the.com/shea
the tree that lets your face moisturize itself with zero irony.
means a fat pressed from the nuts of the African shea tree, used to soften skin, hair, and the occasional stubborn scone recipe.
from named after the Bambara word si, via the botanical Vitellaria (formerly Butyrospermum) paradoxa; West African women have hand-processed the nuts into butter for centuries, a craft older than most skincare brands combined.
melts atbody temperature, hence the instant glide
main producerburkina faso, mostly by women's cooperatives
tree agetakes 15-20 years before first nuts
fat cousinchemically close to cocoa butter
for instance
l'occitane shea range — built an entire brand around burkina faso cooperatives since 1980
unshackled grooming — black-owned skincare line centering raw shea as its base oil
west african shea belt — stretches from senegal to south sudan, one continuous shea-growing strip