Holidays, celebrations, special occasions inspire us to give presents to people who matter to us. Sometimes we decide long before the occasion and sometimes it’s on the spur of the moment.
If you’re wondering what gift to choose, and have no time to browse? Here are three winning recommendations.
I. The Shea Gift Set, a perennial favorite, is always a winner.
Own it, or gift it. Three body-loving products that work together. Beautifully.
Festive Shea Balm: to glide through the season with alluring skin. Love how this luxuriant body moisturizer looks, smells and feels, melted into your skin.
Shea Hand Renewer: for busy, often-washed hands. Enjoy your aromatherapeutic mini-massage break. A little goes a long way.
Shea Lip Treat: for pillowy soft, dewy lips. Use liberally all day to rev up your smile. Even a secret smile under your mask because it smells good too. It's like dessert for your lips.
II. The Shea Smoothing Skin Butter Set. A bundled trio of our signature skin superfood, for year-round, A-list skin all-over. Handmade, in small, fresh batches. No animals involved.
Experience delight times three. Gift-ready. Share as a set, individually, or stock up for yourself. Never run out.
III. The Chez Africa | Bliss Gift Card. If you don’t want to decide, you won’t go wrong giving an option with choice. Available in denominations from $25, it’s a stress-free and instantaneous present. Not your everyday checkout line selection either.
So, there you have it. No-fail gift choices to delight your family and friends. Breeze right through your list.
Eva & Rufina
Makers of Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends
]]>Photo credit: sarraounia
]]>Continuing our women's beauty research journey around the African continent, we arrive in Somalia. It is located on the easternmost peninsula known as The Horn of Africa: home to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland and Somalia.
From among the many beautifying preparations Somali women enjoy, let’s single out Uunsi, Qasil and Huruud.
Uunsi is usually frankincense, incense, or a mixture of oil, resin, bark, flowers, burned in a dabqaad or incense burner, to create a deep fragrance. The mix can vary regionally and for the purpose.
It may be burned to scent the home after cooking, for special occasions, or as a selfcare perfuming practice for women. As a beauty ritual, women are completely enveloped with the smoke of the uunsi, steeped in its long-lasting fragrance.
Qasil is the super-antioxidant, dried and powdered leaves of the regional Gob tree. It is used as a gentle, clarifying cleanser for the skin, especially the face, and hair too. It has antibacterial and antiinflammatory and rejuvenating properties. Qasil is also used as a face mask, often in combination with Huruud (turmeric) to form a detoxifying paste, yielding impressively noticeable results.
Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends start with shea butter and prized African oils. They are created with pure, safe, effective botanical ingredients for ageless skincare that makes you look, feel and smell beautiful.
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#BeautycareinAfrica #beautytreasures #Somalia #qasil #huruud #uunsi #chezafrica #IamGrace #sheasmoothingskinbutter #sheabutter #delicateskin #sensitiveskin #nontoxic #matureskin #greenbeauty #sheabeautyblends #plantbased #safeingredients #animalfree #smallbatch #handpoured #dryskin #skinlove #womenofacertainage #aromatherapeutic #sustainable #cleanbeauty #makeeverydayspaday]]>In Morocco, and exported to the world, a visit to the hammam (traditional bathhouse for body care and beauty treatments) is a prized women’s experience. It involves preparations, massage, exfoliation: serious beauty care.
Moroccan damask roses feature in its rose oil and rose water preparations: some of the world’s best. Rose water in particular has been used for centuries in effectively cleansing, toning, moisturizing and cooling the skin. Cleopatra was a fan! It has proven anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and regenerating properties; beneficial for sensitive and even troubled skin. Rose water also softens and conditions the hair. All while smelling amazing.
No tribute to Moroccan beauty treasures can be complete without a salute to Argan oil. It comes from Moroccan Argan tree seeds and is now widely renowned for its superior moisturizing benefits. Argan oil is vitamin-rich and has great healing, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory properties. It can be applied directly to skin and hair or incorporated in personal care products.
Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends start with shea butter and prized African oils. They are created with pure, safe, effective botanical ingredients for ageless skincare that makes you look, feel and smell beautiful.
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#BeautycareinAfrica #beautytreasures #Morocco #arganoil #chezafrica #IamGrace #sheasmoothingskinbutter #sheabutter #delicateskin #sensitiveskin #nontoxic #matureskin #greenbeauty #sheabeautyblends #plantbased #safeingredients #animalfree #smallbatch #handpoured #dryskin #skinlove #womenofacertainage #aromatherapeutic #Houston #sustainable #cleanbeauty #makeeverydayspaday]]>Have you heard the recent chatter about taking a shower or a bath every day? Or not?
We'll just say this: if it's generally hot where you live, or when you work up a sweat, this is probably a moot point. Perspiration drives most of us to the shower, in the interest of personal freshness. It's also therapeutic.
We were born in Nigeria, where bathing at least once, and often two or three times a day, is standard practice. It can be hot year-round and unwashed sweaty bodies are no fun to be around.
