redheifer
01-21-2006, 08:04 PM
I ran into a woman, Cherylrae Thomas, at Kaiser yesterday who has a cottage industry producing shea butter, samples of which she passed around the waiting room. Shea butter, according to her brochure "has been used in Africa for many centuries. It is produced from the edible nut of a fruit from the shea tree,or karite tree grown in Ghana, Burkino Faso, Nigeria, Mali and other savanna grasslands of West Africa.
Women of the African savanna gather the nuts, dry them, grind them and boil them to extract the precious butter...The tradition of making shea butter goes back to Cleopatra....is applied to the skin and hair directly to protect them from drying out in the harsh African environment...."
If her skin and hair, as well as her daughter's and granddaughter's are any indication, this is a valuable addition to our culture. So many of us are involved in trying to use what is natural to us here that I was struck by Cherylrae's bringing to us a natural product from her own ancestry.
Her number in Santa Rosa is: 546-1771
Women of the African savanna gather the nuts, dry them, grind them and boil them to extract the precious butter...The tradition of making shea butter goes back to Cleopatra....is applied to the skin and hair directly to protect them from drying out in the harsh African environment...."
If her skin and hair, as well as her daughter's and granddaughter's are any indication, this is a valuable addition to our culture. So many of us are involved in trying to use what is natural to us here that I was struck by Cherylrae's bringing to us a natural product from her own ancestry.
Her number in Santa Rosa is: 546-1771