# Shea Butter Still In The Gourd



## Trxflyer (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm looking to buy Shea Butter still in it's packing gourd.  I can find several places online to purchase it, but I was wondering if any of you had recommendations for a particular vendor.  I would prefer it to be 'Fair Trade'.

Thanks


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## melstan775 (Feb 14, 2013)

You can get Shea butter still in its gourd? Forgive me my ignorance here, why would you want that?


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## Trxflyer (Feb 14, 2013)

Shea butter is actually the butter extracted from the nut of the African Shea Tree.  The tribeswomen pack the butter into gourds for export and the gourds come in different sizes.  The reason I wanted it still in its packing gourd is to see it in its true original form and kind use that as a wow factor in showing people whats going into the products I give them.  Just a cool thing I guess.


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## melstan775 (Feb 14, 2013)

That is kind of a cool thing when you put it that way. Thanks for sharing the pics!


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## Lindy (Feb 14, 2013)

Very cool.  The shea is harvested by the women in Africa and they are the ones that remove it from the nut then process it into the butter.  I don't know of anywhere that you can buy it in its raw form.  There are companies that are trying to improve the working for these women who do all the work and get hardly any of the money.

Take a look at this Scottish company and what they've been doing to help correct this situation.

http://www.carishea.com/socialbusiness.html


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## Trxflyer (Feb 14, 2013)

Lindy said:


> Very cool.  The shea is harvested by the women in Africa and they are the ones that remove it from the nut then process it into the butter.  I don't know of anywhere that you can buy it in its raw form.  There are companies that are trying to improve the working for these women who do all the work and get hardly any of the money.
> 
> Take a look at this Scottish company and what they've been doing to help correct this situation.
> 
> http://www.carishea.com/socialbusiness.html



Thanks for the link, it is a very interesting site.  There are several places you can get it in its raw form like I was speaking of, I was just looking to see if anyone had experience with any of them.  Here is a seemingly nice organization as they promote free trade & sustainability for several indigenous crafts/resources (not just Shea Butter) and the protection of those who do the hard work - http://www.globalmamas.org/Category/101-bulk-shea-butter.aspx


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## Lindy (Feb 15, 2013)

Thank you for the information....  they look interesting....


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