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About Our Shea ButterWe import our Shea Butter and our Cocoa from an African owned producer and wholesaler of traditionally extracted, unrefined shea butter, African black soap and exotic oils.
They produce our shea butter and African black soap in Togo under fair trade and organic standards. Their direct involvment in the entire process, from gathering shea nuts to distribution in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, ensures a high quality, fresh shea butter for their customers. Please read more below for information on the shea butter and fair trade practices.
The pure unrefined shea butter comes from the nuts of wild shea trees scattered the fields and forests of the wooded savanna in central and northern Togo. The moisturizing and healing properties of shea butter have recently been discovered by the western cosmetic industry, but shea butter has been a mainstay of African pharmacology for centuries.
Shea butter has many useful properties and has been traditionally used as a decongestant, an anti-inflammatory for sprains and arthritis, a healing salve for babies' umbilical cords, a lotion for hair and skin care, as cooking oil, and for lamp fuel. However, the protective and emollient properties of shea butter are most valued for skin care. In central Togo, shea butter is applied to the skin and hair as a moisturizer and is also a main ingredient in traditional black soaps.
Moisturizing & Healing Benefits of our Unrefined Shea Butter
Unrefined shea butter contains an abundance of healing ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and a unique fatty acid profile, and is a superior active moisturizer. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, shea butter actually restores the skin's natural elasticity. Shea butter actually enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air, and as a result, it becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer. In addition, shea butter has natural sunscreen properties and anti-inflammatory agents. Because of its amazing properties, shea butter is an excellent ingredient for soaps, lotions and creams. Perhaps it is most effective when applied to the skin in its pure state. Regular users of pure, unrefined shea butter notice softer, smoother, healthier skin. Shea butter has also been shown to help with skin conditions and ailments such as extreme dryness, eczema, dermatitis, skin allergies, fungal infections, blemishes, wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, scrapes, and more.
Fair Trade Shea Butter
Unrefined shea butter is a valuable natural resource for West African and could be an important tool in empowering local communities. However, most shea butter on the market in the United States and Europe is not fairly traded. The women who gather shea nuts and hand craft this remarkable oil receive only a tiny fraction of the final price. It is estimated to take 20 to 30 hours of labor to produce one kilogram of handcrafted shea butter, which is traded at $1 or less in today's market. A woman making shea butter in West Africa will receive only a fraction of this price. Therefore, a person working for 30 hours, almost a week's worth of work, will not receive even a dollar for her efforts. Even if she received the whole dollar, this does not even begin to reach living wage standards. Through our direct involvement of the entire process Ð from gathering the wild shea nuts and crafting the butter, to distribution locally and abroad - our members receive fair and steady incomes. In addition, a large percentage of your purchases will go directly back to our community in the form of community enhancement projects, AIDS and malaria outreach, and educational scholarships. We believe in "building African self-empowerment the moral way" and truly appreciate your involvement in reaching our goals. Visit the Fair Trade Federation and fairtradesheabutter.org for more information on the importance of supporting fair trade.
Refined & Unrefined Shea Butter - the Difference
Only pure, unrefined shea butter has the true healing and moisturizing properties of shea butter. Most shea butter available to the general public outside West Africa is white and odourless, in other words it has been "refined" to remove the natural scent and color of natural shea butter. In the process, the majority of the effective agents are also removed. In addition, refined shea butter has usually been extracted from the shea kernels with hexane or other petroleum solvents. The extracted oil is boiled to drive off the toxic solvents, and then refined, bleached, and deodorized, which involves heating it to over 400¡F and the use of harsh chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide. Shea butter extracted in this manner still contains some undesirable solvent residues, and its healing values are significantly reduced. Antioxidants or preservatives such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) may be added as well. The end result is an odourless, white butter that may be aesthetically appealing, but lacks the true moisturizing, healing, and nutritive properties of true traditional shea butter. In addition, refined shea butter is often hard and grainy, not smooth and creamy like pure, unrefined shea butter. All that can be said for refined shea butter is that it has an extended shelf life, a white, uniform color, and no odour. |
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About Akamuti Cocoa ButterExtra Virgin Cocoa Butter
Our extra virgin cocoa butter has been extracted from shade grown cocoa beans from the mountainous Kpalime region in southern Togo. We use only shade grown cocoa beans purchased from small farmers at fair prices. Humans have realized the benefit and value of cocoa butter for thousands of years. Cocoa beans were traded since 1000 BC along the Mexican Gulf Coast. Theobroma cacao, the tree that produced cocoa beans has been grown in the wet tropical areas of West Africa since 1590. In Togo, the region that produces cocoa beans is the Chaine du Togo mountains in the south, near the city of Kpalime. You can see pictures of this region by going to our Tour of Togo page. In most parts of Togo, cocoa bean production in is still controlled by small farmers. The beans that Agbanga Karite uses are purchased from small farmers in remote villages. We buy only shade grown, organic beans for our cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter has been use in natural, high quality cosmetics for centuries. Cocoa butter is particularly praised for its antioxidant properties. These properties are due to the tocopherols as well as certain polyphenol. The polyphenol CMP has been found to suppress active oxygen, a factor in cancer. CMP was also found to inhibit the production of an immuno globulin that exacerbates topical dermatitis. As with our other butters, our cocoa butter is produced without any harsh chemicals and has not been refined in any way. Therefore, it retains all its natural healing and preventative properties. In addition, it has a lovely chocolate scent that will carry through in your creams and lotions.
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