About Skin and Hair Care!

100% ALL NATURAL, UNREFINED, ORGANIC SHEA BUTTER

***Our Premium Grade Shea is of the Highest Quality Available on the Market!
 
    Shea Butter is made from the pulp extracted from nuts of the African Mangifolia tree(shea tree), which grows in different African forest regions. Traditionally the nuts from the tree are picked, roasted and pounded then boiled for several hours to extract 100% pure unrefined shea. This natural extract is rich in vitamins and anti-oxidants.    Shea butter like all other natural products has a natural scent. The scent is usually nutty with a slight smoky scent to it because it is prepared under open fire. Once applied to the skin, the scent goes away.
Shea Butter is effective in treating the following conditions:
  • dry skin,
  • psoriasis,
  • stretch marks,
  • burns,
  • sunburn,
  • windburn,
  • dark spots,
 
  • eczema,
  • cracked chapped lips,
  • blemishes
  • premature facial lines,
  • wrinkles,
  • crusty feet and toes,
  • the list goes on…...
    Shea Butter is also an effective natural moisturizer as it helps maintain moisture and skin softness. Because of its softness, unsaponifiable content, and Vitamins F, Shea Butter is excellent for body massage as it absorbs quickly with the help of natural body heat. Unrefined shea does not spoil, therefore does not have a determined shelf life. Its healing properties are very powerful within the first 2 years. After that, it is still usable but not as beneficial. It does not need refrigeration, shea should be kept in a cool dry place to avoid melting.
 

MORE INFORMATION...
  • Botanical name: Vitellaria paradoxa (Gaertner.f.,) Hepper, (syn. Butyrospermum paradoxum, ssp. parkii)
  • Family Name: Sapotacea
  • Commercial Name: Shea Butter
  • Traditional and Modern Medicinal, Cosmetic and Nutritional Applications:
         Shea butter (Vitellaria paradox from West Africa and V. nilotica from East Africa) has been used for centuries in Africa for its unsurpassed ability to maintain and protect the skin from environmental damage and for cosmetic and food purposes. Shea Butter is used externally to protect the skin from sunburn, eczema, as skin rejuvenator, and for its exceptional healing qualities in scalp and hair care. The edible butter and used in the manufacturing of cocoa butter equivalent (solid fraction), and high quality Swiss chocolates, as well as a base for high quality cosmetics, and more recently in the aroma therapy industry. Shea butter is also used in the care of household pets as well as farm animals. Most shea butter products are manufactured manually, and in general without the use chemicals or bleaching agents.

        For centuries, Africans massaged it on their body after washing, to relax muscles and soften the skin, especially during the dry/hot seasons. Shea butter has been used to treat sprains, wounds and colds. It is used as an aftershave and a hair balm as it fixes dry, brittle and damaged hair. In tropical Africa, animal husbandry is practically impossible due to the presence of sleeping sickness, caused by the tsetse fly. Many Africans depend on shea butter as their substitute for the valuable dairy butter, and it is used internally as a natural source of antioxidants and vitamin E. Mothers, who can afford the product use it frequently in diapers to avoid rashes and apply it to the skin of infants, and even apply it to the umbilical cord of newborn babies to facilitate rapid healing. The moisturizing and soothing properties of shea butter are largely due to the high content and composition of the essential fatty acids, such as triglycerides, unsaponifiables and waxy esters. The seed kernels contain about 50% of a fat consisting mainly of stearic (36-47%) and oleic (33-50%) acids. The unsaponifiable fraction (2-11%) is composed of phenols: tocopherols, triterpenes (a-amyrin, lupeol, butyrospermol, parkeol), steroids (campesterol, stigmasterol, ß-sitosterol, a?spinasterol, delta-7-avenasterol) and the polyisoprenic hydrocarbon kariten (up to 2%). Due to its richness in cinnamic acid, and other components, shea butter can be used in the formulation of sun products against UV rays, skin lotions, and shampoos. Clinical observations suggest that shea butter increases local capillary circulation, which in turn increase tissue re-oxygenation and improves the elimination of metabolic waste products. It has anti-oxidizing and regenerating properties due to its richness in tocopherols, and other substances. French dermatologists tested 35 people, of different age, sex and racial backgrounds, for a period of ten days to 5 months, with shea butter for skin disorders ranging from dry and wrinkled skin to serious burns, rashes. They observed substantial healing in all cases, with no adverse effects.

        Shea butter is highly regarded in the cosmetic field because of its high emolliency and moisturization capacities, but also as an occlusive lipid replacement. It is also believed that its unsaponifiable content is beneficial for healing of damaged skin. Moreover, in current cosmetic practice, the trend toward the use of natural materials has become fully entrenched and as such, the demand for quality shea butter is very likely to increase.

