Why unrefined shea butter works on dry skin
What unrefined shea butter actually does for dry skin, how it differs from the refined kind, and how to use it so it does not sit on the surface.
28 August 2026 · 3 min read
How to use body butter so it actually works
Most people use too much body butter at the wrong moment. A short guide to getting more out of every jar.
Whipped butter is not lotion, and using it like lotion is why some people decide it is too greasy. Four things change the result.
1. Use less than you think
Start with a scoop about the size of a fingernail for a whole limb. Whipped butter is aerated, so it spreads much further than it looks like it will.
2. Warm it first
Press it between your palms for a few seconds until it turns from solid to oil. Applied warm it melts into skin; applied cold it rolls across the surface.
3. Apply to damp skin
Straight out of the shower, before you have fully dried off. Butter seals water in — give it water to seal.
4. Give it a minute
It will feel rich for the first minute and then settle. If you judge it in the first thirty seconds and add more, you will end up with too much.
If your jar changes texture
Natural butters soften in heat and firm up as they cool. Grain or a change in firmness is the butter behaving like butter, not a fault.
Written by
Makers, Harare · UTANO Skin
The UTANO studio is the small team in Harare, Zimbabwe who make every jar by hand. We whip the butters, fill the jars and answer the messages, so what we write here comes from doing the work rather than reading about it. We write about ingredients we actually use and skin we actually see.