Origins
Depending on its size, one Shea tree can yield up to 15-20 kilos of Shea nuts a year, which are handpicked and transported by foot, and can continue to produce nuts for nearly 200 years.
The Shea tree – grown along the “Shea belt” region of Africa stretching from Senegal in the West to Ethiopia in the East – is truly the ‘Tree of Life’ with its multitude of important uses for the people living around it.
This remarkable tree can grow up to 60ft tall and has a lifespan of 200 to 300 years. It only flowers after 15 years and takes between 20 to 40 years to bear fruit. Once ready for harvest, the value it offers its community is priceless.
Shea butter – the main ingredient in our products – is derived from the nuts that grow on these trees. The women of the community oversee the harvesting and processing of the Shea and utilise every part of the tree from the bark and the roots, to the fruit and the nuts.
The bark and the roots are boiled or ground into powder to use medicinally, and the fruit is eaten. The nut is processed and transformed into the rich Shea butter so valued by the whole community – young and old alike.
As an important community resource – providing nutritional, medicinal, hair care and skin care benefits, as well as being an integral part of the eco-system – the Shea tree is thus held in very high regard.