Miibox 100% Raw Unrefined Organic Shea Butter-African Grade A Ivory 1 Pound (16oz)

Quite a good price for the amount that was purchased, will last quite some time. It comes in a double sealed plastic bag. I scooped it all out and put it into a glass jar with a secured rubber seal. Keep in mind that quite a bit gets stuck to the plastic so I cut the plastic into small squares to smear it on the areas of my body before attending to the jar. The odor is quite strange, although I've gotten quite used to it. The smell is not that strong after application, only a faint scent. The butter is hard, but it starts to soften up after rolling it in between my index and thumb fingers for 30 seconds or so. Application is easy, rubbing it into the skin for a minute or so. Keep in mind that it will not fully soak into the skin no matter how long you rub it, so I let it soak in for the rest of the day, skin stays oily for quite some time. Don't fear it staining your cloths, none of my shirts nor pants have left any stains.(All colors) I bought this in the hopes of decreasing the visibility of my stretch marks that I got from some gain weight over the past few years (they are old stretch marks). I first read about shea butter online, so I followed by going to my local grocery store and purchasing a typical lotion with shea butter. What is not told is among all the ingredients in the lotion, there is typically only 2 teaspoons at most in it. Now who knows if it is refined/altered, most likely. You will never get as close to pure unrefined shea butter as this one and other sold here on amazon I presume. I have been applying the butter for 3 days now, and so far, WOW. It's quite amazing, completely moistens the skin like a baby's bottom. Although the stretch marks aren't gone and I don't believe they ever will be, so far it has decreased the visibility quite a bit for only a few days of use. My biggest stretch mark has a odd red mark in the middle of it, quite visible. That started to lighten a considerable amount after the first day, 3 days later even more! All I can say is try it, for whatever reason you need it for. Product is amazing, price is quite reasonable!

We purchased this five months ago at the same time as the Raw African Black Soap (see our review on that) to hopefully help our daughter who was suffering from severe eczema at the time. As with the soap, this was the latest hoped-for "magic bullet" in our battle with our daughter's eczema. The butter arrived in large ivory chunks in a heavy-duty clear plastic bag. Upon opening it we could smell the oft-mentioned "burnt" smell of the shea nuts. That smell is what it is; we find it neither inviting nor off-putting and you'll have to judge it for yourself. After using it straight from the bag, we took the advice found on several sites about shea butter and broke off a chunk, placed it into a glass bowl, and heated that bowl in a saucepan filled with water until the butter turned liquid. Then we let it cool. As promised, this made the shea butter much softer, easier to apply, and also put the ashes at the bottom. So how did it work? Tremendously well! We cannot say enough good things about shea butter as a moisturizer, both for my daughter's eczema and my wife's dry skin. In terms of the eczema, a light morning application on the eczema areas was enough to keep my daughter's skin moist all day (it normally took two or three applications of Shikai Borage Lotion to achieve the same effect) and a second light evening application did the same while she slept. Furthermore, the moisture built up over time to where we actually needed to use less, going to once a day then once every couple of other days. Did we mention it's noncomedogenic? Yes, it's a really, really good and powerful moisturizer. At this point, thanks to a number of other changes we made (not the least of which was halting all topical steroids - see ITSAN), our daughter's eczema is very mild and we thankfully no longer need to use the shea butter for her. My wife still uses it every couple of days on her face and hands, however, and I also use it on occasion; we still love it and unhesitatingly give it five stars.

I have systemic Lupus and Lupus destroys the collagen in your body. On top of that, I am a "mature" natural blond with fair skin and have spent my entire life on a ranch in northern Wyoming that is located in the high desert and where the wind blows constantly and most of my long days have been spent in the sun. To say I have tried everything for my dry skin is beyond an understatement. "Miracle" lotions, potions and balms have found their way into my trash on a regular basis and have done nothing except empty my wallet. This product has made all the difference for me. It is a pain-in-the-behind to soften and apply but heating a small amount in the microwave speeds up the process. You should apply this at night as it takes about an hour to totally absorb into the skin. It really has no odor but if it bothers you, add a few drops of coconut oil, which, by the way, also makes it a little easier to apply. Following a vigorous exfoliation (this is an important first step to remove dead skin cells) apply the shea and massage, massage, massage. If you are religious about applying this at least every other day, you will see amazing results in a couple of weeks. My skin has become soft and supple with no razor bumps and no dry patches. It also has worked well on my feet after I use Flexitol (also a TERRIFIC product)and a Ped Egg. You can certainly pay a lot more for skin cream but believe me, you won't find anything that works as well as this. For those of you who are still young, NOW is the time to begin taking intense care of your skin. GREAT product and as is obvious, I highly recommend!

