Hey, kitchen witches! I have an abiding curiosity in genuine shea and mango butters. I hear good things about their amazing moisturizing properties for hair and skin, but I can never seem to get my hands on the real stuff. Everything at the stores is full of petrolatum and mineral oil and glycerin and cocoa butter, and everything online looks very mysterious.

Does anyone have any experience in purchasing these products? Any sources? And once you get them, how do you make them smell tasty? Or do they do that naturally? And what sorts of fabulous uses do they have?

Thank you for any information, girls!

:)

~magpieDee

Oh girl! Shea butter is better than buttered toast, to steal that phrase from Karen Marie.

I got some to help my poor lips and it really does wonders. Then I bought some from www.fromnaturewithlove.com but it was grainy. Problem solved with melting it and rapid cooling. Last night, I poured some into pots for my kids and used the remainder all over my body - face, neck, elbows, breasts, stomach, legs - oh my! I'm in love.

I am anxious to try it in a massage....

I haven't added any scents to it, because I wanted to try it virgin. I'm going to mix it with orange, lavendar, and ylang ylang. Not together, but in separate jars.

Some long hairs have bought from Ebay successfully, and some have had bad luck. They will let you know their experiences. I bought where I did because I wanted some oils, containers and they had a 10% off sale. I bought 1lb for $7.00

Does anyone have any experience in purchasing these products? Any sources? And once you get them, how do you make them smell tasty? Or do they do that naturally? And what sorts of fabulous uses do they have?

Kitchen chemist #342 checking in. ;-)

I have Shea butter, but not mango butter. I got mine from a company called Now from the Whole Foods grocery store. I suspect most natural/granola/earthy/hippy sorts of grocery stores/co-ops (my favorite kind of store :)) will have some brand of shea butter, although you can get it online, too.

I haven't used mine on my hair -- I feel vaguely uncomfortable putting things on my hair that are solid at room tempature, because I worry that they'll be difficult to get out. (I had one heck of a time removing an olive oil + cocoa butter concoction I once made for my hair, and so I'm more skittish now.) I've also heard of some people having buildup problems with shea on their hair. People on naturallycurly.com seem to have better luck with using liquid Shea butter/oil on their hair or adding very small amounts of melted Shea butter into their current shampoos or conditioners.

I have, though, used it a *lot* for my lips and it's part of a homemade cold cream concoction I make that I *adore*. I also use it on my hands just like I would use a lotion -- it seems to work really well.

For smell... it doesn't have much of a smell on it's own, but if I wanted one, I'd probably melt it down and add some essential oils to it. My cold cream works that way -- it has an interesting mix of chocolate (from the cocoa butter I used), honey (from the beeswax I used), and lavender (from the essential oil) as its scent. The lavender essential oil was added to the oils, beeswax and butter mix that I had while they were all liquid.

HTH,
Jonobie

Hi! I love my shea butter, and would love to get my hands in--I mean on--some mango butter. I buy my 100% shea at Whole Foods. The brand I currently have in my purse is j/a/s/o/n (that's how they spell it).

I know that www.mountainroseherbs.com has both of them as well. They have lots of other lovely pure and organic products as well.

Good luck!

By the way, Jonobie, I love your signature picture!

And I'd love to know how you make your shea butter cold cream and what you use it for?

I ordered pure mango butter from the fromnaturewithlove.com site. I haven't used it in anything yet, because I can't get past the odor. I was expecting a nice, fruity scent and this stuff just smells weird. :no

I also have the Now brand shea butter, which I mostly use as lip balm.

bunniee

let_sleeping_dogs_lye_soaps

this is where i got my shea butter from on ebay. he also has mango butter. i think i paid $6.95 for a pound of shea butter. the only thing that was kinda bad was shipping. almost as much as the shea butter. but it was actual shipping.
i use it for everything. from my head to my toes. this stuff is wonderful.

Are there any other butters that you have tried?