Ok. So I got me some of this wonder stuff. 100% pure unrefined shea butter from Ghana.
Boy, that stuff.... smells! eeeeek
How do you tolerate that smell on your hair? or on your body?
And it is sooo hard to apply. Non malleable at all.
Is it really worth it??

I went over to LHC and searched "shea butter" and this is what I found.  First of all, the color and odor tell if your shea is still good.  (it has a year shelf life)  If it is beige-yellow it is okay.  If it is green, it is old.  If it smells nutty, it is good, if it smells bad, it is rancid.  Apparently it will keep well in the refrigerator, but must be at room temperature to work with it.  

Next - how to use it.  Most mix it with conditioner and oil.  Equal parts of shea and conditioner with a few drops of oil.  Mix to a smooth consistency and apply a very small amount to the length and ends of your hair.  It works well as a leave in, or as a before wash conditioner.  

Good luck, let me know how it goes.

Mine.smells.gorgeous.i.got.it.off.a.web.site.called.
Aubrey.organics.


You.can.get.all.different.kinds.of.shea.concerning.
colour.and.smell.

mine.is.beige.and.smells.fab

If.yours.smells.nasty.then.it.may.be.old.as.natural.
products.need.to.be.used.quickly.i.would.try.buying.
yours.elsewhere

Sorry that you had a bad "smell experience" with your shea butter.  I bought mine from Mystify Your Senses and it has worked out well.  I bought the oil and the butter.  I use them for my hair and I use it for my vegan lip balm recipe.  They both work well and are fresh.  You might want to check out the site for all other oils,too.  Just a thought! :)

My can of shea butter has this nutty smell and the brown-yellow colour. I am sure it's not rancid. I just don't like that smell on me. I wonder if I could use a bit of EO with that?? Maybe if I poured a couple of lavender or jasmine EO drops in the can???
Also, it says on the can that "shea butter does not expire"

greek_lady wrote on Oct 7^th, 2006 at 1:50pm:

My can of shea butter has this nutty smell and the brown-yellow colour. I am sure it's not rancid. I just don't like that smell on me. I wonder if I could use a bit of EO with that?? Maybe if I poured a couple of lavender or jasmine EO drops in the can??? Also, it says on the can that "shea butter does not expire"

Wow.i.hope.you.have.not.been.sold.fake.shea.

To.give.you.an.idea.alittle.tin.smaller.than.my.hand.
costs.10.pound.any.cheeper.than.this.and.it.prob.isnt.
pure.or.is.quite.old.

I.know.that.there.have.been.many.claims.that.shea.
does.simply.isnt.shea.after.a.year.there.is.nothing.
in.this.world.that.you.can.say.does.not.expire.even.
tinned.food.evenyually.expires.so.im.a.little.confused.
maby.you.could.post.a.picture.so.we.could.get.a.better.
idea

just.a.thought

I tried shea butter for the first time myself only a few months ago and didn't like mine either.  It was really thick like Crisco and once it melted down was very greasy.  Until now, I was under the impression that it all was the same but, apparently because there are so many kinds, part of it is experimenting with different brands until you find one that works for you.  Personally, I just decided to try other kinds of oils that were more consistant, brand to brand.

Rainbow wrote on Oct 7^th, 2006 at 4:51pm:

Wow.i.hope.you.have.not.been.sold.fake.shea. To.give.you.an.idea.alittle.tin.smaller.than.my.hand. costs.10.pound.any.cheeper.than.this.and.it.prob.isnt. pure.or.is.quite.old. I.know.that.there.have.been.many.claims.that.shea. does.simply.isnt.shea.after.a.year.there.is.nothing. in.this.world.that.you.can.say.does.not.expire.even. tinned.food.evenyually.expires.so.im.a.little.confused. maby.you.could.post.a.picture.so.we.could.get.a.better. idea just.a.thought

Rainbow, this is the product I am talking about. 
Shea  Butter

Next question for those of you who know about this stuff.
Does it build up? or is it washed off cleanly after washing/shampooing??
Thank you!

Well,I use the Shea oil on my hair,no problem.  When I ake my Vegan lip balms I use the shea butter,no problem there either.  If I use the butter on my hair I'll let you know how it works out! :)

Hello Everyone!
I have been reading these posts about shea butter and I have to say I love shea butter.  It has probably been a couple years now since I stumbled upon it.  I was reading a magazine that said you should use lip balms that have a high concentration of shea butter.  I had never heard of it before and became curious.  So the journey began.  I was very excited when I was shopping with my cousin one day and she brought me in the store Loccitane.  If you have never heard of it they sell various skincare products.  Anyway they had a whole section of products containing shea butter, and they even had a tin that was 100% shea butter.  I was so excited to finally get my hands on the stuff.  I used this product for over a year (the tin lasts awhile), and I did like it.  The shea butter was white , had no smell, but was kind of hard.  You had to melt it in your hand first to  be able to spread it on your skin.  I used it mainly at night since it did tend to take a while to soak in my skin.  I also used it on my lips, but found I really could not spread it through my hair.  I really thought this was the product to stick with until one day I was searching on the internet and came across three sites that really informed me to the different types of shea butter being sold.  These are the three sites.
1) www.nasabb.com
2)www.sheainstitute.com
3)www.aaasheabutter.com ( this site was recommended to me by the shea institute.)
These sites are very informative and they give you information about the different types of shea butter out there.  It seems that there is unrefined, refined, and proceessed shea butter.  Unrefined is straight from nature and has all of its healing properties.  Refined is usually stripped and bleached and only some of the healing components are left.  Proccessed I believe is completely stripped and they use other non natural substances to produce more shea butter(nasabb does a good job of explaining these).  I now know the stuff I was using was probably refined.  It is 100% shea butter like they say I just believe that they have changed some things about it, due to the white color and lack of smell and hardness, pure unrefined shea butter does have a scent and it is never white and it is softer.   All this said it does not mean there product is bad.  I just was not informed enough about shea butter to really know that there are differnet types of it.   Based on everything I have read it seems that all shea butter will moisturize, but it is the unrefined that also contains all of the healing components.  So there really seems to be no right or wrong choice.  It is just what you prefer and what product seems to work best for you.  It is just nice to have all the facts so you can make the right choice.  I am sorry to go on so much.  I hope everyone enjoys these sites like I have (nasabb and aaasheabutter also have other cool products too), and if they have already been mentioned on the boards before I am sorry to repeat.    One more thing ( I know I just can't stop writing!) nasabb does have samples of their unrefined shea butter.  I believe you only have to pay a shipping charge.  AAA shea butter does not give samples, but their price (I think) is reasonable(ecspecially considering what I was paying at locciatne)!!  Also check out nasabb's kelechi hair oil.  The jasmine smells really nice!!  OK! I am definitely done writing............for now! :)    

Thanks for sharing, zachsmom!!

Ah,you stumbled on the secret!!  Shea butter is wonderful!!  I use shea butter or shea oil (unrefined) in my vegan lip balms.  I made a batch with coffee butter,peppermint and chocolate.  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Feels as wonderful as it smells!  Tastes pretty good too :) ;)