Miibox 100% Raw Unrefined Organic Shea Butter-African Grade A Ivory 1 Pound (16oz)

***Update December 2014***Wanted to update my review simply to say that I've recently found some new ways to use this stuff, and I feel it's my duty to pass it along since it has helped me so much. From my original review, you know my skin is the WORST, so I get excited when something affordable actually works! First, you can cook it down in a double boiler, and pour it directly into empty lip-balm containers, and never buy Chap-Stik again! (which dries your lips anyway) Amazon sells the containers for cheap. Second...you can melt it down with some coconut oil and whip it up with your blender to make some killer 100% natural body butter (Thank You Pinterest). Third...you can make natural soap with it and take it into the shower (not as hard as it sounds). Fourth...melt it down and add it to a cup of white sugar for the best moisturizing sugar scrub you've ever used in your life (also-Pinterest). I've also made a coffee scrub with it. That's it! Good luck, hope that helps somebody!***8/9/12 Review***My skin is well, kinda yucky. I suffer from combination skin and large pores on my face, dry scaly/bumpy skin on my body (super-prone to razor bumps and rashes-gross!)...and to top it off, hereditary stretch marks! Never had any children, but I have them anyway! I started getting them when I was 11 years old after a quick growth spurt on my arms, legs...pretty much everywhere. Needless to say I've led a covered up, self conscious existence. I hate declaring my flaws like this, but this is a public service, right? When I was in high-school, I discovered tanning which really helped me with smoothing out my skin and minimizing these issues (yay SUN!).Recently however, my Father has developed skin cancer since taking up golfing in his retirement (boo CANCER!), and it has freaked out my sister and I so we've BOTH stopped with the tanning...really, what a horrible thing to do anyway...but when you find something that works...you sometimes mindlessly just do it.So if somebody tells me this Shea Butter stuff causes cancer, I'm just going to become a hermit because I gotta tell you...IT WORKS! I mean, almost IMMEDIATELY, I started to notice it attacking the issues on my skin. When you rub it in, the first thing you notice is, it stinks. It smells like a health food store. So, plan on spritzing something else on over it! But don't however buy the "Golden" shea butter, while it DOES moisturize...it's not pure, so it doesn't have the healing qualities. You'll also notice it's chunky and a little hard to work with, so you have to palm it, and work it a bit to get it to a point where it will apply to your skin.THEN you must rub....and rub, and then rub some more. Massage those troubled areas (for me, that's everywhere)! Get the blood flowing, and get that stuff worked in as much as possible. You'll never get it all the way DRY, that's just how it is, it's going to bead water--it's butter. But it's not an oily thing, it won't stain your clothes. Then sit back and let it do it's thing.Whatever that is, I don't know the science! To me it's just awesome! In a little under 1 week, I noticed the skin inside some of my stretch marks start to soften, and the backs of my arms get SMOOTH, shaving got easier too.The craziest thing though was, I had a giant gash on my leg where I'd fallen off my bike...and in 2 days this stuff healed more of the tissue than over 1 month of Neosporin...and that is the God's Honest Truth. I am NOT a health-nut, Noni-juice, copper-bracelet-type person at ALL...these are cold, hard factual observations by an EXTREMELY AVERAGE 33-YEAR-OLD GIRL from Detroit-ish Michigan. :)You're going to start noticing too, just how MANY products out there have shea butter in them...and then go ahead and throw some petroleum-based fillers in them (which actually DRY-OUT your skin & lips), and how much money you've wasted over the years! So go do your duty and spread the word to your friends & family now that you KNOW the truth!!

Quite a good price for the amount that was purchased, will last quite some time. It comes in a double sealed plastic bag. I scooped it all out and put it into a glass jar with a secured rubber seal. Keep in mind that quite a bit gets stuck to the plastic so I cut the plastic into small squares to smear it on the areas of my body before attending to the jar.The odor is quite strange, although I've gotten quite used to it. The smell is not that strong after application, only a faint scent. The butter is hard, but it starts to soften up after rolling it in between my index and thumb fingers for 30 seconds or so. Application is easy, rubbing it into the skin for a minute or so. Keep in mind that it will not fully soak into the skin no matter how long you rub it, so I let it soak in for the rest of the day, skin stays oily for quite some time. Don't fear it staining your cloths, none of my shirts nor pants have left any stains.(All colors)I bought this in the hopes of decreasing the visibility of my stretch marks that I got from some gain weight over the past few years (they are old stretch marks).I first read about shea butter online, so I followed by going to my local grocery store and purchasing a typical lotion with shea butter. What is not told is among all the ingredients in the lotion, there is typically only 2 teaspoons at most in it. Now who knows if it is refined/altered, most likely. You will never get as close to pure unrefined shea butter as this one and other sold here on amazon I presume.I have been applying the butter for 3 days now, and so far, WOW. It's quite amazing, completely moistens the skin like a baby's bottom. Although the stretch marks aren't gone and I don't believe they ever will be, so far it has decreased the visibility quite a bit for only a few days of use. My biggest stretch mark has a odd red mark in the middle of it, quite visible. That started to lighten a considerable amount after the first day, 3 days later even more!All I can say is try it, for whatever reason you need it for. Product is amazing, price is quite reasonable!