Shea butter - Raw/Unrefined vs refined? which is preferred?

[RogueRose]

I came across some raw unrefined "Ivory Shea butter "top grade" from Ghana and I'm curious about the difference between the raw and a refined butter. Is one preferred over another?

 

[shunt2011]

I like unrefined shea. The main difference between the two is that unrefined has a nutty smell to it and refined does not. Once unrefined is used in soap I don't notice much if any smell from it. I just recently purchased unrefined for the first time and it works just the same. The unrefined does make it a bit harder to get a white soap.

 

[holistichonnies]

I use unrefined in my lotions etc because the smell comes through and is quite nice but going to start using refined in soaps as you cant actually smell the shea once made into soap. The refined is much cheaper as well.

 

[cmzaha]

Unrefined retains all the goodness shea has to offer. When refined a lot of the goodness is gone