Chrissy, I don't think that was misinformation. My sister uses straight shea on her daughter's legs without incident - I guess it's yet another instance of "everyone is different"!
No, he's not allergic to latex, nor to shea it seems as we use it in blends. It might be the sticky nature of shea that he has a problems with - I'm not really sure.
I love straight shea on hands. In fact if any of you are ever fortunate enough to follow in my footsteps and wash your hands with lye heavy soap, a good layer of shea will fix you up in record time. Also great for your nose when you have that rawness from a cold (yes, go right inside with the stuff - it's also got anti-inflammatory properties that might reduce congestion). I could go on and on. But I digress. So we don't NOT use shea, just not straight on patches of eczema.
Is shea considered a nut? Gee I don't know. Frankly the whole nut thing confuses me. he's allergic to 3 of the 9 they tested him for so we just avoid all nuts (all "normal" tree nuts). And since his sister is also allergic to 3 kinds some of which are different I just cannot keep them safe.