OK, so maybe you’re an altruistic soul but are unable to adopt an African baby.
You wish there were something you could do that would tangibly benefit Africa.
Well, everyone can afford to buy African shea butter! It’s good stuff, too!
Note: That stuff that you pump out of lotion bottles is NOT genuine shea butter.
Treat your skin to the real stuff!
This was brought to my attention on one of the forums that I frequent. I’d be here forever trying to convey this issue myself, so here’s what Agbanga Karite, a genuine African producer of shea butter, cocoa butter, African wild honey, and red palm oil, has to say about the benefits of buying authentic African shea butter:
Unrefined shea butter is a valuable natural resource for West Africa, and could be an important tool in empowering local communities. However, most shea butter on the market in the United States and Europe is not fairly traded.
The women who gather shea nuts and handcraft this remarkable oil receive only a tiny fraction of the final price. It is estimated to take 20 to 30 hours of labor to produce one kilogram of handcrafted shea butter, which is traded at $1 or less in today’s market. A woman making shea butter in West Africa will receive only a fraction of this price. Therefore, a person working for 30 hours, almost a week’s worth of work, will not receive even a dollar for her efforts.
Even if she received the whole dollar, this does not even begin to reach living wage standards. Through our direct involvement of the entire process from gathering the wild shea nuts and crafting the butter, to distribution locally and abroad - our members receive fair and steady incomes.
In addition, a large percentage of your purchases will go directly back to our community in the form of community enhancement projects, AIDS and malaria outreach, and educational scholarships.
We believe in “building African self-empowerment the moral way” and truly appreciate your involvement in reaching our goals. Visit the Fair Trade Federation and Fair Trade Shea Butter for more information on the importance of supporting fair trade.
We are an African-owned producer and wholesaler of traditionally extracted, unrefined shea butter, African black soap, and exotic oils.
For shea butter lotions, creams, and soaps, go to the Alaffia Shea Butter site.
We produce our shea butter and African black soap in Togo under fair trade and organic standards. Our direct involvment in the entire process, from gathering shea nuts to distribution in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, ensures a high quality, fresh shea butter for our customers.
Our pure unrefined shea butter comes from the nuts of wild shea trees scattered the fields and forests of the wooded savanna in central and northern Togo. The moisturizing and healing properties of shea butter have recently been discovered by the western cosmetic industry, but shea butter has been a mainstay of African pharmacology for centuries.
Unrefined shea butter contains an abundance of healing ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and a unique fatty acid profile, and is a superior active moisturizer. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, shea butter actually restores the skin’s natural elasticity. Shea butter actually enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air, and as a result, it becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer.
In addition, shea butter has natural sunscreen properties and anti-inflammatory agents. Because of its amazing properties, shea butter is an excellent ingredient for soaps, lotions and creams. Perhaps it is most effective when applied to the skin in its pure state. Regular users of pure, unrefined shea butter notice softer, smoother, healthier skin. Shea butter has also been shown to help with skin conditions and ailments such as extreme dryness, eczema, dermatitis, skin allergies, fungal infections, blemishes, wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, scrapes, and more.
I want all of my readers to go to the site and buy at least one Agbanga Karite product. Tell everyone you know about it!
Get smoother skin and build good karma at the same time. 
