Shea Butter Tree : The Tree of Life!

The Shea Butter tree also known as “The Tree of Life” has some absolutely amazing properties! They included the following:

-It grows very well on a wide range of soils, including highly degraded, arid, semi-arid and rocky soil.

-It has a thick waxy and deeply fissured bark that makes it fire resistant.

-The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry Savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands.

-It grows in 19 countries across the African continent

-According to legend among local people no one owns the shea tree, because it germinates and grows on its own.

-When it passes the germination stage in about three to five years, it becomes fire resistant.

-Once it survives the first five years of its early stages of germination and growth, it grows slowly and takes about 30 years to reach maturity and from here, it can live for up to three hundred years.

-In the absence of any hazards, including tree felling, it can bear fruit for two hundred years.

Purely Shea - The Leader in Organic Shea Butter Skincare

Shea Butter Tree is truly the "Tree of Life"!

Almost all parts of the Shea Butter tree have some practical use.

BARK

The bark of the Shea Butter tree is an ingredient in traditional medicines against certain childhood illnesses and minor scrapes and cuts.

SHELL

The shell of the nuts can repel mosquitoes.

FRUIT

Above all, because it is completely non-toxic and gentle, the fruity part of the Shea Butter kernel, when crushed, yields a vegetable oil that can be used in soap-making, cooking, and skin and hair care.

We can clearly see now why this tree is called the "Tree of Life"!

Steph,

Purely Shea - The Leader in Organic Shea Butter Skincare

www.purelyshea.com

Varieties of Shea Butter Trees

There are two kinds of Shea Butter Trees:

1.)The nilotic shea-butter tree, Vitellaria paradoxa ssp. nilotica, a is slow-growing hardwood fruit tree indigenous to northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

2.) The Mangifolia tree, found in the semi-arid savannahs of West and Central Africa is also known as the Karite Tree which means “Tree of Life.”

The Shea Butter from the first tree is more oily and is naturally pure white. It has a very distinctive aroma which is quite different from the Shea Butter from the Karite Tree. It is considered to be a good moisturizer but not as good at healing skin conditions compared to the second kind of Shea Butter.

Tomorrow we will touch on the different uses for the various parts of the Shea Butter Tree.

Steph,
Purely Shea- The Leader in Organic Shea Butter Skincare
www.purelyshea.com