Unrefined Grade A Shea Butter for Hair Care

Recommended specifications for hair care

For hair care, slip melting point, free fatty acid and peroxide value decide performance; unsaponifiables and colour are positioning parameters. Melting point is the row hair formulators should watch batch-to-batch. Check a supplier's numbers against Grade A with the grade checker; how to read the sheet is in the COA guide.

Why Unrefined Grade A shea butter suits hair care

• A 32–45 °C slip melting point means the butter is a soft solid at room temperature and melts on contact with warm hands and hair — the property that makes pomades spread and whipped butters hold air.
• As an occlusive emollient it forms a film on the hair fibre that reduces water loss and adds slip for detangling — a physical, not therapeutic, function.
• Inclusion is typically 3–15 % in rinse-off and leave-in conditioners and curl creams, and 20–60 % in anhydrous pomades and whipped hair butters; at high loads plan for graininess control by rapid, even cooling.
• Grade A free fatty acid is the odour specification: hair products are leave-on and worn near the face, so a rancid lot is noticed immediately.
• Unsaponifiables (4–11 %) are retained because the butter is not bleached or deodorised; this is the substantive basis for raw/unrefined shea positioning on pack.
• Shea tolerates the 70–75 °C oil-phase temperatures typical of conditioner manufacture; add it to the oil phase, not after emulsification, to avoid grains.

The natural-hair market often wants the nutty odour and ivory colour; a colour and odour band written into the specification turns that preference into a controllable input. Mainstream salon lines that cannot accept the note should use refined N-RBD (see the cosmetics refined page). Whipped textures share a method with unrefined Grade A for body butter and lotion: cool to a soft solid, whip, avoid re-melt. In cationic conditioner bases, shea raises oil-phase solids — check viscosity at two loads. Mango butter as an alternative is compared on shea butter versus mango butter.

Bench-test before locking a hair-care formula:

• leave-in conditioner at 5 % and 12 % shea — viscosity, pH and separation at 40 °C for four weeks;
• anhydrous pomade at 40 % shea — set hardness after 24 hours and after two 4 °C ↔ 40 °C cycles;
• whipped hair butter — overrun (volume gain) and grain check at 48 hours and four weeks;
• odour panel at 0 and 3 months against the retained lot sample.

This page describes composition and performance. It makes no hair-growth, scalp-health or other therapeutic claims.

When to choose refined N-RBD instead

Choose refined N-RBD for salon or mainstream lines that are fragrance-forward, for white or pastel products, or when a buyer specification demands a refined free-fatty-acid and peroxide-value ceiling. There is no refined-for-hair-care page; refined cosmetic use is covered on the refined N-RBD for cosmetics page. Refining lowers unsaponifiables and removes the raw claim. Refined N-RBD Shea Butter for Cosmetics.

Supply format

EMI Agro loads at Apapa (Lagos) and Tin Can Island (Lagos). Packaging, sample size, minimum order, Incoterms and lead time are confirmed on the quote for the grade and destination you name.

Quality & traceability

Finished butter is specified on a NIS 571:2013 basis. Parameters in the table are measured on every finished batch; the Certificate of Analysis reports the measured values. Kernel lots are titrated for free fatty acid at intake and kept segregated. Kernels are wild-collected through a cooperative network of 5,000+ women collectors. Certification status: NAFDAC registered, SON approved, HACCP in progress, USDA NOP (Organic) in pursuit, EU Organic (EOS) in pursuit, COSMOS in pursuit. Detail sits on the quality page.

• Every finished batch is tested; measured values are reported on the Certificate of Analysis.
• Kernel lots are titrated for free fatty acid at intake and kept segregated.