Many people don't know he difference between Shea and Cocoa Butter or that they both come from a seed. Well this post is to educate you on the benefits of both. So you can get a better understanding on both and decide which one you want to experiment with.
Shea Butter:
Shea butter comes from the seed of shea trees, which are native to West Africa. Its high concentration of vitamins and fatty acids — combined with its easy-to-spread consistency — make it a great product for smoothing, soothing, and conditioning your skin. It's been used in cosmetics for centuries.
Shea Butter Benefits:
1. Beneficial for all skin types
Shea butter is appropriate for all skin types, because it doesn’t contain chemical irritants known to dry out skin, and it doesn’t clog pores.
2. No allergic reactions for nut allergies
Even though shea butter comes from a tree seed categorizing it as part of the "nut family." It is very low in the proteins that can trigger allergies. In fact, there’s no medical literature documenting an allergy to topical shea butter.
3. Shea butter is most known for it's moisturizing abilities
This is tied to shea’s fatty acid content, including linoleic, oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids. Shea butter contains high levels of linoleic acid and oleic acid. These two acids balance each other out. That means shea butter is easy for your skin to fully absorb and won’t make your skin look oily after application.
It act as a “refatting” agent, restoring lipids and rapidly creating moisture. This restores the barrier between your skin and the outside environment, holding moisture in and reducing your risk of dryness.
4. It's anti-inflammatory & antioxidant
When applied to the skin, shea triggers cytokines and other inflammatory cells to slow their production. This may help minimize irritation caused by environmental factors, such as dry weather, as well as inflammatory skin conditions, such as eczema. Shea butter is a strong antioxidant because its a rich source of vitamins A & E. It's antioxidant are anti-aging elements, protecting your skin from free radicals that can lead to premature aging and dull-looking skin.
5. It's antifungal
Shea tree products have been established as powerful ingredients to fight skin infections caused by fungi. While it may not be able to treat every kind of fungal infection, we know that it kills spores of the fungi that causes ringworm and athlete’s foot.
Cocoa Butter:
This tasty ingredient often used in desserts is actually really beneficial for skin and hair care. Unlike the cocoa butter in chocolate bars and other delicious treats, this cocoa butter has been used in medicine for around 3,000 years.
The ancient Aztecs and Mayans favored this ingredient, so much in fact they even used it as currency.
Cocoa Butter Benefits:
Cocoa Butter often touted for its ability to hydrate and nourish the skin and improve elasticity, because its high in fatty acids.
Rich in natural plant compounds called phytochemicals. These substances may improve blood flow to the skin and slow skin aging by protecting against damage from the sun’s harmful UV rays. (Natural Sunscreen)
Many people often use it to smooth scars, wrinkles, and other marks on your skin. Generations of women have used it to prevent and heal stretch marks during & after pregnancy. Cocoa butter has also been promoted to heal rashes from conditions like eczema and dermatitis.
(Recent research on using cocoa butter for stretch marks suggests that it doesn’t work any better than an inactive or placebo cream)
Its high fat content, cocoa butter has a richer, denser feel than many other moisturizers. It’s often compared to shea butter, which comes from the seeds of the shea tree found in West and Central Africa.
Unlike shea butter, cocoa butter may cause a rash or other allergic reaction.
The presence of essential fatty acids, phytochemicals, Vitamin E, antioxidants and other bio-active compounds in cocoa butter enhances hair texture, strengthens hair roots, enables better moisture retention and prevents various hair problems such as dryness, dandruff, split ends and hair loss.