Ingredient pillar · Burkina Faso
Unrefined shea butter, stone-ground in Bobo-Dioulasso
Grade A, ivory-to-pale-yellow, nutty (not rancid). Pressed by the Bobo Shea Producers Union from karité nuts harvested in the Hauts-Bassins region. No hexane, no bleach, no deodorisation.
Botanical
Vitellaria paradoxa
Origin
Hauts-Bassins, Burkina Faso
Grade
A, unrefined, food-grade
Process
Stone-ground, water-extracted
MoQ wholesale
From 5 kg with CoA
What real shea butter actually is
Shea butter is the fat pressed from the kernel of Vitellaria paradoxa, a tree that grows wild across the Sahel band, from Senegal east to Sudan. Burkina Faso sits in the heart of this band. There, harvest and processing are women’s work passed down for generations: women collect fallen fruit, boil and dry the kernels, pound them, roast them on low heat, and grind the paste between stones until the butter floats out under hand-kneading with water.
That traditional method is what makes Grade A. The butter keeps its natural cinnamic acid esters, its tocopherols (vitamin E family), its triterpene alcohols (lupeol, α-amyrin, β-amyrin), the molecules that do the work on dry skin and damaged hair. Industrial refining strips most of them out in exchange for a whiter, blander, longer-shelf-life product.
How to use unrefined shea butter
- Body, warm a marble-sized piece between your palms until it melts (skin temperature is enough), smooth onto damp skin after a shower. A little goes far. Daily.
- Hair sealing, after a leave-in or oil, take a pea-sized amount, emulsify in your palms, smooth over ends. Locks in moisture; doesn’t replace it.
- Lips, knuckles, elbows, neat, anywhere skin is cracking from cold or wash frequency. The cinnamic acid esters give it a measurable UV shoulder (~SPF 3 to 4, not sunscreen, but a buffer).
- Whipped body butter base, see recipe below. Whipped shea spreads more easily and feels lighter than the solid block.
Unrefined Grade A vs refined shea
| Signal | Unrefined Grade A (this) | Refined / ultra-refined |
|---|---|---|
| Color | Ivory to pale yellow, sometimes faintly green | Snow white |
| Smell | Nutty, smoky, earthy, fades on skin in ~10 min | None (deodorised) |
| Texture | Slightly grainy when cool, melts at body temp | Uniform, hard, waxy |
| Cinnamic acid esters | Present, natural UV buffer, anti-inflammatory | Largely stripped |
| Vitamin E (tocopherols) | Retained | Reduced |
| Solvent residue | None, water extraction only | Possible hexane traces in cheap refined |
| Shelf life | 18 to 24 months cool & dark | 24 to 36 months |
Where it comes from
Cooperative profile
Bobo Shea Producers Union
An umbrella of 12 village groups around Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, roughly 320 women members. They run a shared press house, a quality lab for free fatty acid testing, and a literacy program for members. We pay 22% above the prevailing regional gate price and pre-finance ~40% of each season so groups can pay nut collectors at harvest, not at sale.
How we know each batch is clean
- Free fatty acid (FFA), Grade A spec is <1%. Each batch is tested at the union lab; we re-test by US-side lab on first lot of every season.
- Peroxide value, <10 meq/kg, the freshness marker.
- Heavy metals & aflatoxin, third-party panel each season.
- Per-batch CoA attached to every wholesale shipment of 5 kg or more.
Three recipes
1. Whipped body butter (5 minutes)
- 200 g unrefined shea, soft (room temp 22°C+)
- 2 tbsp jojoba oil (or sweet almond)
- 10 drops essential oil, optional (lavender, frankincense)
Whip with a hand mixer 3 to 5 minutes until fluffy and pale. Spoon into a 250 ml jar. Keeps 6 months out of direct sun.
2. Hair sealing balm
- 3 tbsp shea
- 1 tbsp castor oil
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
Melt gently over a water bath, stir, pour into a tin, let set. Use a fingernail-tip on damp ends after wash day.
3. Cold-process soap base
Shea makes a creamy, conditioning bar. Use 15 to 25% of the oil weight in your recipe; SAP value 0.128 (NaOH). Pair with olive (45%) and coconut (25%) for a balanced bar.
Shop shea butter
Frequently asked
Why does it smell smoky?
Traditional roasting of the kernels over wood fire imparts a faint smoky note. It dissipates on skin within ten minutes. If yours has no smell at all, it has been deodorised, i.e. refined.
Is the graininess a defect?
No. It’s a phase separation of stearic crystals and is normal in unrefined shea stored below ~24°C. Warm a piece in your palm and it disappears. Whip a batch and it stays smooth.
Is it comedogenic?
Shea is rated 0 to 2 on common comedogenic scales. Most people tolerate it on the body and hair without issue; on facial skin, patch test first if you are acne-prone.
Why Burkina Faso specifically?
The Hauts-Bassins region produces what the trade considers the benchmark Grade A profile, high stearic, low FFA, characteristic ivory color. Beyond geography, our partner union has the lab capacity and the pre-finance discipline to deliver consistency across seasons.
Wholesale minimums?
From 5 kg with CoA at the Wholesale tier; from 25 kg with private label at the Bulk tier. Pricing on /wholesale/.