How Global Beauty Brands Exploit African Shea Butter

Underneath Every High-End Skin Cream

Underneath every high-end skin cream that promises to "repair," "hydrate," or "nourish," is usually a single familiar ingredient: shea butter. From Parisian beauty counters to New York and Toronto department stores, shea butter has become the unseen pillar of worldwide skincare.

But few customers have a clue where this mighty ingredient actually originates.

Luxury companies make use of raw shea butter obtained from West Africa, primarily Ghana, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. They incorporate it into face creams, body balms, lip treatments, and hair masks. But they seldom give credit to the source, and hardly ever reveal the whole story behind it.

Who's Behind the Shea Butter?

The unrefined shea butter creation process is laborious, physical, and handed down from generation to generation. In rural villages of Africa, particularly in Ghana, women collect fallen shea nuts, roast them on open fire, grind them, and churn the paste manually. It's a day's work to make even a couple of kilos of pure shea.

And all this happens in silence, benefiting the luxury industry of the world.

The containers on high-end beauty counters can retail for $150 or more. They look lovely. The advertising touts "natural ingredients." But never a word of the African women who cut the raw material. No acknowledgement. No equitable partnership. Just extraction. No acknowledgment, no equitable pay.

What Big Brands Don't Want You to Know

Organic shea butter is used in many of the high-end companies' formulations. But rather than buying it directly from reputable cooperatives, they may go through intermediaries. This destroys the link between the product and the producers.

In most instances, shea butter products are treated—i.e., bleached, deodorized, and nutrient-depleted—to meet a commercial grade. It is simpler to incorporate in mass production this way, but it takes away the natural advantages.

Meanwhile, the communities that produce the butter are still trapped in poverty.

What Makes AfricanFairTradeSociety Different

We don't keep it a secret where our products originate. Indeed, we base everything on it.

At AfricanFairTradeSociety, we directly source unrefined shea butter from women's co-ops in Ghana. The women are paid a fair price. Their customs are not violated. And their labor is respected.

Our shea is raw, organic, and pure—never changed or processed. What you receive is a butter that's soft, nutrient-dense, and truly healing. No additives. No dilution. Just the real thing.

It makes a difference. Because not all shea is the same.

Why Raw Shea Butter Is Better

When shea isn't refined, it retains its vitamins such as A, E, and F and essential fatty acids. That's what restores dry skin, soothes irritation, and softens scars. And it's safe for every age and type of skin.

No chemicals needed when you have pure shea. It doesn't just moisturize. It heals. It guards. And it endures.

This is why international beauty companies desire it. Rather than empowering the source, however, they quietly utilize it—profiting millions from what started in African villages.

The Rise of Ethical Skincare

American, Canadian, and African consumers are taking notice. They care where ingredients originate from. They demand real, honest skincare—not prettily packaged.

This movement is making opportunities for brands such as ours. Consumers are opting for shea butter products that are community-based, natural, and fair.

They want their money to matter—to contribute to true stories, not marketing messages.

Your Purchase Can Rebuild Communities

Each time you select organic shea butter products from AfricanFairTradeSociety, you are supporting more than your skin. You are supporting Ghanaian women who, with their bare hands, convert nuts to gold. You are supporting children, now able to attend school. You are supporting communities forging futures—on their own terms.

We believe in direct trade, not exploitation. We believe in revealing the whole picture, not concealing it.

And we believe that pure shea should never be a secret.