        Shea butter also offers a high potential as a carrier material for essential oils used in aromatherapy. New products from shea butter are likely to increase as the product shows such promise as a moisturizer and retaining the elasticity of the skin. The unusually high content of unsaponifiables, also makes it an excellent fatting agent in soap making. Cosmetic and soap making industries can use shea butter to formulate cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, creams and balsams for hair and other skin cleansing and rejuvenating products. Shea butter is a safe product that can replace animal or bird products.
Historical Background
     Shea butter was not known in Europe before the seventeenth century. The tree has been called the “God Send” to the people of Africa. Found in the African Savannah, the tree is long-lived, fruiting only once a year, and developing the nut. Africans hand-pick the nuts, then extract the oil by boiling it and finally refining the product into the ‘shea butter’.
 
Ecology and Botany of Shea Butter
     Shea is native to tropical Africa, reaching upwards of 12 to 20m high, its branches are short and thick, with a grayish bark, red inside, deeply sprung and the cork of which divides into small irregular quadrangular prisms, very resistant to bush fires. The branches, more or less spreading, are short, thick, with ring-shaped rolls, bearing leaves at the end only. The leaves are large isolated, membranous, covered with a brownish down when young, tough and glabrous when adult. The fruit is a greenish-yellow ellipsoidal or spherical berry, harvested when fully mature, in June. Cultivation and Processing Shea butter nuts are normally obtained form trees growing wild in Tropical Africa. While trees can be more than a hundred years old, it is difficult to estimate the age of the trees. The genetic diversity and types of nuts among differential populations is not well understood. The cultivation of the trees is not yet well studied due to the long years of its growth, and the common practice of collecting from wild populations. It may require upwards of 15 to 25 years to bring a new planting into fruition. The trees are usually well protected because of their economic values.
 
TRADITIONAL KENYAN SAOP "MUARUBANNE"
 

         Legends of Africa realizes that natural skin care is a must and Traditional Kenyan Soap is one of the most important products for such care. Even though there are many kinds of natural soaps on the market the most traditional one would be the Kenyan Soap. Today people from all walks of life are benefiting from this amazing traditional soap. 

      Unlike a lot of soaps which are made from synthetic chemicals it is actually very moisturizing on the skin. This is because it is made from palm oil and palm kernels which produce heavy vegetable oils.
 
     The basic recipe is centuries old , having been highly guarded and handed down over the generations with slight variations in ingredients depending on what is locally available and the preference of the maker. Ash, bark, cocoa pods and plantain skins are commonly used lending the characteristic color to the soap.
 
     The plantain skins (Plantain is a popular food in Africa & other parts of the world. It looks much like a banana, but it's bigger and longer) in traditional Kenyan soap make it particularly good for sensitive skins as well as providing for the lye. Historically, people have used the traditional Soap to help relieve acne, oily skin, clear blemishes and various other skin issues. Many swear by it for skin irritations and conditions such as Eczema and Psoriasis as well. Traditional soap has also been used to achieve beautiful skin. Africans have also used this natural soap for bathing and washing their hair. It's excellent for removing make-up too! Traditional Soap will leave your skin soft and clear.
 
     *The tingling feeling traditional s\gives, lets you know where your skin is dirty most and where the soap cleaning action is working the hardest.
 
     We do not scent the traditional Soap. We mold it by hand to make it easier to use . It comes to you in it's natural form with all of it's intense natural goodness. It can be used by anyone who wishes to improve the quality of their skin.
 
     The skin of the plantain is dried to a specific texture under the hot African sun and then roasted in a clay oven. The heat must be kept precisely at a constant temperature in order to achieve a particular color, texture & smell. The longer the plantains are roasted, the darker the soap gets. Next, the roasted skins of the Plantain are mixed with Palm oil and Palm Kernel oil to form the soap. These oils are in their purest form - without refining - and they make for a HIGHLY nourishing soap!
 
     The blackness is as a result of the charring of palm kernel to get the oil out. The palm kernel oil makes its formability high in all kinds of hard water.
 
     Arguably what is best about the soap is what is not in it rather than what is. Liquid soaps usually have 2 chemicals in them that are increasingly under scrutiny - Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) and Parabens.
 
SLS is a very common chemical that is a harsh detergent. It is a powerful de-greaser and foaming agent but it has also been linked to adverse skin reactions.
 
Parabens are chemical preservatives that are also widely used in beauty products. There have been recent controversies surrounding their use when a study found them to be in breast tissue that was cancerous. Most other studies have shown them to have low toxicity and only a small percentage of the population have been shown to have an allergy to them.
 
Proponents of the traditional Kenyan soap argue it is a well tested product (that has historically been used for hundreds of years) with minimal problems and many benefits.
 
Hence Our Raw Soap is prized for its quality antiseptic properties and for its gentleness on the skin and hair.


 
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