Nilotica Butter vs. West African Shea Butter
You may be wondering, "What is Nilotica butter?" I'm glad you asked. Ready to learn about one of the main ingredients in our Blue Tansy Ultra Rich Moisturizer (aka our most luxurious moisturizer yet)? Let's go!
To answer the above question, Nilotica butter hails from the East Africa region and is one of the most coveted kinds of butter in the skincare world. East African Nilotica butter is the less common counterpart of West African Shea Butter. These two distinct butters come from different species of the Shea tree.
Let's talk about the more common West African Shea butter first. It is a popular butter that many of you have probably used before, especially if you use our products. We incorporate the highest quality unrefined, cold-pressed West African Shea butter in a host of our facial, body, and skin care products due to its incredible moisturizing and nourishing qualities... and its texture too! Fatty acids, vitamin-rich, and anti-inflammatory... Good quality West African Shea butter is a nutrient-dense skincare must-have.
What makes West African Shea Butter different from its subspecies, East African Nilotica Butter? For one, the Nilotica tree is only grown in East Africa, South Sudan and Uganda to be exact. The trees grow wild and are not farmed. Whereas West African Shea tree is grown all over West Africa in abundance, due to its tree's ability to be planted and farmed. This means that Nilotica butter is wild-harvested and much more rare.
*Click here to watch this full video to watch how Nilotica Butter and West African Shea Butter are produced. Super fascinating!
Nilotica trees also produce fruit just once a year, making every last fruit produced very precious. The processing of Nioltica butter is also very labor-inducing and must be done with such care to ensure the butter retains all the possible sought-after nutrients. As the linked video shows, Nilotica butter is MUCH softer and has a lower melting point than West African Shea butter (thanks to its higher oleic acid and lower steric acid properties), meaning that it effortlessly soaks into the skin within minutes.
Click here to watch how our Nilotica Butter filled Blue Tansy Moisturizer glides onto the skin!
As you can tell, Nilotica butter is a very special ingredient, and with that, a very pricey one as well due to its host of skin benefits and processing. Here at SBA, we buy our East African Nilotica butter from an ethical, fair trade source to ensure that the women who process this butter get paid fair wages for their laborious work. It is well worth the money when you consider Nilotica butter has twenty-five percent more oleic acid in it than West African Shea, making it more absorbable and anti-aging. It also contains significantly more vitamin K and allantoin, meaning that it is more anti-inflammatory than West African Shea as well. Even better, some studies have shown Nilotica butter to possibly be antibacterial as well.
SBA offers Nilotica as a star ingredient in our Blue Tansy Ultra Rich Moisturizer. We wanted to give you a product that offers the best of the best concerning moisturizers, and this product is just that. To learn more details about our newest and most luxurious moisturizer, click here. We made a blog post with added details!
All the best,
Brier C. & Chelsea Henderson (CEO & Formulator)