Shea butter from Ghana is one of the most popular items at the Hamlin Shop. Available in unscented and with a delicate Lemon Myrtle or Lavender fragrance, this natural moisturiser is made using traditional methods, with ethical and organic principles.

The shea nut tree (Vitellaria Paradoxa) is native to West Africa and shea butter has been used there for thousands of years for cosmetic, medicinal and nutritional purposes. Even Cleopatra of Ancient Egypt is thought to have used Shea butter as part of a daily beauty regime.

Shea nuts are truly one of the most versatile nuts on the planet. The oil content makes it ideal as a moisturiser, but there are many more ways to use it: to add volume to your hair or to tame unruly curls, as a cooking oil, an anti-inflammatory or to relieve the sting of insect bites. It is also used as an ingredient in soap and candle making, as a basis for medicinal ointments, to reduce the appearance of stretch marks and wrinkles and to preserve the surface of wooden and shell musical instruments in some parts of Africa. 

Hamlin Shea Butter comes from Ghana where it is made using traditional methods. First, local women hand pick the nuts and spread them in the sun to dry. The nuts are opened and the precious shea removed. This is pounded by hand and the resulting material brought to the boil with water in a pot over a fire.

The shea butter, being the fatty ingredient in the pot, floats to the top of the heated mixture and is easily removed. It is filtered by cloth several times to remove unwanted debris. And that’s it – the shea butter is packed in boxes for export to Australia where our local supplier uses a processor to whip the shea, resulting in its lovely creamy colour and texture and making it easier to use. Any remaining impurities such as charcoal from the fire are removed by hand.

Hamlin Shea Butter has no added ingredients and is not refined in any way.

The popularity of shea butter as an all-round skin care product is growing all the time, especially for people looking for a natural way to moisturise skin (including lips, feet and those sometimes troublesome elbows) as well as keeping hair healthy and providing a lovely massage butter for use on skin both young and old: babies and older folks will love a warm bath with some shea butter added.

By purchasing Hamlin Shea you are helping the women of Ghana to provide for their families, supporting the treatment of women with obstetric fistula, and joining the millions of people who love and appreciate shea butter for its many and varied uses.