This is going to sound silly, but what kind of shea butter do you apply to your hair? Do you apply the lotion for your skin or is it a different type?

Now, I do not remember if the Shea I have is refined or unrefined; however, it is sort of an off-white and has the consistancy of cold cookie dough. I've been using a pea size bit on my braid. The stuff melts fairly quickly between my hands.

Others, I'm sure, will chime in to give you their thoughts.

The shea butter I use is solid at room temperature, and is 100% pure.  I've managed to rip off part of the brand name, but it sounds the same as NR.   I usually apply it to wet hair, so I use a bit more, and usually mix it with an oil to apply to my length.  

Mixed with the oil makes a great body lotion for me also.  I put it on my legs that get dry so quickly.  

The shea lotion you would use for your skin isnt the same stuff we apply to our hair...Shea lotion of that sort has additives. Right now I am using refined shea that I got from Mystifyyoursenses.com. I love it and as NR said, you only need a very small amount.

Refined and unrefined sheas are the way to go. Mixed together, they are even yummier!

Refined shea is going to look rather white, almost pure white.

Unrefined is going to have some color left in it (ranging from play-doh yellow, to post-it yellow, to light post-it yellow).

Be wary of anything that says, "contains shea butter" or "made with shea butter".

Happy shea-ing

Anais

You've gotten some great advice here...but I would ad that shea butter can be bought at http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com

They have a lot of other butters that I tried, like Mango butter.  It is fun to experiment with all these goodies.

Just bought some shea!  I picked it up at a local natural and organic shop.  The brand is NOW.  I don't know if anyone else has heard of it but I buy NOW jojoba oil too and the quality seems good.  So although it doesn't say if it's refined or unrefined it's white so I'm guessing it refined.  I've noticed that on skin it can feel a little gritty almost.  Is that normal for Shea?  But oh is it fabulous for hair!  It took that nasty crunch right out of my dry ends!

Gritty is normal. If you don't like gritty, you can melt it and STIR continuously while you wait for it to re-solidify. This could take hours, but I like to use an ice pack wrap.

Hugs
Anais

Okay thanks.  I think I'll scoop a bit into a smaller container and experiment with reheating and freezing it.  By the way, I love your "hair lair!"  Do you know if the horn combs are animal - cruelty free?

Hi Emily

I keep wanting to call you Amelie. Most horn combs are humanely harvested. It really depends on the vendor, I'm sure, but if they're humane, they'll usually say so. "Harvested from shed horns" or the like.

Thank you for your comment about the Lair :)

Anais

I use NOW also.  I love the smell.  I divide my hair in half and use about a half-pea size on both sides.  It will be gritty when you scoop it out, but if you let it sit on your fingers a little while, it will warm up to room temperature and will be smooth and soft.  

On this page, there is some tips on heating shea -
the page is long, so I'll put the snippet here:

Shea Butter has often been heated 3 to 5 times in the manufacturing process.  Each time the shea butter is heated it increases the chances of shea butter forming fat granules or crystals.  When you use shea butter make sure that you add as little heat as possible.  Make sure that the shea butter was not heated up by your supplier and has already arrived to you with crystals.  It is best to heat the oils you are adding to the shea butter and then add the shea butter in small pieces off the heat.  Whipping the shea butter with a hand held mixture, using as little heat as possible and cooling the shea butter as quickly as possible all help deter the problem.  But there are no guarantees.  

http://www.essentialwholesale.com/ingredients.html

Cynde

I buy NOW brand as well- they have it at Whole Foods.  Since I add essential oils to mine I usually melt it. but I always do so on the stove in a pot of hot water instead of in the microwave.  You have better control over it that way, although it takes longer.