The ingredient narratives reshaping clean beauty.
Shea Butter
aka butyrospermum parkii · shea · karite butter
The single most important traded cosmetic raw material from West Africa — and the supply chain that has done the most to embed fair-trade and women's-cooperative sourcing in clean beauty. Hanahana Beauty and Adwoa Beauty built brands on the cooperative-source story. High in stearic and oleic acids (~85% combined) plus unsaponifiables (catechins, triterpenes) that distinguish it from generic vegetable butters.
- deeply emollient with high unsaponifiable content
- anti-inflammatory and barrier-supportive
- the supply-chain ethics story is real and verifiable
- body butters
- lip balms
- haircare creams (Adwoa, Briogeo)
- barrier creams
Unrefined shea has a faint smoky-nutty aroma — refined is odorless but loses some unsaponifiables. Whipped into balms at 10–25%; lower percentages in lighter creams. Look for cooperative naming (Global Shea Alliance, ojoba) for verification.
Tree nut allergen by some classifications — though clinically rare. 'Shea-infused' often means cosmetic trace.
Strongly trusted — with sourcing transparency, the gold-standard butter.
The ingredient narratives reshaping clean beauty.
Shea Butter
aka butyrospermum parkii · shea · karite butter
The single most important traded cosmetic raw material from West Africa — and the supply chain that has done the most to embed fair-trade and women's-cooperative sourcing in clean beauty. Hanahana Beauty and Adwoa Beauty built brands on the cooperative-source story. High in stearic and oleic acids (~85% combined) plus unsaponifiables (catechins, triterpenes) that distinguish it from generic vegetable butters.
- deeply emollient with high unsaponifiable content
- anti-inflammatory and barrier-supportive
- the supply-chain ethics story is real and verifiable
- body butters
- lip balms
- haircare creams (Adwoa, Briogeo)
- barrier creams
Unrefined shea has a faint smoky-nutty aroma — refined is odorless but loses some unsaponifiables. Whipped into balms at 10–25%; lower percentages in lighter creams. Look for cooperative naming (Global Shea Alliance, ojoba) for verification.
Tree nut allergen by some classifications — though clinically rare. 'Shea-infused' often means cosmetic trace.
Strongly trusted — with sourcing transparency, the gold-standard butter.