By Jeff Dowler, Carlsbad, CA.

Shea Touch is an amazing company.

In addition to providing a line of natural hair and skin products with a range of health benefits, Shea Touch is doing something very special - enabling 300+ people inKelo, Chad in Africa, many of them women (and children) to get out of poverty. The women are employed to sustain the farms, harvest and process the Shea butter; children benefit from food, homes, education and more from  their mothers stable employment and support efforts from OPCAI, a non-profit organization. The men of the village are guards, the few that there are. 

The company's facility in India harvests and processes the Ayurvedic (India's 5,000 year old medical system) herbs that are used in the Shea Touch natural hair and skin products, which are then shipped to the manufacturing plant in the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area. 

While you likely have heard of Shea butter you may not know that it comes from the kernels in the fruit of the Shea (karite) tree grown only in Africa, in an area called the Shea Belt running through 19 countries. The Shea butter from Chad has the highest concentration of Vitamins E (a well-known anti-oxidant, A, D, & F among all the Shea butters from other regions along the Shea Belt. 

A very important distinction between SheaTouch facilities and over 90% of all others is that they have specific processing procedures, high quality assurance standards, and their own (imported from India) manual/mechanical press which eliminates the butter being touched by human hands.

This precise and sanitary manufacturing process ensures the Shea Touch butter is raw, pure, fresh, and highly nutritious with Vitamins A, E, D and F, and a naturally occurring SPF of 6. Ongoing education and training is supported by local government and University co-ops. 

The Shea Touch Natural Personal Care Products are diverse, including foot care, hair care, skin care, lip care, and can be purchased on the Shea Touch website as well as other facilities around the country.  The health benefits and uses (applications) include: anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, wrinkles, burn & surgery/scar healing, stretch mark recovery, and baby care, with new baby products and massage/spa products to launch this Spring! 

What is particularly impressive is the Shea Touch commitment to bettering the living conditions and welfare of people in the areas where their facilities are located through employment, education, safe housing and medical care. A particular example that Anna shared with me is, perhaps, the most telling about what this company means to the lives of the people they employ. A mother shared that this was the first time that she has ever been able to feed her 5 children one meal a day for an entire week.  

There are few, if any of us, who can truly understand what that really means. 

Take a moment to listen to the video interview with Anna Allen, Co-Founder and CFO of Shea Touch to gain a rich perspective on the company's mission and philosophy.

"Improving Our World One Person at a Time ~ Improving Your Health One Product at a Time"