Get your hands off that corporate shea butter lotion this instant! Ready for today’s lesson? Here it goes:

While you may think you’re doing something good for your body when purchasing a shea butter lotion from your local grocery or big box drugstore, you might really be doing the opposite. The benefits of shea butter comprise a long list, but using poor-quality ingredients or shea butter mixed with toxic ingredients can accomplish the exact opposite effects.

Only use health and beauty products that contain high levels of active natural ingredients and none of the chemical fillers. Here are five reasons you should be using shea butter on your body every day:

1. The nonsaponifiable fractions. Nonsaponifiable is a fancy word for all the ingredients in a nut oil that have healing properties. Most seed oils have low saponifiable fractions (around 1% or less). High-quality shea butter has saponifiable fractions as high as 17%.
2. It’s loaded with vitamin A. Vitamin A is one of your skin’s best friends. Found naturally in eggs, butter, and beta-carotene-laden veggies, such as carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes. It can reduce wrinkles, improve your complexion and boost your skin’s moisture content.
3. Eczema relief. Do you suffer from reddened, dry, bumpy, and peeling skin patches? You may have eczema, an increasingly common skin ailment. The verdict’s still out as to why eczema is so prevalent – food allergies, chemical allergies and environmental toxins are all culprits. Shea butter can provide natural relief from eczema as well as the dryness factor, which is an eczema trigger.
4. Natural moisturizing. As mentioned above, vitamin A helps your body to produce natural moisture in the different layers of skin. However, the natural oils inherent in shea butter provide an extra topical dose of moisture that can be absorbed by your skin. The external protection also protects your skin from the elements and environmental irritants.
5. Take advantage of vitamin E. The word anti-oxidant is thrown around just about everywhere these days and with good reason; wherever there are anti-oxidants in and around your body, you’re being protected from cancer cells. Vitamin E is a natural anti-oxidant that helps your skin cells remain free from cancer and – surprise, surprise – vitamin E is one of the benefits of shea butter. Slather it on and protect yourself!

Shop the Vi-Tae website to find health and beauty products that include good-for-you shea butter and other natural ingredients