Shea Butter Benefits skin and hair in many ways.  Shea butter (INCI: Butyrospermum Parkii Butter)  is extracted from shea tree nuts native to West Africa.  A mild nutty fragrance, shea butter is technically a tree nut product.  Unlike most tree nut products, it’s very low in the proteins that can trigger allergies.

Shea butter is appropriate for nearly any skin type.  It has many uses: safely apply shea butter to your face, lips,body, and hair.

Shea butter benefits the skin in several ways:

1. Relieves dry skin

Typically, you can find shea butter in lotions for people with dry skin. Shea butter contains fatty acids. They lubricate the skin and create a barrier that keeps moisture in. In people with oilier skin, sebum (natural skin oil) does this job. But for those with drier skin, a moisturizer helps maintain dewiness.

2. Eases irritation

Shea butter contains anti-inflammatory substances, which ease swelling and redness in skin. People use it for any irritation, from sunburns to chapped lips to skin that’s reacting to too many acid peels or scrubs.

3. May Prevent cell damage

Cosmetics companies often add antioxidants (substances that protect cells) to anti-aging skin care. Shea butter contains two antioxidants:

Vitamin A

It works by increasing the skin-cell turnover rate, smoothing the skin’s surface. It also plumps skin by stimulating the production of collagen, the framework that keeps your skin from sagging.

Vitamin E

Shea butter naturally has a lot of vitamin E.

4. It’s anti-inflammatory

The plant esters of shea butter have been found to have anti-inflammatory properties.

5. It helps boost collagen production

Another Shea butter benefits is that it contains triterpenes. These naturally occurring chemical compounds are thought to deactivate collagen fiber destruction.

6. It helps promote cell regeneration

Shea’s moisturizing and antioxidant properties work together to help your skin generate healthy new cells.

7. It may help reduce the appearance of stretch marks and scarring

It’s thought that shea butter stops keloid fibroblasts — scar tissue — from reproducing, while encouraging healthy cell growth to take their place.

This may help your skin heal, minimizing the appearance of stretch marks and scarring.

8. It may help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

By boosting collagen production and promoting new cell generation, shea butter may help reduce what researchers call photoaging — the wrinkles and fine lines that environmental stress and aging can create on skin.

9. It offers added sun protection

Shea butter can’t be used by itself as an effective sunscreen.

Shea butter contains an estimated SPF of 3 to 4.