| Vegetable |
Butter or Oil |
Fatty Acids |
| Shea |
Butter |
- Stearic acid, saturated, long chain, 85-90%
- Oleic acid, monounsaturated, 5-10%
- Palmitic, long chain, saturated, minor component
- Linoleic, polyunsaturated, minor component
- Arachidic, saturated, long chain, minor component
|
| Cocoa |
Butter |
- Stearic acid, saturated, 34-36%
- Palmitic acid, saturated, 24-28%
- Oleic acid, monounsaturated, 30-40%
- Linoleic, polyunsaturated, 2-3%
|
| Mango |
Butter |
- Oleic acid, monounsaturated, 40-50%
- Linoleic acid, polyunsaturated, 5-8%
- Stearic acid, saturated, 5-8%
- Palmitic acid, saturated, 5-8%
- Arachidic, saturated, 1-4%
|
| Wheat Germ |
Oil |
- Linoleic, polyunsaturated, 55%
- Oleic, mono-unsaturated, 18%
- Palmitic acid, saturated, medium chain, 17%
- Linolenic, polyunsaturated, 8%
|
| Avocado |
Oil |
- Oleic Acid, monounsaturated,
55-75%
- Palmitic, saturated, 9-20%
- Linoleic, polyunsaturated, 10-15%
- Palmitoleic, monounsaturated, 2-10%
- Stearic, saturated, 0.1-2%
|
| Coconut |
Oil |
- Lauric acid, saturated (shorter chain), 45%
- Myristic acid, saturated, 17%
- Palmitic acid, saturated, 8%
- Caprylic acid, saturated, 8%
- Linoleic acid and oleic acid, unsaturated, 5-10%
|
| Olive |
Oil |
- Oleic Acid, monounsaturated, 55% – 85%
- Linoleic acid, polyunsaturated, 9%
- Linolenic acid, polyunsaturated, 0-2%
|
| Jojoba |
Oil |
- Eicosenoic acid, monounsaturated, 69%
- Erucic acid, monounsaturated, 16%
- Oleic acid, monounsatruated, 10%
|
| Almond |
Oil |
- Oleic Acid, monounsaturated, 65%
- Linoleic, polyunsaturated, 25%
- Palmitic acid, saturated, 6-7%
- Stearic acid, saturated, 1-2%
|
August 4th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Phew!!!!!!! That is going to take some re-reading and studying!!! I”m curious why you didn’t include Castor oil?? Thanks for this!!!
August 5th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Umm this is an amazing article with so much helpful information.
I’m just curious as to the reason why a picture of refined shea butter was used as an example of regular shea butter. If you see shea butter with that pure white color it means that it was extracted in a why that totally changes the chemical composition of it and depletes all of the natural beneficial properties. Ladies do not pick up shea butter that has a pure white color. You might as well just slather Vaseline on your hair.
August 24th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Tonya, Wondeful article and just what I needed!
As Diana said before me I will be re-reading and studying to figure out why my easy to maintain and moisturize hair 4a/b hair has become overly porous, thin, damaged and protein reliant and all without the use of heat or relaxers.
Thanks for helping me take a big step in becoming knowledgeable in the care of my hair.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Wow great article. This explains alot and helped me narrow done my product list.
Thanks
August 27th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Wonderful article. Little by little I’m learning how to deal with tempermental Fine, Porose 2B to 3B hair. Thank you.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:32 am
[...] to see similar results from ximenia and argan oil. However, as we discussed in a previous article (Butters and Oils), if your hair is extremely porous, you may experience unpleasant effects from products containing [...]
September 6th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
This was a great article…saving this under my favorites as a point of reference!!
May 29th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
[...] I still wanna try avocado and camellia, but I haven't gotten around to ordering them online yet. This CurlChemist article on oils and butters is a fun read. I particularly like the third page with the fatty acid [...]
January 10th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
[...] CurlChemist walk you through the science behind oils and butters for curly [...]
August 22nd, 2012 at 12:19 pm
[...] CurlChemist Helps us Understand Oils and Butters Share | Related Articles [...]