Thank you, Mother Earth

I've really gotten into shea butter as a base for massage cream. Shea butter is kind of expensive, and is currently very popular in high end salons. I really want to use a good quality shea butter, but I was leery of buying it because of it's popularity. I'm well aware of how fashion trends can devastate the economies of the small countries that produce the item du jour. I want no part in that.

Today, I found some great news. The shea tree grows wild in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fruit is harvested by illiterate, generally disempowered women; who process the nuts with the most basic of machinery. In the last century, most shea butter exports were sent to Europe as a food product. The women received very little money for a lot of labor. That's the bad news. The good news is that in the 1990's, the UN got involved.
In 1994, UNIFEM, the women's rights branch of the UN, took a far more proactive role with African women and their production of shea butter. They have provided villiages with better quality manual presses, water filters and business courses.
UNIFEM's assistance is changing their culture. And it's a change I support. In addition to helping them earn more money with their businesses, UNIFEM is teaching them about AIDS, and how to stand up to abuse.
I can buy shea butter with confidence, as long as I find a distributor who shares my ideals.

As for thanking Mother Earth, shea butter is rich in allantoin. (Woo Hoo!) I've been searching for a lotion base for my Comfrey arthritis formula. It works great in olive oil, and I wanted something less messy. Shea butter will be perfect, and the scents blend nicely together :)