Not Using Shea Butter for Bro-ly Soft Skin? You Should Be

You’ve heard shea butter touted in over-the-top commercials with ladies applying expensive moisturizers or lathering up their hair with scented shampoo, looking rosy and radiant when all’s said and done. Advertising gives the impression shea butter is only good for women, but if you haven’t made it a part of your personal care regimen, you’re missing out on the many benefits it can have for men.

Slathering on the Shea
What exactly is shea butter? It’s a fat obtained from African shea tree nuts and is packed with oleic, stearic, palmitic and linolenic acids. Vitamins E and A accompany these saturated fats to promote the health of skin and hair. If you pay attention to the ingredients used in commercial moisturizers, you’ll see some of these same substances in synthetic forms. Cold-pressed shea butter without any added ingredients delivers the results promised by pricy man-made counterparts and doesn’t leave you scratching your head, wondering which unpronounceable chemicals are good for you and which might wind up causing future health problems.

Simple Product, Better Skin
Shea butter is most often used as a moisturizer on its own or as the base for a moisturizing lotion. If you’re honest with yourself, you hate dry skin just as much as women do. Whether it’s from winter air, windy weather or indoor heat, it’s uncomfortable at best and downright painful at worst. To get rid of dryness with pure shea butter, all you have to do is put a bit in your palm and let it warm up. Once it’s soft, massage it into your hands, elbows, knees, feet or anywhere else skin feels tight or itchy.  But of course, not all shea butter is treated equally, and going with locally sourced raw natural companies like Eugenia Shea is always a better idea.

Shea also has anti-inflammatory properties and can help regenerate natural collagen, so it’s useful if you’re suffering from just about any unpleasant skin condition. Showering with soap containing shea butter delivers these benefits to your whole body at once.

Real Bros Care about Hair
Hair health should be on every guy’s mind. You don’t have to be the kind of person who carries a mirror and a comb everywhere, but you should pay attention if your scalp is flaky or your hair seems dry. These symptoms are your head trying to tell you it needs moisture right away, so grab the shea butter and start massaging. Adding shea butter to your hair care routine is especially beneficial in the winter when dandruff can run rampant.

What about hair removal? You can use shea butter for that, too. Shea-based shaving lotions or even straight shea butter provide a closer shave and minimize skin irritation, so your face comes out smoother and doesn’t sport any annoying red spots.

Shea Products for Masculine Skin
Now that you know you should be using shea butter every day, it’s time to find the right product for your regimen. Raw shea butter can be purchased in bulk online, from some herb companies and in specialty stores. Commercial shea products, like those from SheaMoisture, are in stock at standard department stores, although these contain a much more refined form of the fat. You can even search for shea-based soap, lotion, shampoo and pomade on Amazon.

Don’t shy away from shea butter for manly skin and hair care. Using natural fats and vitamins is smarter than resorting to chemicals or ignoring dryness entirely. Shea butter works with skin and hair to keep them healthy, so you can focus on the important things in your day instead of wasting time dealing with cracked hands or a flaky scalp.