Spa Girl says “A houana ka ka” -- thank you very much!

There are some days I look at my "stash" and laugh. I could open my own skin and body care store from all the goodies I have either purchased or been given. 

Many of my friends know I author Spa Girl, so I often receive little goodie bags in the mail full of great products they have discovered on their travels to all kinds of exotic places.  I am also a great one to pick up this and that to try, especially if it is organic, made from the sea, or all natural ingredients.

Always on the outlook for fabulous skin care products and anything to help my very dry hands, I recently purchased a tube of hand cream and it has quickly become my number one favourite.  It's call Out of Africa Hand Cream and is made with 20% unrefined organic Shea butter. And I'm a big fan of Shea Butter, using it in many of my own home made products.

Out of Africa's Hand Cream goes a long way and leaves my hands smooth and silky.  It is 100% natural with no parabens, it is eco-friendly and cruelty free, in other words, it ticks all the right boxes for me!

The company also has an interesting story...

THE STORY OF OUT OF AFRICA

Victor Lulla, a native New Yorker living in Los Angeles, has long nurtured interests in healthy lifestyles, the environment and social responsibility. After briefly considering an early retirement after the sale of his electronics firm in 2002, he instead created California Inside & Out, a manufacturing and distribution company that developed and marketed natural skin and body care products, based in Venice, CA. 

Gilles Adamon, owner of Natura Sarl, headquartered in Benin, West Africa, attended the 2005 Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA hoping to find a distributor for his shea butter cosmetic products. As luck would have it, Victor was at the Expo looking for an interesting opportunity to help expand his product line. 

The two men found that they shared not only an interest in natural products, but in social responsibility as well. A friendship ensued and Out of Africa was founded later that year as an exclusive joint venture.

The founders agreed that Lulla would purchase state of the art production equipment and raw materials, while Adamon’s team, in collaboration with a West African women’s cooperative, would supply locally-source pure unrefined shea butter. The company-owned factory in Benin now produces 200,000 bars of soap a month, along with an expanding array of other shea butter products. The products are shipped to California Inside & Out for distribution under the trademarked brand Out of Africa. 

Out of Africa’s shea butter products nourish the skin with 100% pure unrefined shea butter direct from Benin, West Africa. A natural moisturizer and emollient, shea butter contains antioxidant vitamins A, E and F and beneficial fatty acids that leave skin feeling restored and refreshed. 

The Out of Africa line includes organic shea butter bar soaps, hand and body washes, body butters, lip balms, lotions, body oils and pure unrefined shea butter tins. The natural scents used in our shea butter products are also available in the Out of Africa line of aroma fragrance reed diffusers. 

Producing premium quality skincare products is only half of our story. Lulla and Adamon’s partnership supports several women’s cooperatives and helps to create jobs in democratic Benin, West Africa. Out of Africa shea butter skincare also sponsors a groundbreaking project in Benin called SCHOOL CHILDREN UNITE. A portion of all sales is being donated to this global leadership initiative.

Thank You! Your purchase helps to support education and local enterprise in Benin, West Africa. “A houana ka ka” *, thank you very much.

Shea butter is an all-natural product. It is a creamy-colored fatty substance made from the nuts of karite nut trees (Butyrospermum parkii or "butter seed") that grow wild in the savannah regions of West and East Africa.

The real key to keeping your skin healthy, glowing and youthful is generous and consistent hydration.   And no ingredient is better at lavishing every skin type with pure and natural hydration than the 100% organic, unrefined shea butter found in every Out of Africa product. 

Check out their website...

http://www.outofafricashea.com/about/birthofooa.html