To meet the demand for pure white, scent-free shea butter in the cosmetics industry, many shea butters on the market today are refined by chemically extracting the seed oil using dangerous petroleum by-products like hexane, a known carcinogen and classified as a hazardous substance by the Environmental Protection Agency. Refined shea butter is also subjected to extremely high heat in the refining process which eliminates the naturally occurring essential fatty acids and proteins that are so beneficial in the unrefined butter.

Refining shea butter also means adding chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. This alters the natural integrity of the shea butter, basically making it ineffective as the “wonder cream” it was before refining. Add to this an attempt to change the natural yellow color to white through bleaching and what you have is a former “wonder cream” becoming a human “blunder cream.”