by Shirley Fei Shea butter is a natural product and, like cocoa butter, its texture and color will vary from batch to batch, tree to tree. Pure shea butter is white or ivory in color and does not smell unpleasant. Shea Butter is the oil from the nuts of wild Shea trees scattered throughout the wooded savannas of West and Central Africa. Shea Butter is mentioned in almost all African historical documents, including a reference as early as Cleopatras Egypt, which mentions caravans bearing clay