You can tell if what you have is pure Shea Butter by its aroma and color. The color of pure Shea Butter and its aroma can sometimes be unappealing to individual consumers, which prompted a refining process to strip it of the original color and odor.

There are two forms of Shea Butter: refined and unrefined Shea Butter. The refined Shea Butter loses its aroma and color of pure Shea Butter as it goes through the manufacturing process, which includes adding a chemical called hexane. This is a petroleum-based chemical, which is thought to be harmful to people, the environment and other living things. Most consumers prefer unrefined Shea Butter.

Their Distinctive Characteristics

The color of pure Shea Butter may be a slightly greenish or cream colored. It varies from these two colors but is seldom far from either one. It looks very rich and fatty but does not feel greasy after a few minutes of rubbing onto the skin.

The Shea Butter color can be an indication of how it was produced. The unrefined color of pure Shea Butter is the greenish or ivory color that comes naturally to the cream. Since it is unrefined and not processed with any harmful chemical, it retains the color of pure Shea Butter.

The earthy aroma of pure Shea Butter may smell peculiar at first, but the scent eventually grows on you. Refined Shea Butter not only removes the aroma of the cream, but also makes it blend better with other, often questionable, ingredients. This gives the Shea Butter products more of a variety and can appeal to all kinds of noses. However, the quality of refined Shea Butter suffers.

Uses For Pure Shea Butter

Pure Shea Butter is commonly used as either an ingredient for cosmetics or as a moisturizer itself. Due to the high demand for it, some cosmetics manufacturers use a small amount of it in some of their products and yet label it a Shea Butter product. In cases like these, you are not really getting your money’s worth since it is not purely Shea Butter.

You might like to read the ingredients and the percentage of what it contains before you buy the product.