In many parts of Africa, children are sent to boarding school, at the secondary school level. If they were lax about daily baths before then, they learn to do so very quickly, even where running water is hard to come by. I remember transferring to a boarding school in England, decades ago. We were assigned bath days by dorm room: just two or three times a week. All the foreign students from tropical countries were shocked at first, but shrugged it off - as kids do, and were happy to comply.
So, we get it, we tend to embrace the showering/bathing norms on which we were raised. And that can be cultural or based on geographical location and access to water. Of course, grown-ups discover their own preferences too, in spite of their backgrounds.
Wherever you fall - in the camp of those who shower daily, or those who observe a different interval between all-over cleansing routines - clean skin is the basis for any good personal care regimen. Especially with skin sensitivities or conditions.
Daily moisturizing should also be a given. That is, if you want to keep dry, sensitive, delicate skin at bay.
Shea butter and oil-based moisturizers work best on damp, freshly washed skin. Shea Smoothing Skin Butter penetrates the skin to deeply hydrate as well as form a protective barrier to prevent water loss. It feels like a mini-spa treat, moisturizing you to smooth, glowing, sweet-smelling skin. All over, all day long.
To your skin's health!
Eva & Rufina, Makers
Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends
]]>The TWA, or teeny weeny afro, is always evolving. Keeping a head of healthy, beautiful coils or curls, shouldn't be hard: neither hard to the touch, nor hard to maintain. Whether your hair is close-cropped or a lot longer, wash and wear hair should be simple to do, right? Yes, even fragile, or silver hair. We think so too.
What if your hair is very fine, very dry or shedding a lot?
What about a sensitive scalp?
And of paramount importance to parents, what about children's hair and tender scalp needs?
Then it really matters what blend of ingredients is used to create shiny, snapping styles. Proven, natural, botanical oils nourish the hair and scalp. In trying to avoid 'oily' hair, we often gravitate towards products promising not to be greasy: sometimes at the expense of hair health.
For instance, some gels that set into a crunchy hold, may strip strands of natural sebum over time, and dry out the scalp. Look for the ingredients listed on a hair care product, and you may be surprised that it reads like a hazmat concoction. And what goes on your skin/scalp, is absorbed into your body.
So, consider adding oil-based leave-in conditioners and humectant stylers to your hair care regime. Choose safe preparations that work. For a natural hairdo, they are best applied to damp hair to seal in moisture. You can pat away excess product with a silky scarf and wear a satin-lined sleep cap to bed.
To your hair health!
Rufina & Eva
Makers of Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends
]]>Celebrating Mother's Day this Sunday! We honor all moms past, present and future, and moms in every capacity.
To mother a child is to empower a person. We are thankful to our own mothers, who showed us how to take care of our bodies, in time-honored ways.
For self-care, using plant oils extracted from nut-tree food sources abundantly available across Africa, has been the standard for head-to-toe beauty applications. Getting our hair done is often a medal-worthy, unhurried team production. And the thorough application of post-bath skin-moisturizing oils is equally important; indulging the senses and banishing ashiness by preventing dull, dry skin.
So, yes, we're thankful for the hair and skin care foundations our mothers laid for us to build upon. That's one reason we won't compromise with harmful or ineffective ingredients in our blends. Natural, safe, proven preparations were the only options considered to be good enough for their families' personal use. Our mothers would rightly be horrified at the prevalence of toxic chemicals used in many commercial beauty products.
When you want to be sure that your personal care preparations are good for mature, sensitive or delicate skin, and stressed or fragile hair, we've got you.
Ask us! We will be happy to connect with you and answer questions. #mothersday
Eva & Rufina
]]>If you’re wondering what all the fuss is, about natural or non-toxic deodorant, here’s why.
For decades, conventional deodorants have been made and even marketed as anti-perspirants. The message has been that perspiration, particularly armpit sweat, is a condition that needs treating or correcting, and is unwanted. So, products were developed with ingredients like aluminum, that plug sweat glands > sweat stopped > wetness stopped > odor stopped. Voila! No brainer.
The problem with this, is that sweat IS a natural and vital means of eliminating salt and toxins from our bodies. It initiates cooling through evaporation against overheating, to maintain an optimal internal temperature. Naturally. Think fever sweats, or sweating during a workout.
There are actually two kinds of sweat glands: eccrine, triggered by rising body heat levels; and apocrine, which respond to emotional stressors, fight-or-flight. Our bodies have both. Armpits have both. Sweat itself is odorless, but in tandem with natural bacteria on skin, it reacts and can stink. Especially underarm and groin areas, where there are hair follicles. Or feet - go figure.
Now, no-one wants body odor, or to have wet patches and sweat stains on their clothes. Is there a good way to absorb sweat and control odor? Yes! Kick the toxin-filled, toxin-keeping deodorant/anti-perspirant and switch to effective control with safe, natural ingredients. Like Shea Fresh Deodorant, to freshen sweaty zones.
What goes on your skin can enter your bloodstream. Here are some common deodorant ingredients that may interfere with gene function, disrupt hormones, are outright carcinogenic or simply gland-clogging, and you wouldn’t consider consuming any other way. Parabens, phthalates, triclosan, propylene glycol, BHT, DEA, aluminum. Please, read labels. And findings.
