The Key to Ghana's Best Kept Beauty Secret

The original all-natural moisturiser – dating back to Cleopatra’s beauty routine – is made traditionally in Ghana by Aviela.

Images courtesy, JJB Communication

Patricia Monney, Northern Ghana native and founder of Aviela, a dynamic word often used to mean “something good or beautiful,” by the Dagara natives of North Ghana. Monney was amazed by shea butter’s anti-inflammatory properties, when it helped her daughter take her first few steps. Her daughter, Charissa, had a stiff ankle preventing her from putting weight on it and it was decided she was to have surgery. Prior to the surgery, the surgeon asked, “do you know shea butter?” Of course she did.

The use of shea in Ghana is abundant, after all over 90% of the world’s shea exports come from West Africa. Monney describes how shea butter is “my mother’s solution to everything”, conversely, Monney “hated shea butter to the core.” The doctor ordered Monney to massage shea butter into her daughters’ ankle for two weeks pending the surgery. Within days, Monney’s daughter walked across the dining room to her. Without surgery.

Following her daughter's miracle, Monney deep-dived into researching shea butter. You’ve likely heard of shea butter and it’s nourishing qualities, but not all shea butter is created equally. After asking her friends in Nigeria and Ghana why they also didn’t like shea butter, three responses were unanimous. Shea butter is traditionally too greasy, too hard and has an unpleasant smell, Monney admits “I hated the smell of it”. Originating from West Africa, shea butter is extracted from shea nuts trees, the shea nuts can possess significant healing properties, only if you get the good stuff.

Determined to deliver high quality shea butter, Monney founded Aviela in 2021, and celebrated their third birthday on May 13.

The archetypal moisturising effect of shea butter stems from the high levels of fatty acids, vitamins, and linoleic, stearic, and palmitic acids – all-natural – your skin has no problem absorbing shea butter. Converse to their name, these acids are your skin barrier’s best friend, restoring its health to effectively retain moisture. Not to mention the high levels of antioxidant vitamins A and E, which are also anti-aging.

Now it’s a different story, “you’d have to pay me a billion pounds to use another product”, says Monney. Unlike artificial emollients and moisturisers, shea is a natural ingredient with countless benefits both therapeutically and cosmetically. It’s natural state means that there is no risk of topical allergies nor chemical irritation, making it safe for all skin types. Although its hero benefit is the moisturisation provided, shea butter’s anti-inflammatory properties are particularly beneficial to people suffering skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

What is the key to having all these beauty secrets in one product though?

Monney says it’s down to two things: “the quality of the nut” and ultimately “the processing of the nut”. The higher the grade of shea nut the higher the quality for example, Aviela uses grade A nuts only, which result in softer butter “without the strong shea smell”. This quality also has higher healing and moisturising properties than the poorer, waxier quality nuts.

Crucially, Monney describes the difference between refined and unrefined shea butter to be the dealbreaker. Monney describes the direct extraction of shea butter from the nuts to be the purest form, “unrefined shea butter is raw, and nothing has been added to it,” which is the only shea butter used at Aviela. On the other hand, “refined shea butter is passed through a chemical process to removes the smell and colour,” in doing so, Monney describes how “they lose all the vitamins and nutrients. So, they have to add all the nutrients such as vitamin E back in artificially.”

The geography of the nut also plays a role in the properties of shea butter for example, “West African shea butter has a higher content of healing,” whilst also being nourishing says Monney. Across the continent, shea butter produced in “East Africa has a high content of moisturisation, but lack the healing properties,” Monney describes.

The hand processing of she nuts into butter is an ancient practice, traditionally carried out by women for centuries. Aviela source their shea primarily from two women’s cooperatives in Ghana, where shea is known as ‘women’s gold’ due to the innumerable jobs it provides for women. Monney stresses close monitoring, “from start to finish, the whole process is very important.”

The women’s cooperatives start the process of by going out “to farm the nuts at 4am, gathering fallen nuts,” followed by washing and sun-drying before kneading the paste, says Monney. She also describes how the women’s cooperatives used by Aviela “have been trained by Ghanian founded American Shea Butter Institute,” to produce the highest quality shea butter possible from an all-natural process.

As for her favourite product, Monney claims it to be “I can’t, it’s like picking a favourite child!” however, she does claim to always have a jar of their bestselling pure shea butter with her.

Pure Shea Butter, £34

Aviela