WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAW, UNREFINED, REFINED, AND ULTRA-REFINED SHEA BUTTER?
A. ‘RAW’: Shea butter (and African Black Soap) that has been tagged as being ‘raw’, is in its natural form with nothing added to it or nothing taken away from it. It is not filtered, formed or further processed after leaving its source of origin. It has not been melted down and filtered through the cheesecloth, as above, or poured into molds to make it round, square or rectangular in shape. No chemicals, perfumes, oils, preservatives, bleaches or deodorizers have been added to the raw shea butter, except in the case where the butter was extracted using hexane or other solvents. ‘UNREFINED’: To qualify as unrefined, shea butter must not have passed through any meshing or filtering systems using clays, chemicals or other methods that would remove or deplete or reduce the vitamin content or otherwise change its natural properties. This includes attempts to remove the natural nutty aroma, change the color or texture, add chemicals to or remove qualities or properties from the shea butter.