Doesn't this deodorant composition sound great: Shea butter, coconut oil, arrowroot powder, non-nano zinc oxide, tea tree, lemon, parsley and cedarwood essential oils? We think so, too. And it works.
Eva & Rufina
Makers of Chez Africa | Shea Beauty Blends
]]>We're on a mission to celebrate and encourage women in transitional phases of life, to dream again, and to positively alter their world.
About that. Every child has a dream. Often, many dreams. Little girls dream of their grown-up selves doing exploits and living happily. Many dreams continue to morph through adolescence and never really stop, even as adults. Are you approaching or living your dream, or do you need to start dreaming? Again.
Life’s transitional phases unveil rich opportunities to compel new beginnings. Bright dreams can surface and blossom, whether they’re revived or brand new. Upheavals or transitions, usually mean that the status quo is gone and everything is worth re-examining.
For us, this current business/social transition is occurring as an extension of where we are now. Where we’ve been. We’re in midlife and have experienced some interesting decades, filled with highs and lows: just like everyone else. A long-ago dream we had, was to share Africa’s hospitality and its abundant flavours with our world, in the diaspora. Fast forward many years and we’ve determined to do just that, amid life’s upheavals. How we imagined it though, is not where we are now. For now, we have chosen to spin our fervour into another aspect of our heritage: showcasing personal care, using centuries-old proven ingredients with new millennium sensibilities. It’s one branch of our dream tree.
For you, transitional may be in new responsibilities, mid-life, post-divorce, widowed, laid off, big promotion, new parenting, migration, graduation, inspiration, senior caregiving, new-found freedom, feeling trapped, feeling there must be more, wanting to serve the world... needing to positively alter your world - in big or small ways.
We’re really just at the beginning of our adventure. What we’ve realized is that the dreaming, the wrestling with choices of which treasures within us simply have to be expressed to touch others’ lives, the learning of new things from young people, the challenging of ourselves to keep pressing higher, all go towards making life exhilarating, and possibilities - nay certainties - endless.
We are here now. In the same era into which babies who will see and affect the next millennium are being born, and treasure-trove nonagenarians are staring down their one hundredth birthdays. We’re all here. Impacting one anothers’ lives in some way. The impacts and people and places change over time. Painful and joyful; in families, communities and enterprises; for one person, or for all humanity. It’s all worthy of our attention.
There are crises all around us, waiting for resolutions. Some small, some enormous. None of these should be about midlife. Why buy into that? If we’re at a point where we must look keenly at our lives and say ‘what next?’, that may very well be a milestone to celebrate, not to nosedive into panic or despair*. We can have a role that requires a deep breath and a leap of faith, at any point in life, even while we’re breaking a fall, so to speak.
All this is to say, we’re leaping: mid-leap, in fact. We encourage everyone, particularly women who think they cannot, to dream and do something big. Big is relative. Breaking free of negativity or inertia is big. Helping someone else is big. Tackling climate change is big. Getting married is big. Having or adopting a baby is big. Joining a cause is big. Campaigning is big. Upending your assumptions is big. Starting a new business is big. Going back to school is big. Believing in your unique magic is BIG. You name it, you dream it, you do it.
How can we help you? That’s the mission we’re on. That’s big for us. We’re figuring out the best way we can positively alter our world. You’re in it. We’re aiming to be happy and exhausted as we go.
Join us.
Eva & Rufina, Chez Africa
*(Anyone in a life-draining situation, first needs to be extricated from that, in order to see the possibilities and soar. Find help locally to break free. Reach out to us, for contacts to resources; we will do our best to connect you.)
]]>Shea Butter is naturally rich in Vitamins A, E & F. High in fatty acids, its emollient properties seal moisture in the skin and help maintain collagen.
Shea Butter is anti-inflammatory, softens, and soothes skin irritations. Its vitamins and phytonutrients are absorbed deeply into the subcutaneous layer of the skin, boosting healing.
That's why all our products begin with Shea Butter as the main ingredient.
Did you know?
The West African Shea Tree, Vitellaria Paradoxa, was formerly known as Butyrospermum parkii. The name was derived from the term Butter seed + Park, after Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer of West Africa.
Shea Butter is naturally in the beige color range: we call it Ivory Shea, which is what we typically use. Gold/Yellow Shea Butter gets its hue from the added healing bark or root of the Borotutu tree [Chlorospermum angolensis].
Remember, Shea Butter is also used medicinally and as a cooking oil locally, where it's made. As with recipes all over the world, methods can vary in different locales. So, some women add the Borotutu root to the Shea Butter, and some don’t.
Vitellaria is from the Latin Vitellus: meaning Yolk, or the nutrient-bearing portion of an egg.
Paradoxa? We're guessing it comes from the wonderful paradox of a roasted nut yielding food, medicine and skin-protectant properties.
*Shea butter is also used as a cooking oil where it’s made, so those powerhouse nutrients can work on both the inside and outside of the body.
**Note: while our blends use food-grade oils, they also include therapeutic essential oils, so please, just use them externally, unless specifically noted otherwise.
Rufina & Eva
Makers of Chez Africa Shea Beauty blends.
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