Shea Butter- Benefits to the hair

Hey Readers,
                     I've been researching in-depth on the benefits of shea butter to the hair, and i felt i should share.
I've always known that shea butter- containing products are beneficial for healthy hair journey and mantenance, but now as i am still troubleshooting with hair care products to establish an ideal regimen, i feel its a good time to know the exact benefits of certain products like shea butter, aloe vera, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, biotin, etc. In this post i'll be talking about shea butter only though. Others would come in subsequent posts.

What is Shea Butter?
Shea butter is an extract from nuts of a tree (the Shea- Karite tree) found in Africa. This tree only begins to produce nuts after about fifteen years and it can take up to 30 years to get the first quality crop from a particular tree.  The producers are waiting for the nut to contain a high concentration of irremovable fatty acid.  It is this unique fatty acid that gives Shea Butter its unparalleled healing properties and makes it much more sought after than other butters like cocoa butter.
The fat in shea butter is extracted from the kernels of Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertner (Sapotaceae), which is also known as Butyrospermum parkii (not like we really need all the scientific bla blaah, but i felt details would be worth sharing).
Shea butter contains five fatty acide; palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid- all in vaying proportions depending on the region from which the product is obtained
What does it do for my hair?
Shea butter is very effective as a moisturizer. It adds moisture and lustre to dry and damaged hair, making it very useful for restoration of heat damaged hair. It is also a good way of preventing split ends.
A major (but indirect) benefit of sheabutter is prevention of breakage. Note i said indirect, cos the breakage prevention comes from the moisturizing effect. Hence if your hair was breaking due to excessive dryness, the use of shea butter might be a God-send. This could also enhance the growth of your hair.
It is essential to note that in all my reading and research, i have not seen any article that directly says shea butter would make your hair grow, so i must say (not conclusively though) that shea butter is not a growth stimulant. However, it will help prevent dryness and the breakage thereof, helping the hair to grow.

This maynot be part of my blog, but i think its not a bad idea to mention that shea butter can be used for dry scaly skin, and various skin conditions like dermatitis, psoriasis, etc.
Back to the books, i got more learning to do- and as always. It'll be a pleasure learning from you, so feel free to comment.

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