Guest Post: Refined vs Unrefined Organic Shea Butter

Refined Vs Unrefined Organic Shea Butter
Shea butter has been used in beauty and skincare products for many many years. It is extracted from the nut of the African Shea Tree, also known as the Karite tree which is widely grown in the Savannahs of Africa.
Shea butter contains essential components such as oleic acid, palmitic acid, linoleic acid and stearic acid. It has both unsaturated fats and fatty acids in addition to Vitamins E and D, provitamin A, allantoin and phytosterols.
Benefits of Shea Butter
Shea Butter is extensively used in cosmetics and soaps. The skin-nourishing ability offers excellent defence against moisture-loss and makes it a natural remedy for smooth and supple skin.
It hydrates the skin to impart a healthy glow and enhances the skin tone. Shea butter also prevents against the drying effects of the sun.
If you have dry hair, massage organic shea butter into your scalp and leave it on for a while. Shampoo and condition as usual to feel the difference!
With its myriad of benefits, shea butter indeed makes the perfect ingredient for naturally beautiful skin and hair.
How is Shea Butter Extracted?
Unrefined shea butter or virgin shea butter is extracted by hand. Sometimes, a mechanical process is also used to extract shea butter. Refined shea butter however suffers from the loss of vitamins and essential minerals during the refining process.
Differences between Refined And Unrefined Organic Shea Butter
• Unrefined Shea Butter has a beige/ yellowish tinge while the refined butter is usually white in colour.
• Refined shea butter undergoes a refinement process, which lends its white hue while unrefined shea butter is manually extracted and remains yellowish in its natural form.
• Refined shea butter appears clean and smooth but unrefined shea butter may contain nut traces.
• Refined shea butter loses some of its natural beneficial properties but unrefined butter retains its properties and is much more beneficial than refined butter.
• Refined shea butter has a fairly long shelf life but unrefined butter cannot be preserved for longer periods.
• Refined shea butter is odourless while unrefined butter has a natural nutty scent.
• Unrefined shea butter tends to become grainy if repeatedly reheated whilst refined shea butter is more consistent no matter how many times it is reheated.
Unrefined organic shea butter and refined organic shea butter both have their advantages and disadvantages and which one you choose will depend on the application. Commercially-made skincare products tend to use refined shea butter as it doesn’t become grainy and it doesn’t have an odour or colour. For the home end user though, the unrefined shea butter is the popular choice as its properties can be benefited from and odour and colour is of no consequence. N-essentials have both unrefined organic shea butter and refined organic shea butter for purchase at http://www.n-essentials.com.au. Feel free to browse online today! Unrefined Shea ButterRefined Shea Butter

Quitting drinking, I wish I could turn this water into wine…

So lately I have been drinking way way too much. I was drinking everyday from the time I got off work til I passed out and all day long Saturday and Sunday. It got out of control. The holidays are always hard for me, I get really depressed. I suppose I was self-medicating in a sense.Depression and drinking seem to go together so well! But I was never really sure why I was so damn sad…

Today is my first sober day in a long long time. All the feelings and problems I was trying to drown are still there.Maybe more so, because I have been avoiding them for some time.Why can’t I just control my self?Self loathing blah blah blah poor me… Here’s what I have figured out, at least in my case…I think an addiction of any kind is a way to avoid loneliness, it is for me anyway. The booze was always there for me,when I felt no one else was. Bad day? Go get a drink! Good day? Treat yourself!! chug! chug! chug! like a frat boy being initiated. I drank and forgot to eat dinner on more than 1 occasion. Drunkorexia? But it got to the point where I was alienating the people in my life to drink by myself instead of interacting with them.,

One of the things I am afraid of is not having any fun. Not having any friends anymore, and getting better will leave me lonlier than ever. I realize that real friends will stick around, but since almost everyone I know here, I only know at the bars…and I’m not going to bars anymore…this equals having no friends again. Moving far from home where you don’t know anyone and starting over seems like a great idea, but it’s harder than it seems! It’s hard to feel lonely when you can barely walk up the stairs.Priorities!

I tried AA a few years back, my sponsor basically stalked me and was super super creepy so I quit going.I didn’t drink for several months! But then, I did. I used to joke that I was a “high functioning” alcoholic. I never drank before work, only after. I did what I needed to. It’s just that for me, it’s never 1 or 2 drinks. It’s 1 or 2 bottles of wine, an entire 12 pack of beer, or as much as possible before I pass out.I started passing out sooner and sooner.

So now I’m going to do better, be better. It’s already hard as hell and it’s only been a day!!I have to examine my own behavior, fix it and get myself back on track.Who knew I was so insecure? I guess that’s how to know I have a problem… What do they say? One day at a time..

-Kristin