Online Store Review # 2: Sheabutter Cottage

 

image borrowed from akuawood.blogspot.com

Sheabutter cottage is the brainchild of Akua Wood; an ethical entrepreneur who began selling her handmade toiletries (Cioccolatina) in 2002, buying all of the raw ingredients from farmer co-operatives in Ghana. Fast forward to the present day and Sheabutter cottage stocks everything from raw products sourced from farmer co-operatives and indigenous communities across the world to chocolate, hand-crafted fabrics and beads!

Sheabutter cottage have a set of commitments that include ending world poverty, buying fair trade, supporting sustainable farming methods and providing farmers co-operatives with financial support. They are against animal testing, the use of chemical additives, and the use of child labour, researching each product to ensure that child labour is not used at any stage of production.

And on top of that, 10% of all sales go towards providing public facilities in Ghana; financing 2 Shea co-ops and building a public place of convenience for the Gumu community.

Basically, Sheabutter cottage embody what all brands should work towards.

For a full overview of Sheabutter cottage's brand history and stock do take a look at their site!

Sheabutter cottage ship to the UK, EU, USA and Canada.

so, to the review!!

Rating: 5/5

My experience with Sheabutter cottage has been top notch! Delivery is very fast and fairly priced, there are regular order updates, and when you receive your order you get a card showing you how much money from your order goes towards supporting their efforts in Ghana.

The prices aren't sky high - which is what some people have come to expect when buying fair trade - and are actually quite competitive. The product quality is the best that I've come across in terms of raw ingredients, unlike a lot of other suppliers, they label all raw ingredients with a best before date. Which is incredibly important.

If you do have any concerns about any of the ingredients used in the products then the FAQs section will quickly put your mind at ease.

We love their African black soap & the Cioccolatina range! I've just bought a bottle of the Argan and cocoa butter liquid shampoo (free from sulfates, cocamidopropyl betaine, cocamide DEA and Borax). Which I'll be reviewing later this week!

Akua Wood's blog can be found here

The Sheabutter Kiva community can be found here. In case you were wondering, Kiva provides microfinancing to the "working poor". Offering users the chance to choose the cause that they would like to support.
 
And, once more Sheabutter Cottage can be found here
 
Thanks so much for reading - I hope you've all had a lovely day :)