Unrefined Shea butter vs Refined Shea butter

I was recently approached by a customer with the following question:       “To Whom It May Concern, Are there any unnatural, chemical processes used to make your Shea butter? I ask because I purchased your "%100 pure" Shea butter, and was unconvinced of its natural, rawness. This is because the colour of your Shea butter is white, appearing to be highly refined and less like the true, unrefined”. 

Michael Smith

I believe Michael is not the only one with this concern and with so many products on the market claiming to sell unrefined Shea butter, how can you truely determine which Shea butter is authentic Unrefined Shea butter.  Well, read my response to Michael. 

‘Thank you for your email and your concern about the authenticity of our product.  Let me start off by assuring you that our 100% Pure Shea butter is a 100% Raw and Unrefined.  Our butter is directly sourced from the fields of West Africa(Ghana) and the butter has been Eco-Certified as Premium grade ’A’(meaning that they have a high percentage of healing properties).

Now how is the  authenticity of Unrefined Shea butter determined?  Well, the authenticity of Unrefined Shea butter can be determined in two ways.  Firstly through the colour of the butter and secondly through the smell of the butter.

The Colour of Unrefined Shea butter can be yellowish (please note it is not yellow), beige or off-white.  Refined Shea butter on the other hand is Pure White.  The difference between it being yellowish or beige depends on the country that it originates from.  For instance Shea butter from Burkina Faso is yellowish while Shea butter from Ghana is beige.  When the butter is off-white it simply means it has been softened through the processing of whipping or mixing to make it softer for easy application.   This has no effect on the chemical structure of the butter and authenticity of the butter is retained.  This method is used by suppliers of Shea butter to avoid people from re-heating the butter all the time before using it.  Shea butter can be hard to apply and most people resort to reheating it before using it but heating and melting it has to be done within certain temperatures and reheating above those temperatures could destroy the effectiveness of the butter.

However the colour of the butter cannot be the only determine factor as some people tend to colour ‘False Shea butter’ to get it to look like the authentic ‘Unrefined Shea butter’.  The most reliable test therefore is the Smell of the butter. This is quite a difficult test for people who do not know and understand Shea butter very well.  The smell of the Shea butter can help you to know whether the butter has expired or not, is refined or unrefined and the quality of the butter without even taking it to the laboratory to have it tested. And most traditional users of Shea butter use this method to determine the Authenticity of Unrefined Shea butter and the quality of the Shea butter.

On a more personal note, I am a Ghanaian and my parents hail from the Northern part of Ghana, where Shea butter is mainly found.  I have used Shea butter most of my life and have been seriously studying and researching about this wonderful product for the past 5years.   Even though  I am able to determine the authenticity of the Unrefined Shea butter by its smell, we have ensured that our supplier’s butter has been scientifically tested to confirm its quality. ‘  

Aviela 100% Pure Shea butter is off-white in colour and has been softening to allow people to be able to easily take the butter and apply it and prevent them from reheating so that the healing properties in the unrefined Shea butter will not be destroyed.  It has no colour, no additive, no fragrance and preservatives and has a rich earthy smell.  We have many feedbacks on the authenticity of our butter and many feedbacks on how it has helped most people especially with eczema and rosacea. 

Visit www.aviela.co.uk for more information.