It is the time to get your own homemade body butter to moisturize the dry skin.
Do you need the tips to make your own raw shea butter homemade body butter LESS greasy ?! 😊
]]>It is the time to get your own homemade body butter to moisturize the dry skin.
Do you need the tips to make your own raw shea butter homemade body butter LESS greasy ?! 😊
https://www.facebook.com/karitex/photos/a.1167566063270639/2376385162388717/?type=3&theater
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It is time to make your own customized DIY Bug Repellent with Shea Butter
]]>It is time to make your own customized DIY Bug Repellent with Shea Butter
https://www.facebook.com/TravelChannel/videos/10155326426808851/
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With cold and snowy weather, we know the winter is here. As with many people, the skin on my heels cracked and cold temperature aggravated the problem even more. For those of you with dry skin like myself, here are some tips for your winter dry skin woes:
• Soak the cracked heels in a warm water, mix with the eatable salt for soften the skin and help to improve the circulation.
• Remove any dead skin around the affected area.
• Place a dollop of raw shea butter directly onto the affected area and massage until it is well absorbed into the skin.
• Wear a pair of clean cotton socks and sleep with it overnight.
Results will vary from person to person but in one day, I realized the 100% raw Shea Butter can be a good moisturizer for my dry cracked area !
I think my solution is successful and I am so ready for this rough winter.
- Thank you so much Diane, from Karitex!
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I made this natural unrefined Shea butter ointment to share with my friends and to use it for myself.
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• 1 dry & clean glass jar with lid (or small stainless cooking pot with lid)
• 1 dry & clean wood stick
• 50 g of Karitex Unrefined 100% Raw Shea Butter
• Few slices of lemon (or few drops of lemon essential oil)
• 5 - 10 drops of your preferred essential oil (optional), I used wintergreen for this Shea Butter ointment.
• 1 full teaspoon Organic Virgin Coconut oil
1. Squeezed 3 small slices of lemon into glass jar.
2. Put the 50g of Karitex Unrefined 100% Raw Shea Butter with fresh lemon juice.
3. Sealed the lid and boil it. Keep the temperature low and warmed it up until unrefined raw Shea butter is melt.
4. Unrefined Raw Shea Butter turned into liquid.
5. Time to put 1 full teaspoon of organic virgin coconut oil.
6. Using the wood stick to mix the lemon juice, unrefined raw Shea butter and coconut oil.
7. Sealed the lid and wait for 10 to 30 minutes to ensure that liquid ingredients are blended well together.
8. Added 5 to 10 drops of Wintergreen essential oil into the jar.
9. Resealed the lid and wait for another 10 to 30 minutes. The temperature of the jar should cool down and Wintergreen essential oil blended itself into the liquid.
10. Slowly poured all the ingredients from the jar into containers.
11. Seal the cap, wait for the liquid to dry and turn into an ointment.
12. After few hours, the liquid is fully dried and ready to use.
13. Voilà ~ They are easy to carry on. It's ready to share with my friends.
The final results will vary depending on your recipes and quantities.
The quantities of the ingredients can be adjusted according to your personal preferences. Enjoy!
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The event was amazing and Karitex had benefit this unique opportunity to demonstrate our 100% Raw Shea Butters to the finest handcrafted soap teachers in Taiwan. They tested Karitex’s 100% raw shea butters in their customized soap recipes to handcraft the soaps.
Here is a photo of soaps which were made by a handcraft soap teacher, who utilized our raw Shea Butter to handcraft his finest handmade soaps.
Each handmade soap contains 50% of Karitex’s 100% raw shea butter. Don't they look lovely? Natural and Simple ~
They look so inviting! Elemental and Pure ~
Overall, this event was a great success and Karitex is looking forward to participate again on next year. We would like to thank these handcraft soap teachers for their customized soap recipes and their generous donation of their handmade soaps as gift to our friend who suffers from severe skin condition. They've been so kind and generous!
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Our 100% Raw Shea Butter was featured in this official Emmy gift bag which was given to all the guests in the attendance. Guests included the producers, celebrities and members in daytime television or the press.
This great experience was enjoyable and we are confident that Karitex’s 100% Raw Shea Butter also invites the event guests to enjoy the power of this natural beauty product.
