The Way of Shea

This is a recent article published in Toronto's Eyeweekly magazine. ANU is a brand that has definetly given this blog the inspiration to be created. ANU's products are wonderful and healing and their quality of products is superior to many brands out on the market that claim to be natural (and healing). Give the article a good read and check out their website and see what the buzz is about!

Harnessing the healing properties of the African fruit tree

BY Damian Rogers September 17, 2008 16:09

WHO: Kedar Waterman, 33, creator and founder of ANU (www.anuaura.com), a natural skin-care line that specializes in shea-butter blends, and partner Ania Janisa Weekes, 30. Waterman and Weekes are both musicians as well, and they collaborated on the jingle used in their commercial, which can be viewed on their website.

WHAT IT IS: Shea butter is the fat found in the fruit of the African shea or karite tree, which grows wild along a thin strip of the savannah desert from Senegal in the west across to Sudan in the east that is sometimes referred to as the “shea belt.” Used topically and internally for centuries in Africa, shea has also been widely added to modern cosmetics for its moisturizing qualities and even used as a substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate bars.

RAW VERSUS REFINED: Waterman feels strongly that not all shea on the market is of equal quality. “Shea butter is not really a regulated industry and people get away with anything,” he says. “Somebody will say, ‘I get shea butter from an African guy who gets it in Ghana, so that means it’s natural.’ But it’s not necessarily so… there [can be] contaminants in it, when it’s not tested — copper, mercury, lead, bacteria, mould.”

Waterman says when he first started working with shea, he’d find all kinds of shocking foreign materials. “I used to melt it down to make product and I’d find cigarette butts, I’d find insects, I’d find flies, dead bees, big live worms,” he says, stressing this is why he only uses grade A shea butter to make his creams.

“Most people refine it, they water it down so that the healing properties are lost,” says Waterman. “If you use raw shea butter, it helps with anything that’s going on with your skin — dryness, eczema, psoriasis, cuts, burns, scrapes, bruises, stretch marks, aging, sunburn, windburn, insect bite, dog bite, human bite.”

Waterman laughs after delivering that laundry list without pausing to breathe, adding shea butter is also good for fighting acne and acts as a natural sunscreen. “Some people call it the Jesus cream, because it heals everything,” he says.

Waterman is currently formulating a bio-active skin therapy series for cancer patients who are undergoing chemo, which has a devastating effect on the condition of the skin.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE: Waterman and Weekes have kept the ANU line very focused, and though they plan to include more options like soap and body wash, they currently only produce massage oils, chocolate-mint lip balm and their signature shea creams. The ANU Shea Butter Emollient ($15 for 60 ml at Green Is Black, 624 Yonge, 416-454-5650) includes almond, avocado and jojoba oils, cocoa butter, vitamin E, and orange and cananga essential oils.
The newer coconut blend only contains two ingredients (“three if you include love” quips Waterman): shea and coconut oil. And the applications are endless. “You can use it head to toe and in your hair,” says Waterman. “You don’t need an eye cream, a face cream, a lip cream, a hand cream, a foot cream, a body cream — it’s not necessary.