Shea Butter is the oil from the nuts that are gathered from wild trees scattered throughout the fields and forests of the wooded savanna. Shea Butter has many useful properties and has been used as a decongestant, an anti-inflammator for sprains and arthritis, a healing salve for babies' umbilical cords and after circumcision, a lotion for hair and skin care, as a cooking oil, and as a lamp fuel.
 
       Shea Butter has been used for centuries on the African continent and is completely enmeshed within the history and culture of the West African wooded savanna. Shea Butter is mentioned in almost all African historical documents, including a reference as early as Cleopatra's Egypt, which mentions caravans bearing clay jars of shea butter for cosmetic use. Funeral beds of kings were carved in wood of old shea trees, and Shea Butter has always been a staple of African pharmacology.