Colours of Baraka Shea Butter

Shea Butter ranges in colour from gray/white through to buttery yellow. The properties of the shea butter are not affected by colouration unless it is dyed yellow, or bleached white.

Natural colours are caused by several factors; the mineral content of the soil where the shea tree it came from grows, the time of the crop (seeds from early shea fruit seem to produce more yellowish coloured shea butter than fruit from later in the season), the climate during the hear (rains, heat, etc.).

You can rest assured that no matter the colour, handcrafted Baraka Shea Butter  will work well for whatever products you are making.

If someone promises and consistently gives you a very yellow shea butter you may want to have it tested. For some reason many think buttery yellow means better shea butter (It does look better – I like the look of it). So, some producers have taken to adding a yellow dye to their shea butter to make it a consistent yellow colour.  This is not pure shea butter as it has dye added to it.

The only way to get shea butter with a consistent colour is to either dye it, or bleach the colour out of it with chemicals and solvents, leaving it white.

With Baraka Shea Butter you will never get that. You will always get fresh, pure, hand-crafted, unrefined shea butter in its natural colour and full of its natural goodness.

When your shea butter is not consistently the same colour from batch to batch you can know that it is pure, traditional, handmade shea butter and not something that has been dyed or bleached.

Age will affect colour but it tends to turn shea butter very white and is accompanied by a rancid smell. Baraka Shea Butter is basically produced to order for each container so anything we ship will have a minimum of 18 months of shelf life.

To learn more read How to Know Your Shea Butter