing layer. This protective layer has two important functions as a defense mechanism against hair damage:

• It reduces friction to minimize split ends and hair breakage from mechanical forces such as brushing.
• It enhances shine to improve the appearance of dead hair.

3. A balm against scalp irritation

Shea butter has long been used in skin care products to combat dry skin. It is no surprise then that shea butter is used in hair care to address dry scalp issues.

Because shea butter naturally contains triterpenes (plant-derived compounds with strong antioxidant properties), the nut butter is a soothing balm for common scalp irritations such as flaking, dryness and itching.

4. Protects against heat

Repeated heat styling is a surefire way to frizzy, burnt, and frizzy hair. High heat breaks down the chemical bonds in your strands, weakening the hair fiber and allowing moisture to escape from the core. But if you can’t ditch your blow dryer, you’ll be happy to know that you can use shea butter as a heat protectant.

5. Protection against UV radiation

Shea butter is believed to have a low but sufficient SPF to protect your hair from the damage of the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is especially beneficial for processed or colored hair.

Who is Shea Butter suitable for?

Due to shea butter's thick, buttery texture and ultra-moisturizing properties, it is best suited for:

• Dry hair
• Damaged hair
• Natural hair types, such as curly hair and kinky hair
• stiff hair

On the other hand, shea butter can easily weigh down fine hair. It can also be too rich for an oily scalp. If you do want to try shea butter, start with small amounts on the ends of your hair. That way, you can gauge how your curls respond without the risk of greasy, flat hair.