SHEA BUTTER AND ITS PRODUCTION IN SUB SAHARIAN AFRICA

A few Word about Shea butter

Shea butter is a vegetable butter extracted from the Shea tree a tree growing in the savanna of Burkina Faso and West Africa. It is an substance that can be eat, extracted from the fruit of the Shea tree and has a texture similar to butter hence its name of Shea Butter

It is used in traditional cooking or used in the chocolate industry as a substitute for cocoa butter, but it is especially known for its cosmetic properties as a moisturizer and skin softener. These properties make it now entering in the composition of numerous cosmetics. It is a commonly used product which is cultivated in at least 16 producing countries such as  Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger , Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and the Republic of Guinea.

The fruit produced by this tree look like nuts in which there is a white almond naturally fat. When it is transformed it gives a yellowish paste, the Shea butter. Each year, an average tree produces 20 kilograms.

It has many repairing properties. It softened the skin and deeply hydrates. It is thus a very good moisturizer that softens your skin. Rich in vitamins A, D, E, F but also in latex that care product is primarily a natural treatment for multiple uses.
If you choose to use it in paste, its appearance will be inevitably different from any cream or milk that you find in your traditional shops. In this case, it will be in its solid form and so difficult to apply this way. That is normal as Shea butter paste should be rubbed vigorously between your hands to be warmed up and turn into oil. It is so useless to try to heat it with a hair dryer or by placing it on a radiator and even less in a microwave.

Excellent for facial skin care, It is beneficial for the elasticity, the hydration and skin protection. It can be used as a lip balm and it is very effective in winter. It also can be used for applications to treat noses irritated by winter colds or spring allergies. For men, it can be used as aftershave to appease irritated skin.

Shea butter can be applied in massage to relax muscles (mainly on the arms and thighs). The effect is immediate in case of soreness

A very good solution to keep your hair full of health and especially for dry and dull hair as it helps in revitalizing your hair. (Also ideal for curly hair that is naturally dry).
For a hydrating action to the hair: Apply a nut of Shea butter the day before your shampoo. It is not necessary to bring a lot because it can be too difficult to rinse afterwards.
This application must be made from the tips to the roots. Keep your hair wrapped in a warm towel and after 15-20 minutes, wipe your hair to avoid staining your pillow. Shea will act overnight to allow the keratin of your hair to absorb it

The day after do you shampoo to remove the remaining butter. You may have to repeat this operation

Here you are for the product; now let us see the production

The production is generally the result of thousands of village women works. They sale small quantities (1 or 2 pounds each) of Shea nut that they have collected in the evening after they finished their work in the fields. This additional activity allows them to finance their economic activities which give them a little more independence and power in the village

For fifteen years, in fact, many women's group began to manufacture and monetize the production of Shea butter particularly in exporting and making the world know about Shea butter, through the development of tourism fair. Profits are reinvested in the crude product transformation. Actually the process of transforming raw Shea in Shea butter is tedious and time consuming: Shea nuts are collected between mid-June and mid-September and thus transformed into Shea butter. This transformation is a very difficult job that still allows for village women to participate actively in the development of their communities by creating cooperatives whose function is similar to women's cooperatives for argan nuts in Morocco: making butter is ensured through workshops hiring again people in difficulty, as widows