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Raw Shea butter is becoming the finest makeup remover out there, especially for waterproof mascara or lipstick and at the same time. By using it, I can benefit from the natural raw Shea butter's properties to soften my skin cuticles !
Here's how I did it:
1. I placed a dollop of raw Shea butter directly on my hand, which given human warm temperature, melts directly into Shea oil form.
2. I used my fingers to massage the affected makeup area with the oil form base and then proceeded to remove it with a cotton ball or cotton towel.
3. I washed my face gently with Shea soap containing 45% of raw Shea butter and rinse with lukewarm water. http://shop.karitex.com/collections/shea-soap/products/natural-shea-soap
Voilà, I think this is a great way to remove makeup and at same time, deeply moisturize my dry skin.
You should try it too!
2. This is my 1 lb raw Shea butter pack.
3. I used my fingers to squeeze my raw Shea butter well in order to ensure the butter form turns into a soft creamy texture.
Thank you to one of our long standing customers that shared this with us.
4. My 1 lb raw Shea butter is well squeeze.
5. I simply cut small corner of my bag of raw shea butter and I slowly squeeze the portion of the soft creamy raw shea butter into my glass storage container and ensure the rest of raw shea butter well pack in sealable zipper bag to ensure fresh quality.
6. I seal my glass storage container with the lid for few hours before to serve because the scent of Lemon oil has slowly immersed itself into the raw shea butter.
7. Voilà, this is close shot photo of the raw Shea butter. Their textures look soft and creamy!
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Winter’s around the corner, which means the return of cold weather and dry skin. As with many people, come winter, the skin on my hands crack and doing laundry or washing dishes only aggravates the problem....
]]>Winter’s around the corner, which means the return of cold weather and dry skin. As with many people, come winter, the skin on my hands crack and doing laundry or washing dishes only aggravates the problem. So, for those of you with dry skin like myself, here are my tips for your winter dry skin woes:
• Soak your hands in a warm water to soften the skin and to open pores.
• Remove any dead skin around the affected area.
• Place a dollop of shea butter directly onto the dry area and massage until it is well absorbed into the skin.
See for yourselves the difference in my skin texture after applying raw Shea Butter on my hands for two days. Results will vary from person to person but in one day, I realized Shea Butter can be a good moisturizer for my dry skin crack on my finger.
I think my solution is successful and I am so ready for this rough winter
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À bientôt!
The other day, I came across an interesting chart on my friend's facebook page. The chart above, "Organic vs. Conventional" presents the results of a research conducted by Dr. Firman E.Bear at Rutgers University in the Natural Gardener's Catalogue (1995). It compares several vegetables' nutritional content in organic and conventional farming. My friend feels the results are impressive and speak for themselves. He is surprised that people think there is "no difference" between the two. I thought we would share this chart with you so that you too can read about it and give us your impressions.
After looking at the chart, my curiosty got the best of me and I began my own research on Organic vs Conventional farming.
Let's be frank, organic vs conventional is a very complex debate. Therefore, my conclusion is that I will not venture too deeply into a topic that I can not provide a definitive answer. Here is what I have noticed.
1. Organic products are different from conventional ones because they are regulated by organisations that supervise the farming process. The soil and environment are monitored to ensure they don't come in contact with pesticides or fertilizers.
2. Not all conventional products are harmful. However, I am concerned about genetically modified foods. We need to be careful and educate ourselves about the additives present in our food and the methods by which they are grown. When I think about words like "genetically modified foods, human sewage sludge, and nanomaterials", I wonder...
3. Organic produce must be closely monitored, but in many cases it is not controlled properly. Hence, when buying organic produce, it is essential to verify that certification is adequately validated as in ECO-CERT and USDA / NOP.
Products that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.[1]
Organic |
Conventional |
Crop rotation |
Synthetic fertilizers |
Green manure |
Pesticides (Herbicides, Insecticides and Fungicides) |
Compost |
Hormones |
Biological pest control |
Livestock antibiotics and Food additives |
This has been a very interesting topic, I will definitely continue on the subject of organics in my future blogs.
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Published Saturday, Mar. 17 2012, 12:01 AM EDT
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By Marilisa Racco, The Globe and Mail
Published Saturday, Mar. 17 2012, 12:01 AM EDT
There’s a gold rush on in the African nation of Mali, but it has nothing to do with the metal. This gold grows on shea trees, the nut of which is being processed into a multipurpose butter that not only represents economic independence for the women producing it, but also the hope of sustenance in a country staring down the barrel of a potentially major food crisis.
