About This Product
Shea butter is pressed or extracted from the kernel of the shea nut, Vitellaria paradoxa, which grows wild across the savannah belt of West and East Africa. Its INCI name is Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter. The unrefined grade is yellow to cream, soft at room temperature, and carries the mild, smoky odour of the traditional process.
For a formulator two figures matter most. The saponification value, 170 to 190 mg KOH/g, sets the lye for a soap recipe. The unsaponifiable matter, at several percent, is far above most vegetable fats: that fraction of triterpene alcohols, sterols and tocopherols does not turn into soap but stays in the bar as a conditioning, skin-softening component, which is why shea is used to superfat soaps and is valued in balms and creams. The fatty acids are mainly stearic and oleic in roughly equal parts, giving a butter that melts near skin temperature. Free fatty acid in the unrefined grade can run to several percent, so it is used as supplied in soap and cosmetics, or refined before more demanding uses.
It is used in bar and liquid soap, body butters, lotions, lip balms and hair care, and as a feedstock for shea-based esters and emollients.
Bio Green Oleo supplies unrefined shea butter to a specification covering moisture, free fatty acid, saponification value, total fatty matter, peroxide value, colour and odour, with a certificate of analysis for every batch. A refined, deodorised grade is available where a white, odourless butter is needed.
Specifications
Applications
Packaging Options
- Lined cartons
- Drums
- Pack size confirmed with your quotation
Indicative price: $1.00–8.50/kg
Indicative bulk guide only. Prices are market-linked and updated regularly - please request a quote for current pricing and volume rates.
Start with the process and specification
- End use and required material or feedstock
- Critical analytical limits and physical form
- Handling temperature, storage and pack format
- Volume, documentation needs and delivery destination
Confirm the evidence before ordering
Grade, origin and certification are confirmed for each proposed source. A vegetable-derived feedstock is not automatically certified sustainable, pharmaceutical grade or suitable for every application; request the evidence needed for your intended use.
Product illustrations show representative material and packaging. The quotation confirms the actual source, grade, pack size and labelling.
Review documentation