Vegan Skin Care: Shea Butter vs Olive Oil
Two of the most commonly known natural moisturizers are shea butter and olive oil. Both shea butter and olive oil have been around for centuries, they are both safe to use and vegan friendly. You can use either product in pure form, in soaps, or other skin care products. But with all the similarities, one is left to wonder what are the differences between shea butter and olive oil.
Shea butter is a natural fat that is used to moisturize skin, fade unsightly scars and stretch marks, diminish wrinkles, and more. You can even eat shea butter as sometimes its used in chocolate based products. What is more amazing is that this multi-purpose beauty and health remedy is actually derived from the seeds of the African shea tree. To produce the butter, The flesh of the karite nut is removed and the seed or nut is dried, roasted, pounded into a paste, mixed with water and then customarily kneaded by hand. The thick mass is boiled to separate the natural oils that later yield beige or yellow shea butter in various qualities. Note: Unrefined shea has the real natural healing and moisturizing properties. Refined shea is bleached (white) , deordorized and heated to over 400 degrees.
Olive oil is derived from the olive plant. Making this is a rather complex process as the oil is extracted after the olives are milled until a paste is formed . Then it goes into a press that separates the liquid from the paste. Like shea butter, olive oil has many useful purposes in beauty, skin care, and food preparation. There are many different types and grades of olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil has the highest quality, therefore in food consumption, of course it is best to choose extra virgin olive oil and organic when you can. For beauty needs also use the best quality olive oil that you can find when formulating your own skincare recipes. Olive oil can be use as a moisturizer, bath oil, lip balm, or for treatment of minor skin wounds.
In the end it is important to know that both shea butter and olive oil based products have a place in your vegan skin care routine. Both are natural based moisturizing remedies that have worked for ages, so you know that they work. There are even a few vegan beauty products on the market that contain both ingredients, so if you decide to give them a try in your own formula try them together to get the benefits of both all natural carrier oils.
| Published on July 16th, 2010 | | View Comments | | Posted by Anna |
