Skin care expert: Shea butter - or: "Why does my Stark Grapefruit Balm have small granules?"

Shea butter. It has a personality of its own. Most people never experience this, because this personality manifests itself in the seasons and the climate in which you live, but small globules are part of everyday life for all of us who deal with natural products on a regular basis.

I do my best to keep these granules under control, but since the materials I use are as natural as can be, they do their own thing, whatever talents Mother Nature has bestowed upon them. In the case of shea butter, it's the talent that it gets grainy from time to time.

This is a question I hear a lot: "I love my Grapefruit Cleansing Balm! But why does it have such small granules in it? They melt easily and are soft, but I'm just curious as to what they actually do. are.”

The reason is simple and the solution (if you want to change such a natural consistency) is easy and takes a maximum of 5 minutes. The small granules of shea butter are completely normal and it does not mean that it has gone bad. This often happens with shea butter and sometimes also with cocoa butter.

I don't want to get too super-scientific about this, but shea butter is made up of several types of fat. When the temperature rises, shea butter melts and all the similar fats gather together. When shea butter cools down again, they crystallise, or harden, and as this happens at different rates for different fats, small granules form. The more often shea butter is warmed up and then cooled down again, the more granules are formed. Shea butter melts at skin temperature - one of the reasons we love it so much for skincare - which means that sun, travelling, humidity, proximity to radiators or time spent in a warm bathroom can constantly change the texture of shea butter.

If you like granules and enjoy the mini scrub, that's great! Many people enjoy the small granules that melt immediately on the skin, especially if they use the balm to cleanse and exfoliate at the same time. However, if you prefer a creamier texture, this is the way to go:

1. bring hot water to the boil and pour into a bowl. The water should be about as high as the container in which the shea butter is to be melted.

2 After about 30 seconds - after all, you don't want the shea butter to boil! - Place the container in the bowl with the lid closed.

3. now bathe the shea butter for about 5 minutes. A little longer is also no problem, but I just claimed that it takes 5 minutes, and I stick to that.

4. remove the jar from the bowl again, and if you like you can now stir the shea butter. However, this is absolutely not necessary and you are wasting a little of the precious butter, so it is better to skip straight to step 5...

5. place the jar in the fridge (***NOT in the freezer!!***)

After about 30 minutes, the shea butter will be evenly soft again. And yes, this counts as a 5-minute recipe, because you don't have to do anything for the last 30 minutes!

You can repeat this as often as you like. However, if it is shea butter with essential oils, the fragrance may fade. The Grapefruit Cleansing Balm should therefore not be used more than three times.

The expert: Jessica LaFleur, founder of Stark Skincare

The clever and funny tree-hugger and wild child Jessica Lafleur is the founder of Stark Skincare. Her approach to plants, medicine and skincare is characterised by profound knowledge and strong intuition. The fact that all the products she develops are vegan, gluten-free, organic, fair trade and 100% biodegradable is also testament to Jessica's belief that we need to treat the earth gently and wisely. In her column, we learn about her world and always find out something new and exciting from the world of skincare.