Is Shea Butter Good for Dreads?

Now I’ve come across quite a number of people saying stuff like –

“don’t use shea butter for dreads!”
“shea butter gives gross residue!”
“shea butter can clog your locs”
“ shea butter will make your dreads come off and you have to start over..”

I only agree with one thing in all that flame above and that’s ‘shea butter will clog your dreads.’ It’s true – shea butter can clog your dreads BUT ONLY IF you don’t wash your dreads properly.

There’s a certain hair care regimen you have to be willing to take when you choose to wear dreads. It’s better not to use a lot of products, especially store bought hair care stuff. That’s because dreads are super prone to product build-up. Even if you use natural ingredients like shea butter, you’ll still end up with wax/oil residue overtime.

So what’s this regimen? It’s very simply, really. All you need is a good water-based shampoo (no oils/butters!) and a deep cleanser. I have a DIY Dreadlocks Shampoo on the blog, if you want to try it out. It should be used every time you wash your dreads.

Meanwhile, the deep cleanser helps in removing wax/oil residue from your dreads. It can be done once in 3 months, but not less than twice a year. It’s really important to remove residue from your dreads. You would not ever want stinky mold in your dreads! You can find the Deep Cleanser recipe here.

Yes, it is. And I’ll tell you why – it’s because dreads can get amazingly dry for some people that they just HAVE to use some kind of oil/butter to hold moisture in. The top two recommended moisturizers for dreads are shea butter and cocoa butter. These are thick enough to seal in moisture for a long time compared to oils.

So what most people do is fill up a spray bottle with water then mist it all over their scalp and dreads. Then apply shea butter. However, it’s best to make a shea butter mix as shea butter alone is a bit heavy. I have 2 Shea Butter Recipes for Locs/Dreads on the blog, including a homemade dreads cream recipe. Check them out – they’re awesome! Or, try this shea butter and flaxseed gel recipe. Flaxseed gel is great for holding moisture in dreads!

Of course you must note that Caucasian dreads won’t do well with shea butter unless very little is used. Meanwhile, people with naturally coily/kinky type hair do very well with shea butter. But with any hair type, a little shea butter goes a long while. Definitely do not pile it up on your hair or you will end up with residue that’s hard to get rid of.

Shea Butter is good for Dry Scalp with Dreads

I was talking about just the dreads above but did you know that many dreads also have painful dry itchy scalps?! The perfect treatment for such scalps is shea butter and a few select essential oils.

For a dry scalp with dreads, I suggest doing a hot oil treatment with shea butter: Simply melt 2 tbsp of shea butter using a double boiler. Once melted, let it cool off for a minute then stir in 5 drops tea tree oil and 3 drops peppermint oil. Pour and massage this all over your scalp. Let it sink in for an hour or two then wash your hair very well using your shampoo. You can also make your own DIY Dreadlocks Shampoo (follow the link to my fav recipe).

Where to Get Shea Butter

Always ensure to get 100% pure unrefined shea butter with no additives. This type is the real shea butter with all nutrients intact. You can get Pure Body Harmony’s 100% Pure Raw Organic Shea Butter that comes in a UV protectant amber jar.