Have you ever taken a look at the ingredient list of chemically induced body butters and thought that you would never want to use these on your skin and hair?
I know I have! And luckily there is another choice – natural body butters. If you haven’t heard of these by now, you’ll be happy to know that natural beauty products and remedies have become more popular over the years due to their healing and nurturing powers, general decrease in allergic reactions and long-lasting effects. A wide variety of natural body butters exist, but the top 5 that we love are listed below.
Cocoa butter is a yellowish extract with a recognizable smell that comes from the cocoa bean. It is used to make skin and hair care products with amazing benefits. As noted in the Encyclopedia Britannica, cocoa butter extracts has great healing qualities! These include the prevention of stretch marks, healing of chapped and sunburned skin and can also be used as an antioxidant for the treatment of mouth sores.
Apart from that, you’ll be impressed to know that as stated on nutirionvalue.org, cocoa butter is filled with vitamin E, vitamin K, and saturated fatty acids.
Mentioned by Alfred Thomas in his book Fats and Fatty Oils, Shea is an extract from the seeds of the Shea tree which originates in Africa. It is most commonly used in moisturizers and cosmetics. As established through historic accounts, even the goddess Cleopatra turned to Shea butter for cosmetic purposes which certainly confirm its wondrous properties for me! Shea butter makes an excellent skin care ointment and is perfect for moisturizing your skin as well as your lips.
When used as a hair care product, it has curing properties for dry and brittle hair. Another plus point is that Shea butter has been recognized as a safe natural product by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Although Kokum, which is an extract from the Kokum tree, is most commonly known for its healing properties in bones and joints, other benefits of this extract should not be overlooked. Kokum butter is as equally moisturizing and rejuvenating for your skin as the other butters on this list. The website bustele.com reported that Kokum has antioxidant, anti-ageing, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that can all aid in nourishing skin that had been damaged. Kokum butter also fights against wrinkles, lines and age spots. For me this was a seller! Who wouldn’t want to reverse the effect of aging on their skin?
A source at mango-butter.com revealed that this butter has huge amounts of vitamin E, vitamin A, and antioxidants which are all extremely useful during skin care. These qualities help with the fight against wrinkles and fine lines, skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis, can protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun and even works wonders for frostbite, rashes and insect bites. What makes this body butter great for me is the fact that it is non-greasy and suitable for all skin types. The exotic fragrance it leaves on your skin is definitely an added bonus!
The Cupuaçu fruit tree which is native to the Amazon forest brings us the wonderful extract known as Cupuaçu butter. The website vitaminclass.com declared Cupuaçu butter an excellent source of vitamin A, C, B1, B2, B3, calcium and selenium. Knowing that this butter consists of such a wide range of vitamins, it’s hard to believe that this miracle extract is not commonly known!
The butter is mostly used for maintaining dry skin and damaged, lifeless hair. Skin elasticity is also improved and by using this body butter on a regular basis your skin will be left glowing while feeling healthy and nurtured.
Whether you decide to buy products that contain these natural butters or mix them yourself by using other natural ingredients alongside it, using natural body butters is the best decision that you can make for your hair and skin. Once you start to leave chemical induced body butters behind like I did, you’ll never even consider going back!
