COSMEFOREST

Cosmetic ingredients from African rainforest

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Dry skin

Is nilotica shea butter the answer ?

Nilotica shea trees grow in Uganda, South Sudan and Kenya. East African Nilotica shea butter, a relative of the better known West African shea butter, offers unique properties in terms of  aroma and spreadability.  While West African shea butter is hard and waxy, East African Nilotica shea butter is creamy and soft.

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Wait, When Did Shea Butter Get Cool ?

It used to sit in plastic tubs at the back of the shelf - too greasy, too simple, too old school to be luxury. What changed ? The butter didn’t change. We did.

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Somewhere in Africa.Street food.

Broth, porcupine, pangolin, giant snake, viper, crocodile, lizard, fishgetable and snail on the menu.

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Using shea butter as a moisturising cream for hands

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Nilotica Shea Butter Texture

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East African Nilotica shea butter, a relative of the better-known West African shea butter, offers unique properties in terms of a pleasant aroma and spreadability. While West African shea butter is hard and waxy, East African Nilotica shea butter is creamy and soft. The butter has a pleasant smell that is more subtle than that of any other butter. Because of its higher oleic acid content, Nilotica shea butter melts more easily and is easy to formulate into a cream or use as a massage cream, face cream, beard cream, and even cuticle oil. This makes using natural shea butter in DIY cosmetics easier than 123.

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A 10s presentation to show the spreadability of nilotica shea butter. Nilotica shea butter is very soft compared to west Africa shea butter. It can be used immediately as a cream

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That day...

That day we woke up early, ready to brave the green infinity in search of Moabi trees, of which we had been told there were a few specimens "not far away." The "walk" turned into a 6-hour journey through the hot and humid forest, punctuated by the rustling of branches as we walked along and the cries of monkeys. We used machetes and followed paths that sometimes no longer existed because they had not been walked, amidst an incredible cacophony of animals and insects. And sometimes the worry: how will we manage to find our way back?

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100% Raw Nilotica shea butter from Uganda, East Africa

West Africa shea butter and East Africa shea butter. Any difference?

Shea trees can grow up to 50 meters in size and it takes 40-50 years for a tree to mature and produce shea nuts. There are two types of shea trees: Vitellaria Paradoxa, which grows in West Africa and Vitellaria Nilotica, a East African variety. The texture, fatty acid profile, and scent of the shea butter produced by each variety are unique. If you roll the butter under your fingers, you can see the difference in texture: East African shea butter is soft and creamy because it contains a higher concentration of olein, while West African shea butter is firmer. Nilotica shea trees grow only in Northern Uganda and South Sudan, which explains their premium status. Only a few hundred tons are available each season and the harvest can vary greatly from season to season: it is a luxurious, hard-to-find ingredient with limited availability. In contrast, West African shea butter is produced in abundance and covers a wide range of applications. 

Each type of shea butter contains ingredients such as stearic acid and oleic acid, which have therapeutic, moisturizing and replenishing properties for the skin, but Nilotica shea butter has a higher percentage of oleic acid. This explains its softer and buttery consistency.

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Baillonella Toxisperma tree, Central Africa. The tallest tree of the rainforest.  A butter similar to shea butter is extracted from its seeds and used in the cosmetic industry.

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CACAO POD FROM CAMEROON

I brought back a cacao pod and tried to plant a cacao tree on my balcony...(ever heard of global warming?). And guess what ? Results are not bad ! 6 months later, my friend is in great shape and growing ! I have the impression he likes it here. Let us be realistic though. In tropical areas, cacao trees bear fruit after 18 months. I do not think that will be the case here (France) anytime soon. But if a miracle happens you will be the first to be informed !

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ROUTE TO THE UNKNOWN

Forest in the Congo Basin is luxuriant. Vegetation stretches for kilometers in this green no man’s land and the red laterite road never seems to end. Only monkeys, cacatoès and crickets disturb the atmosphere, punctuated from time to time by a frightening silence…