Shea Nut Oil

[Catscankim]

I added this to my cart without a real reason. So now I have 8oz of Shea Nut Oil that I really have no purpose for right now. I have done some research, but haven't found any convincing uses for it, or reviews other than "Its great for your skin!"

Has anybody out here used it before? Does it have the same properties as Shea Butter? I was thinking in lip balms and salves.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

It depends on which shea oil that you have because there are 2. One is called shea 50, Shea WS (water soluble) or PEG-50 Shea. These are all the same kind and are soluble in water or oil. The other one is just shea nut oil and it is only soluble in oil. They both can be used in soap but the PEG-50 Shea is a lot more expensive.

The shea nut oil has basically the same properties as the butter but not exactly. However it is usable in any situation where you are using other oils.

 

[DeeAnna]

Regular shea nut oil (meaning the stuff that's not the water soluble kind) is made by cooling melted shea butter until some of it solidifies and then separating the liquid part from the solid part. The liquid part is higher in oleic and linoleic acids and is also called shea olein. The solid part, which contains more stearic and palmitic acids, is the "stearin".

I'm not sure regular shea nut oil will be any more useful for making soap than shea butter is. But I bet it isn't nearly as prone to becoming grainy in a lip balm or body butter, like shea butter likes to do. That would be a big advantage of using it in a body butter or lip balm.

 

[Catscankim]

Excuse my gross looking hands, just got done making soap and doing soapy dishes LOL. Anyway, this is what I have. I didn't know there were different kinds...didn't even know this existed.

 

[cmzaha]

What you have is a fractionated shea nut oil which is wonderful in lip balms, balms, whipped butter, lotions etc. As DeeAnna mentions, it will not be prone to becoming grainy like regular shea butter becomes.

 

[Catscankim]

What you have is a fractionated shea nut oil which is wonderful in lip balms, balms, whipped butter, lotions etc. As DeeAnna mentions, it will not be prone to becoming grainy like regular shea butter becomes.

Thank you all!!!