I thought I would make a video review, and maybe I'll get to that later, but for now I'll just review and tell you how to make your own Shea Butter. Like everyone else said, it comes double bagged so the packaging isn't the best. However, mine was sealed well and not damaged and I was perfectly fine with it. It was true ivory Shea, which generally means pure. It wasn't rancid or anything like that either. That smell is what it should smell like if not refined and without additives. Overall, the quality was very high and quite a bargain when you consider that most products that say they are Shea based contain only a spoon full or two per container in reality. This allows a much higher level of purity for anything you'd like to Shea up. Very pleased with it and I do plan to re-order. I'll be making home made shea butter in custom scents for everyone for Christmas this year! That said, it can be a bit difficult to use and does leave a smell when you don't doctor it up. So I do. Here is the easiest way to do it for you too. To Make Shea Butter: 1) Very slowly melt your shea in a double boiler OR by floating a bowl containing the shea in a large pot. Use very low heat since it melts at body temperature. The more heat, the more vitamins you take out of it so less is better. 2) Once mostly melted (you can leave some chunks), you can let it settle some to be sure there are no sediments (also normal for unrefined though mine had none) and then pour the liquid carefully into another bowl for mixing, leaving the sediments behind. 3) Add about 5 ounces of various oils to one pound of Shea. I added 2 ounces of Sweet Almond Oil, 2 ounces of Hazelnut Oil and 1/2 ounce of Wheat Germ Oil and Macadamia Nut Oil each. 4) Mix using a hand mixer (not your kitchen aid) on whip for a long time. To shorten the time, just mix it enough to fully incorporate the oils (maybe 2 minutes) and then put the bowl into the fridge for 10 minutes. It will form a white layer on top of cooled shea. Then you take it out and keep mixing. It will take so long that you'll think you're doing it wrong, but you're not. Just keep going. Eventually, you'll start forming something that looks like frosting that smells a lot better than plain Shea. 5) Add your scent oils. I use pure essential oils and I made 2 batches. One Rosemary Mint and one Lavendar Orange. Both lovely. You'll need to decide your own amounts on this but you don't need a whole lot of it. Then mix it in and voila, you're done. Spoon into whatever containers you'd like to use. I used pyrex bowls with the plastic lids. 6) Makes about 5 pints. It will re-stiffen, but not as much as before, and will spread and melt more easily. Also soaks in a tad faster.

***Update December 2014*** Wanted to update my review simply to say that I've recently found some new ways to use this stuff, and I feel it's my duty to pass it along since it has helped me so much. From my original review, you know my skin is the WORST, so I get excited when something affordable actually works! First, you can cook it down in a double boiler, and pour it directly into empty lip-balm containers, and never buy Chap-Stik again! (which dries your lips anyway) Amazon sells the containers for cheap. Second...you can melt it down with some coconut oil and whip it up with your blender to make some killer 100% natural body butter (Thank You Pinterest). Third...you can make natural soap with it and take it into the shower (not as hard as it sounds). Fourth...melt it down and add it to a cup of white sugar for the best moisturizing sugar scrub you've ever used in your life (also-Pinterest). I've also made a coffee scrub with it. That's it! Good luck, hope that helps somebody! ***8/9/12 Review*** My skin is well, kinda yucky. I suffer from combination skin and large pores on my face, dry scaly/bumpy skin on my body (super-prone to razor bumps and rashes-gross!)...and to top it off, hereditary stretch marks! Never had any children, but I have them anyway! I started getting them when I was 11 years old after a quick growth spurt on my arms, legs...pretty much everywhere. Needless to say I've led a covered up, self conscious existence. I hate declaring my flaws like this, but this is a public service, right? When I was in high-school, I discovered tanning which really helped me with smoothing out my skin and minimizing these issues (yay SUN!). Recently however, my Father has developed skin cancer since taking up golfing in his retirement (boo CANCER!), and it has freaked out my sister and I so we've BOTH stopped with the tanning...really, what a horrible thing to do anyway...but when you find something that works...you sometimes mindlessly just do it. So if somebody tells me this Shea Butter stuff causes cancer, I'm just going to become a hermit because I gotta tell you...IT WORKS! I mean, almost IMMEDIATELY, I started to notice it attacking the issues on my skin. When you rub it in, the first thing you notice is, it stinks. It smells like a health food store. So, plan on spritzing something else on over it! But don't however buy the "Golden" shea butter, while it DOES moisturize...it's not pure, so it doesn't have the healing qualities. You'll also notice it's chunky and a little hard to work with, so you have to palm it, and work it a bit to get it to a point where it will apply to your skin. THEN you must rub....and rub, and then rub some more. Massage those troubled areas (for me, that's everywhere)! Get the blood flowing, and get that stuff worked in as much as possible. You'll never get it all the way DRY, that's just how it is, it's going to bead water--it's butter. But it's not an oily thing, it won't stain your clothes. Then sit back and let it do it's thing. Whatever that is, I don't know the science! To me it's just awesome! In a little under 1 week, I noticed the skin inside some of my stretch marks start to soften, and the backs of my arms get SMOOTH, shaving got easier too. The craziest thing though was, I had a giant gash on my leg where I'd fallen off my bike...and in 2 days this stuff healed more of the tissue than over 1 month of Neosporin...and that is the God's Honest Truth. I am NOT a health-nut, Noni-juice, copper-bracelet-type person at ALL...these are cold, hard factual observations by an EXTREMELY AVERAGE 33-YEAR-OLD GIRL from Detroit-ish Michigan. :) You're going to start noticing too, just how MANY products out there have shea butter in them...and then go ahead and throw some petroleum-based fillers in them (which actually DRY-OUT your skin & lips), and how much money you've wasted over the years! So go do your duty and spread the word to your friends & family now that you KNOW the truth!!

