Shea butter appears in a lot of skincare. It’s popular partly because it’s effective, partly because it’s natural and communicates care, and partly because it’s relatively inexpensive and easy to work with. We use it in the Arc Balm and Ember Balm, and we use it because it earns its place — but it’s worth understanding what it actually does.
Shea butter — Butyrospermum Parkii Butter in INCI — is extracted from the nut of the shea tree, native to West Africa. It is a complex fat, rich in oleic acid (40–60%), stearic acid (20–50%), and a fraction of non-saponifiable components that includes triterpene alcohols, tocopherols, and phenols.
The oleic acid content makes shea butter an effective emollient — it softens the skin surface and supports barrier lipids. The stearic acid contributes to its solid texture at room temperature and to the occlusive quality of the finished formula. The non-saponifiable fraction is where the more specific skincare benefits come from: the triterpene alcohols have documented anti-inflammatory activity, and the tocopherols provide antioxidant support.
In practical formulation terms, shea butter is useful in balms because it contributes both emolliency and a degree of occlusion, and because it blends well with beeswax to create a texture that melts smoothly on skin contact rather than sitting on the surface.
We use it in Arc and Ember specifically — not across the whole range — because its oleic-heavy fatty acid profile makes it better suited to dry, depleted, or stressed skin than to oilier or congestion-prone skin types. In Velvet, Lumen, and Onyx, we prioritise lighter, faster-absorbing bases that don’t add richness where it’s not needed.
Every ingredient has a context. Shea butter’s context is skin that needs sustained comfort. That’s where we use it.