Unrefined vs Refined Shea Butter: What Actually Changes

Vitellaria paradoxa, the shea tree, grows in a broad belt from Senegal to Uganda. The nuts are collected, dried, roasted, ground and kneaded with water to separate the fat. It is one of the oldest cosmetic ingredients in continuous use anywhere, and the work is done overwhelmingly by women's cooperatives.

Traditional extraction

The traditional process runs roughly: collect fallen nuts, boil or steam to prevent germination, sun-dry, crack and remove kernels, roast the kernels, grind to a paste, knead the paste with water until the fat separates and rises, skim, boil to remove residual water, cool and set.

It is laborious. It also uses no solvent, and it is the reason unrefined shea smells the way it does: nutty, smoky, faintly like roasted peanut. That smell is the roasting step.

What refining does

Industrial refining typically involves solvent extraction, then bleaching with clay and deodorising with steam at high temperature.

What it removes: the colour, giving a uniform white; the odour, giving a neutral product; and a portion of the unsaponifiable fraction, which is the part of shea containing the compounds it is prized for.

What it adds: consistency, a longer shelf life, and compatibility with formulations where a nutty smell would be unwelcome.

Refined shea is not fraudulent. It is a legitimate ingredient chosen for legitimate reasons. It is simply a different product, and it should be priced and described as one.

Telling them apart

Colour. Unrefined ranges from ivory to pale yellow to greenish, depending on region and nut. Pure white almost always means refined.

Smell. Unrefined smells distinctly nutty and slightly smoky. Refined smells of essentially nothing.

Texture. Unrefined is often slightly grainy, and it may develop small crystals if it has warmed and re-cooled. This is a normal property of shea's fatty acid composition, not a defect. Gentle warming and stirring restores smoothness.

Behaviour. Both melt at skin temperature, around thirty-two to thirty-five degrees.

Using it

Shea is heavy. Most people use far too much. Take a small amount, warm it between the palms until it turns liquid, then apply to slightly damp skin, which helps it spread and reduces the greasy feel. It works particularly well on elbows, heels, hands and hair ends.

For hair, use it sparingly on lengths and ends rather than the scalp unless you know your hair tolerates it.

Buying well

Look for a stated country of origin, unrefined status made explicit, and a single ingredient. Grade A, in the common classification, refers to unrefined butter with its natural colour and odour intact. Beyond that, trust your nose: if it smells of nothing, it has been through a refinery.

ATTOTE Original and BAAD Cosmo source African superfoods, natural beverages and cosmetics from Cote d'Ivoire and West Africa, shipping across France and Europe.