Have you ever wondered “What is refined shea butter?” and what is the difference between Refined and Unrefined? You’ve come to the right place!
To fully answer, I will first cover what these butters are and how they are made.
What is shea butter?
Shea Butter is extracted from the nuts of the Shea Tree (Vitellaria Paradoxa) in many African countries. The Shea tree is nicknamed the “Tree of Life” for its ability to help with many skin, hair and health conditions.
Once extracted, there are several methods of preparation for use. Depending on how it is made is what makes it either refined or raw shea butter.
Shea Butter is a cosmetic butter, commonly used as a natural moisturizer that can be applied directly to hair and skin or used in creating DIY beauty products. It contains many nutrients, fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins. This helps the skin to rebuild and rejuvenate, improves the condition of the skin barrier, which helps retain moisture over time and helps to remove minor irritations.
Why Use Shea Butter?
Shea butter or other raw cosmetic butters can be incorporated into a skin care routine by applying them directly to the skin or hair as a moisturizer. They are best used right after showering or washing your face when your skin has absorbed water. However, they can also be used on dry skin or hair as they have some level of hygroscopic properties. This means they will draw some water from the air to help with hydration.
Drugstore shea butter skin and hair products typically contain many more cosmetic ingredients as well as water and preservatives, which dilute the effect of the nourishing butter in the formula. It also increases the chance of a skin reaction or sensitivity. When you use pure shea butter, you get the concentrated benefits of the butter itself.
What is unrefined shea butter?
“Unrefined” means that it has not been altered from its natural state by refining, mechanical or chemical means. After the process of extracting the butter from the shea nuts, raw shea butter is immediately sold as a raw product. You can read more about this process here.
Shea butter has a natural aroma like many nuts, very similar to the smell of almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts, along with a characteristic smoky note. You can often notice distinct notes of natural plant-based aromas with different batches of shea butter, similar to wine varieties, but always with an underlying flavor and smoke. This natural aroma can vary from faint to more intense in any given batch of butter.
The natural color can range from an off-white, buttery yellow to a deeper grayish or green shade. Even with the freshest raw butters, you’ll still see a range of flavor and color variations. These will always occur naturally due to the fluctuating levels of nutrients and botanicals contained in the nut. This is a result of the nuts being harvested from different shea locations as well as the time of year of harvest.
How is shea butter refined?
Refined shea is treated from its raw state to remove natural color and aroma. There are several methods of refining shea butter that are important to be aware of when choosing to use this product.
The first method used results in a lower quality product. This method uses solvents or bleaches that can leave chemical residues in the finished product and remove the vast majority of the nutritional value of the butter itself. This can also be irritating or damaging to the skin or hair.
When choosing a butter for personal care or when making products for a business, the quality of the product is of the utmost importance because it is used to enhance skin and hair health.
The other method used retains most of the nutritional value of the raw butter. In this process, shea butter is washed of any residue or residue from its rough state. It is then bleached without chemicals to remove the natural color from the butter. From there it is mechanically filtered and deodorized to remove any particles and the natural shea butter aroma.
This gentle shea butter refining process leaves the fatty acids and lipids from the natural nuts undisturbed in the final product. It works very similarly to a raw shea butter, and for some applications, such as creating products with special fragrances or tints, or for those who prefer unscented products, refined shea butter may be the best choice.
Is refined shea butter better than unrefined?
The short answer is that it depends on what you want to use it for.
If you’re looking for maximum nutritional value and don’t prefer the smell or color of butter, then raw shea butter is the best choice.
On the other hand, high quality Refined shea butter still contains many of the nutrients and vitamins and, as explained above, when you buy refined shea butter, you get the consistent color and an unscented product.
Those who would like to make or offer raw butter products may want a consistent smell, color and texture. This is when refined shea butter may be a better option to use.
Where to buy high quality refined shea butter
Better Shea Butter has a very high quality refined shea butter that you can get in different sizes here. This shea butter has been mechanically refined using a solvent and chemical free process. It is also sourced and sourced from a women’s chicken coop in Ghana, Africa.
This refined shea butter still contains many fatty acids and lipids from the natural nuts in the final product. It works very similarly to a raw shea butter, and for some applications, such as creating specially flavored or colored products, soap making, or for those who prefer unscented products, it may be a better choice than unrefined.
How to use refined shea butter
While the natural scent of shea butter pairs well with strong essential oils like lavender and rosemary, what if you wanted to make a product with a subtle essential oil? The aroma of raw shea butter will probably overpower it.
Or, for example, what if you want to make pastel-hued body butters as party favors? The pigment may lose some of its vibrancy when combined with raw shea butter. Refined white shea butter is a great solution.
Here are some examples of products that refined shea butter would benefit from:
- Unscented and scented products for those sensitive to scents, such as body butter or balm
- Brightly colored body butters, balms and soaps
- Lip balm
- Cosmetics
If you want to download our free DIY Skin Care eBook for ideas on how to use butter to make homemade beauty products, you can find it here. Refined shea butter and raw shea butter can be used interchangeably in any recipe.
We hope you have learned more about refined shea butter and how it can be used. It’s another beneficial tool in a collection of natural raw ingredients (cosmetic butters, waxes, oils, herbs and powders) that you can use to create a perfect custom product.
As always, comment below with any questions or comments you may have.
Author: Natalie, Natural DIY Enthusiast
