Curly Hair: Revisiting My Home-Made Shea butter Cream

When I started to take full control and care of my hair, one of the products that I used and loved to use in my hair was my home-made Shea butter cream. I would make this cream myself and use it in my hair from time to time. But for a long time, I stopped making the cream and had been sampling other hair products. 

Recently some of my family members traveled to Ghana and brought some raw Shea butter. I was reminded again that although I've used a lot of other hair products (some of which I stand by and would recommend), I am yet to find a hair cream that gave me the same effect that my Shea butter cream gave to my hair. So, I decided then to revisit my Shea butter cream. 

Disclaimer:

Although you are more than welcomed to use the oils I used, please do not feel obligated to. Be creative - explore other oils. This is just to give you an idea and to hopefully inspire you to make your own hair cream.

What I used:

Raw Ghana Shea Butter (about 2 cups)

Vitamin E oil (2 tablespoons full) 

Tea tree oil (3 tablespoons full) 

Coconut oil (1 cup)

A blender

A tablespoon

Empty containers
A scraper

The coconut oil was purchased from Costco Wholesale. Vitamin E and tea tree oil were purchased at my local grocery store - ShopRite to be exact. All three oils have great benefits for hair. I have also written my personal review of coconut oil which you may access HERE. 

I had read that Vitamin E oil has great benefits for hair so I decided to use it. "Vitamin E is a great stimulant for growth of capillaries, when the capillaries are healthy and profuse, the blood circulation in the scalp will be enhanced which will, therefore, promote strong and healthy growth of hair." 

I purchased tea tree oil because I am familiar with an like the smell of tea tree oil from other hair products that I've previously used. Tea tree oil also "stimulate healthy hair growth and heal many scalp problems such as dryness and flakiness." 

Shea butter can be purchased at most African markets in the Western world and in local markets in Africa. Shea butter has incredible benefits for hair. "Shea butter has inflammatory properties, which help to heal us of these scalp and skin conditions and allow our scalp (and body) to re-grow hair in a healthy environment."

Let's get started:

My Shea butter had been in the refrigerator for a while. When I resulted to make the cream, I put it out for a few days for the hot and humid weather on my end of the world to soften it until I was ready to make the cream - needless to say, it was very soft on the day that I was ready to use. I put the Shea Butter, and oils into the blender by using the above measurements for the oils. I must have blended it all for about a minute or two - it was a very quick mixture! 

I opened the blender and was so pleased with the image I saw in the blender - so cream, and soft with a nice tea tree scent. Tea tree has a strong and interesting smell which may not be likable for some - if there is an opportunity to smell it before you purchase should you choose to use for yourself, please take advantage of that! 

On the other hand, Vitamin E oil is scentless and much thicker than tea tree oil - the two oils are both clear in appearance. Coconut oil smells like coconut - it is a solid oil in the colder months and liquid in the Summer months - very interesting oil. 

When the Shea butter and oils were well mixed, I then scrapped the cream using my scraper into a few old hair cream containers - I got two full containers and a half! I am very happy to revisit this cream! :) 

This cream makes my hair feel soft, moisturized, supple and gives it a nice sheen. I will be using this cream for my hair now until further notice. I hope you will give it a try!

Be inspired.

-Charity