FAQ’s

Baraka Shea Butter is exported from Ghana as a cosmetic product, not as a food product. It is the same shea butter that is used for food and cooking in the communities where it is made, but we don’t sell it as an edible product.

Jacewir Shea Butter is never tested on animals. Never, ever, ever. We do know of customers who use it on their pets if they have skin sores or cracked paws. We have also heard from customers who use it on their horses and on their milk cow’s udders. But, never for testing, always for healing.

All Shea Butter has a scent unless it is processed and chemically de-scented (and who wants that!). Jacewir Shea Butter will often have a very slight smoky smell that lingers from fires that the shea nuts are roasted on. Shea butter can get a rancid scent over time. The length of time it takes to go rancid is dependent on many things, depending especially on how well it is made. Poorly made shea butter will go rancid quickly.

You can read what others say about the product and service on our website, on Google Reviews and Facebook Reviews.

Jacewir Shea Butter is pure, unrefined and hand-crafted using age-old techniques passed down through generations.You can see an animated infographic on the Jacewir Shea Butter process here. Not all shea butter is made this way. Much of the shea butter on the market and used in cosmetics and skin care products is made using chemicals and harsh mechanical processes and often ‘refined.’

In order for your full product to be certified as Organic, you will need to have your production processes, procedures and ingredients certified as there is very strict control on contamination as well as other risks and issues.If you purchase Jacewir Certified Organic Shea Butter and only use that in your product you can claim that you use 100% certified organic shea butter in the product, but you cannot claim the product is certified organic without being certified yourself as the certification needs to confirm that your handling of the product meets the criteria for organic certification.

Jacewir’s Certified Organic Shea Butter is inspected and certified to meet USDA NOP and EU certification standards

Organic Jacewir Shea Butter is made from shea nuts/seeds that are sourced from areas that are certified as free from pollutants and contaminants and every additional step in the process is similarly certified. The process is inspected and certified as organic and the certificates are available to you if you purchase Certified Organic Jacewir Shea Butter.

Wow! This answer could take a book, or more, to fully respond to. There are so many.

But, regulations and laws kick in, and there isn’t a lot we can say here. Just google “Benefits and uses of shea butter,” and you will see what others say.

Additionally, you can read our reviews on Google and Facebook; you will see what others have to say as well.

It will be nice and creamy and buttery! That is if you get home in a day or two or even a week. If you didn’t plan to be home for a few years you should probably arrange cool, dark storage for it. The reality is that Shea Butter is produced in areas where the temperature is often VERY HOT and it does just fine. It isn’t good to subject it to long periods of intense heat but a day or two, or three, isn’t a big deal. And, when it is very warm, it is creamier and butterier (my computer says Butterier isn’t a word, but I am sure you know what I mean).

If you think shea butter has to be snow white and hard, then you are thinking of refined shea butter. Baraka Shea Butter is pure, unrefined and traditionally made, using no chemicals, processes or destructive processes. The color will vary from a buttery yellow to an ivory/off-white colour. The colour is dependent on several factors including rains and climate during the growing season, mineral makeup of the soil, whether it is nuts from the very first fruits or later fruits in the harvest and, I’m sure, other things that we don’t know about. We do know that whatever the specific colour of your Baraka Shea Butter, it is the natural colour that nature meant it to be.We know that some producers add yellow food colouring to try and get a consistent yellow colour. Of course, we don’t do that. If someone is advertising colour consistency in their shea butter, you may want to ask how they can make that claim unless they add something to it.As for pure white… Pure white shea butter is processed and de-scented, often with harmful chemicals. This process not only sounds horrid, but it also takes away many of the special healing and restorative powers that Jacewir Shea Butter has because of the traditional and natural way it is processed.

Shea smells smoky? Then it must be fresh! Hand-crafted shea butter is roasted over a fire and is finished with heat from a wood fire to release all the oils. Sometimes, depending on the wind, the shea will take on a bit of a smoky smell. This normally dissipates naturally after a few months (sometimes a faint, smoky odour will remain). So, if you have shea that smells a bit smokier than you would expect it likely means that it is very fresh and the smoky smell hasn’t yet had time to dissipate.

If you leave your shea opened for a few days the smoky smell should quickly dissipate.

Do you have additional or other questions about shea butter? Email them to us or suggest others we could include here.