I couldn't believe how much of this shea butter you get, especially when some companies are selling cute little 2 ounce jars of this for $12.00. Great product. You can do a lot of different things with it; including adding your own essential oils to it, or coconut oil (adding this with shea butter helps mixture absorb a little faster). It doesn't make my body breakout, like pretty much 90% of the products that I have tried in the past. Its a little oily when you first apply I usually try to wear minimum clothing and let it absorb naturally. It does absorb in skin after a couple hours. Some times I just wear a robe or towel for awhile. I think a little of the shea butter does rub off on whatever I am wearing; not a good idea to apply before you put on your best clothing but once absorbed its fine. The best way to apply is when you first get out of shower/bath. The next morning after I have applied the shea butter my skin is super soft. I sometimes use it on my face and I don't break out; but once again it is very oily and if my hair touches face it makes my hair greasy. It is useful as a hand lotion and works better than almost everything I have tried in the past (none of them natural products). It is unlike some products that go on soft, but then later make hands feel even more dry. I also apply on my lips, under my eyes, and most recently started using as a deodorant with essential oils mixed in.

I purchased the 100% Pure Unrefined Raw shea butter back in September 2013, and wanted to give it several months of use before writing a review. I must say, this was exactly what I wanted! The 1lb was quite a bit and I still have some left even though I've used it every day since I received it. The butter has the clean, natural smell that is expected of pure shea butter and it seemed to be really fresh upon arrival. I'm so happy with the way it moisturizes my hair and skin. I also use it as a moisturizer for my cuticles and as lip balm. The only downside (which is actually very minor) was the packaging. It was a thick plastic bag, which made it somewhat difficult to get all of the contents out. It also became a bit messy. However, I kept the bag for a while as I was able to use most of what was left inside. I've stored mine in plastic air tight containers, and it has remained as fresh as is was when I first got it. I highly recommend purchasing shea butter from this company. I truly feel that what I received was in fact, PURE and RAW shea! The shipping was very fast, as I received the order a couple of days before the expected arrival date. I will certainly buy more shea butter from this company and I've recommended it to family and friends!

I have ordered this several times. There are times I get a great product, however, most of the time I get debris, such as hair, black chunks of I'm not sure what, gritty white powdery substance, and other things. Sometimes it smells great, and sometimes terrible. I do feel the Shea butter is a wonderful product for the skin...I have not had any success in making the body butters everyone talks about, but I'm not much of a baker, cook, and the like. I have been using the shea butter on my skin for about a month, in combination with the dudu-osun soap. I love the two combined. I do not think shea butter is good for under eye issues, but between the ash made soap and the shea butter, my skin is very soft and my sun spots/freckles are lessening. even some of the scars are going away. It is too early to thoroughly talk about stretch marks, but I can see that they are being targeted by the combo.

This product arrived in a broken container so I wasn't impressed with the quality of the container. It's a little grainy when using as is but I plan to make body butter and facial moisturizer so this may change once melted and mixed with carrier oils. Will not order again due to the container being broken upon arrival. There are other options so I will look for something more superior next time.