Shea Butter Questions

I recently received some great questions about Shea Butter and the All About Making Body Butters eGuide download so I thought that it would be nice to post them here in case you have wondered as well.

If you have some questions of our own, feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Hi Jan,
(re: All About Making Body Butters) … I downloaded both sets of instructions and printed them off but I only took a quick glance thru them.

I did notice in my quick perusal that I will be needing some oils that I don’t have. The only oils I have that I can think of off-hand are squalane and hempseed oil. Hopefully I’ll only need small sizes??

I’ve never used the double boiler method. I stay as far away from the stove and oven as possible. I do dust them occasionally, however. I’ve always used the microwave. I hope this will be okay and not spoil my ‘creations’? I’m sure a double boiler would be better, but I’m always very careful and only microwave a few seconds at a time. I don’t have a double boiler and don’t really want to use my “good” pots and pans There’s always a chance I might need them someday

I don’t imagine you have any tamarind seed oil, do you? I would love to get my hands (and face) on some.

I see you’ve already shipped the shea. Thank you.

the nice thing about it is that you can use any oils that you want. There is a section in there that lists some of the general properties so that if you don’t have something or would like to sub you can choose something to your liking.

If you have any questions about subbing oils, which one you want to try etc you can let me know.

I don’t use the microwave much but I know that some people use it all the time to melt oils, I think that it would be fine to use that method.

I don’t have any tamarind oil, it sounds familiar but I don’t have any. I will keep it in mind though when I am ordering.
Have fun!
Jan

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Hi Jan, just wanted to let you to know I received the shea butter and Optiphen today. The shea butter is fabulous; the texture is incredible! I’d have no problem using it as is … but I won’t. I’m too eager to play!
I know you wrote that it should be kept in an air tight container in a cool place. I have the container but the only cool place is my fridge; is this be okay?
BTW, thank you for upsizing (is that even a word?) the optiphen. It’s much appreciated.
Thanks again.

You’re welcome! The fridge is fine. It will be harder when you take it out for a bit but it will store well there, especially
if you can keep it airtight, I find that seems to be the worst thing of anything for shea.

A few more questions and answers…

How long is the shea butter special good for?

What is the shelf life of the butter?

What is meant when the shea is referred to as “Raw”? How different is this from the other organic shea butters you carry?

One unrelated question – do you optiphen in stock?

I do have Optiphen in stock. (Optiphen information and pricing) The Saturday Surprise Specials run from Saturday to Saturday. After I post the new one every Saturday you can double up on the special pricing – so that means that on Saturdays you will have 2 Saturday Surprise Specials to order from – for the rest of the week the new one will apply.

Shea butter is very stable, it has a shelf life of 1 year or even longer with proper storage. It stores well if you can keep it cool and airtight and out of the light.

Raw shea butter means unrefined. It is similar to the other unrefined shea butters that I stock with a few subtle differences in colour and texture and it is also certifiied organic.)