“Shea production is definitely something that helps women economically,” says Justin Douglass, communications manager for World Vision Mali. “Facing a food crisis, it is especially important that they have access to money to purchase food for their families.”
In much of western Africa, females are solely responsible for the production of shea, dubbed “African women’s gold.” By some estimates, it can account for up to 80 per cent of the incomes of rural women.
In the midst of Mali’s current food crunch – the result of a major rain shortfall during last year’s agricultural season – shea butter provides a rare ray of hope, emerging as one of the sole goods that generates any income for the reported 1.7 million Malians who stand to be affected by the shortage. Tough and drought-tolerant, the shea tree is indigenous to about 20 African countries, with Mali and Burkina Faso leading shea-butter production in the west. Although it takes from 20 to 30 years for a tree to reach maturity, it starts producing fruit at the 10-year mark.
In Africa, women use shea butter for numerous purposes, including curing dermal ailments, treating minor cuts, softening skin and hair, cooking food and waterproofing the exterior of mud huts. Once it makes its way into the hands of the international community, however, its primary usage is skin care.
In 2009, the Canadian International Development Agency pledged to stimulate shea-butter trade in Mali by 20 per cent, but immediate needs resulting from the current food shortage recently saw the agency pledge $41-million in separate new aid to the Sahel region, which includes the hardest hit areas of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger.
“Although this business is helping to support Malian women over the long term, we are seeing a steep rise in food prices, so the money they are making from shea butter, while still important to their well-being, is not buying as much as it used to,” Douglass says.
Even so, the production of the butter provides a degree of financial autonomy for women that few other practices do. The fact that it is also a time-honoured process makes it as culturally important as it is financially promising. Much as a prized recipe might be passed from a Canadian mother to her daughter, shea-production techniques are handed down from generation to generation in Africa. After the fruit, which is characterized by a fleshy, avocado-like pulp around an oily kernel, is gathered during the rainy season, the nut is retained and left to dry under the sun or underground. Once dry, the nut must be separated from its hard exterior, a communal effort by women and girls involving an oversized mortar and large, heavy pestles. A typical scene might see five or six females (often with babies strapped to their backs) heaving the pestles and rhythmically breaking the nuts, frequently accompanied by singing and dancing among children and onlookers. Next, the crushed nuts are cooked in a large pot over an open wood-burning flame, which gives traditional shea butter its characteristic smoky scent. After further grinding it into a smooth paste, separating the oils and melting it over a fire, the women scoop out the butter and place it somewhere cool to harden. It is finally formed into balls.
In the developed world, most household beauty brands, including Kiehl’s, L’Occitane, The Body Shop and Yves Rocher, use African shea butter in some capacity, usually as a softener or moisturizer.
Fair-trade varieties can also be found at health-food stores, online at Karitex.com and at non-profit retailers like Ten Thousand Villages, which has locations across Canada.
Increasingly, though, many socially minded brands are working with producers directly at the source, both to better oversee their sourcing and to improve worker conditions. Burt’s Bees, for one, has partnered with a major West African shea-kernel provider as well as the United Nations Development Program to promote efficiency of harvesting. Among the initiatives is the provision of energy for a wide variety of grinding, shelling and pressing tools that in turn give female workers more time to focus on education.
“According to a third-party study, the real impact [of Burt’s Bees’ involvement]is that the number of women in the villages who can read has increased by more than 25 per cent since we started this project,” says Celeste Lutrario, vice-president of research and development for the company. “They are able to make financial contributions to the local village and [accumulate]substantial savings.”
And that is worth more than gold.
Special to The Globe and Mail
This is our first blog, please follow our story!
Since 2010, Karitex has been collaborating with SEMAFO Foundation in Québec...
]]>This is our first blog, please follow our story!
Since 2010, Karitex has been collaborating with SEMAFO Foundation in Québec and the “regroupement féminin de Gnogondémé de Yona” from Burkina Faso, West Africa. With this collaboration, Karitex pledges to supply the best quality Shea butter. In 2011, Karitex took its first step in introducing quality raw Shea butter and our mission for 2012 will be to reach out to customers from all around the world.
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