Baraka
Ethical Ingredients · Ghana
What Do You Know About Your Shea Butter?
Most people have no idea what happens between the shea nut and the jar.
The difference between handmade and factory-processed shea butter affects the ingredient, the women who make it, and whether the income stays in Ghana. Four questions — how much do you know?
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Before we start
What matters most to you when you buy natural skincare?
Question 1 of 4
The vast majority of shea butter sold globally is factory-processed. What do factories use that traditional hand-processing never does?
Think about what makes industrial-scale extraction economically viable
Factory processing uses chemical solvents — hexane is the most common — to extract shea butter from the nuts at industrial scale. The same solvent is used in industrial soybean and palm oil extraction. It achieves a significantly higher yield per kilogram of raw nut than water-based hand-processing. The result is a lower cost per kilogram of finished product, and chemical contact with the nut material at every stage of extraction. Traditional water-based processing uses no chemicals at any point.
Question 2 of 4
Traditional hand-processing yields approximately 30g of shea butter from 100g of shea nuts. What does factory processing with chemical solvents typically achieve?
The yield difference is the economic argument for using chemical solvents
Factory processing achieves approximately 45–60% yield, compared to 30% for traditional hand-processing. Chemical solvents extract fat from the shea nut that water alone cannot reach. That additional 15–30 percentage points of yield is why factories exist — it dramatically lowers the cost per kilogram. What is not advertised is what comes with that yield: the chemical contact removes 20–50% of the naturally occurring compounds — the triterpenes, tocopherols, and phytosterols — that make unrefined, hand-processed shea butter distinctively effective for skin.
Question 3 of 4
In Ghana’s shea belt, hand-processing is traditionally women’s work and one of their primary sources of income. When shea nuts are sold directly to factories for industrial processing, what typically happens to those women?
This is the human cost of industrial processing that rarely gets discussed
When shea nuts go directly to a factory, the processing step — and the income that step generates — leaves the community entirely. The factory pays for the raw nut. The women who would have hand-processed those nuts and earned income from that work earn nothing from it. The economic value of processing is captured by the factory, not the community. This is why Baraka's direct relationship with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre matters: it keeps the processing in the community, by hand, and the income with the women who do the work. The factory model does the opposite.
Question 4 of 4
Traditional hand-processing preserves approximately 100% of shea butter’s naturally occurring compounds. What does factory processing with chemical solvents and industrial heat typically preserve?
This is why the ingredient profile differs between handmade and factory-processed shea butter
Factory processing preserves approximately 50–80% of shea butter’s naturally occurring compounds. The unsaponifiable fraction — triterpenes, tocopherols, phytosterols — is the part of shea butter most associated with its conditioning and skin-supportive properties, and it is particularly vulnerable to chemical solvent contact and industrial heat. Traditional water-based hand-processing, which uses no chemicals and lower temperatures throughout, preserves approximately 100% of these compounds. The higher yield of factory processing comes at a direct and measurable cost to the ingredient. When you see “raw” or “unrefined” on a shea butter label, those terms are not regulated — they can legally describe factory-processed product.
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Is all raw shea butter the same?
No. Handmade shea butter is made by hand by women from shea nuts, in small batches, as it has been for generations; factory shea butter is made by machine at scale. The difference shows in the butter, in who makes it and in whether the income stays in Ghana. Baraka's Sourcing Story quiz asks four questions about what happens between the shea nut and the jar. Baraka's shea butter is made by hand at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana.
Is all raw shea butter the same?
No. Handmade and factory shea butter are made in very different ways, by different people. Baraka's Sourcing Story quiz shows what happens between the shea nut and the jar.
What is the difference between handmade and factory shea butter?
Handmade shea butter is made by women by hand, in small batches, as it has been for generations; factory shea butter is made by machine at scale. The quiz explains what that means for the butter and for the women who make it.