Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). It is ivory in colour when raw, with more processed versions being white, although it can be naturally dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve, or lotion. Shea butter is edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries.

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, and it occurs in 21 countries across the African continent.
The butter comes as a softish paste, ideal for creating balms and ointments or for use on its own with the addition of a few drops of essential oil. Shea butter has been used as a cosmetic ingredient for centuries.

Its high concentration of vitamins and fatty acids and easy-to-spread consistency makes it an excellent product for smoothing, soothing, and conditioning your skin.

The benefits of shea butter come from its chemical makeup.

• Shea butter contains:
  linoleic,
• palmitic, stearic, and oleic fatty acids, ingredients that balance oils on your skin
• 
  vitamins A, E, and F, antioxidant vitamins that promote circulation and healthy skin cell growth
• 
  triglycerides, the fatty part of the shea nut that nourishes and conditions your skin
• 
  cetyl esters, the waxy part of the shea nut butter that conditions skin and locks in moisture