A jar of shea butter bought on a cousin's advice, opened twice, then abandoned because it left white streaks and a heavy scalp. Was the butter really to blame?
Rarely. What went wrong with that jar was a question of material and quantity, not incompatibility. A butter is chosen according to your hair's porosity and the season, then measured to the gram. Here are the three that work on coily hair, and the technique that makes the difference between success and failure. To see where this step fits in a care cycle, our step-by-step tutorial walks through the six steps of the Rituel Texture®.
A butter is a solid oil
The difference between an oil and a butter comes down to a single factor: the proportion of saturated fatty acids, which decides whether it's solid at room temperature. Beyond a certain point, the fat sets. That's all, and it's a lot, because that solidity changes the way it settles on the hair.
A butter stays on the surface. It doesn't get past the cuticle, it wraps it in a thick film that smooths the scales and forms a shelter around the strand. On ends that turn rough again two days after washing, that cover lasts far longer than a drop of light oil, and that's exactly what you want from it when the air turns cold and dry.
What it doesn't do, on the other hand, is exactly what an oil doesn't do: it adds no water, since it contains none. When a fat is useful and when it's pointless is covered in our article on the best oils for coily hair. This one answers the next question: which one, and how much.
Butter 1Mango butter
It's extracted from the stone of the fruit, and it's the most discreet of the three. Firm straight from the jar, it melts quickly between your palms and leaves no visible residue, which makes it the one to start with if you've never managed to get on with a solid butter.
For which texture: fine hair, medium porosity, and anyone who always finds shea too heavy. It softens, brings shine back to dull lengths and protects the ends from rubbing against clothes, which is the real cause of split ends in the cold season.
Its downside is the flip side of its lightness: on very dry, very porous hair, it won't last until the next wash. There's no point using twice as much. That's the sign you need something with more coverage. Finally, watch the labels: many jars sold as mango butter are cut with cheaper oils, and the butter should come first on the ingredient list, under the name Mangifera indica seed butter.
Butter 2Cocoa butter
It's the most recognisable, by its scent and the clean snap it makes in the jar. Hard and brittle when cold, it turns liquid with the warmth of your hands and settles as a supple film, with no waxy feel or stiffness as it dries.
For which texture: all of them, which is rare among solid butters, and that's why we made it the key active ingredient in our formulas, paired with hibiscus. Its melting point is low enough for it to spread in a thin layer instead of clumping, on fine hair as well as on thick hair.
Our cocoa butter comes from two origins, Côte d'Ivoire and the Dominican Republic. We always name both: they are two separate supply chains, with two harvests that don't fall in the same season.
I can recognise hair cared for with cocoa butter by touch, before I've even looked at it. At my grandmother's, it was the last step of styling: a little cocoa placed straight on the hair, after a hibiscus cream. I wanted La Crème Coiffante to bring the two together in a single product, like a butter balm that melts into the hair without leaving residue.
Ghana Elin, founderAs for what cocoa brings, we stick to what's established: it nourishes, it softens, and it forms a layer around the strand that slows down drying out. More ambitious lists of benefits circulate widely, and we leave them aside until they're verified. See our article on cocoa butter for coily hair.
Butter 3Avocado butter
It's the richest of the three. It's made by hardening the oil from the fruit, which gives it a creamy, very soft texture that you can scoop with a finger without having to melt it. The jar has the same name as the bottle of avocado oil, but the two aren't measured at all the same way: here, the product stays exactly where you put it.
For which texture: very dry, very porous hair, the kind mango butter leaves wanting more after two days, and cold climates. Its consistency also makes it the easiest to carry around: one small jar does for both ends and hands.
On fine or low-porosity hair, it's simply too much. You'll know within two applications: the strands clump together and the effect only goes at the next wash. In that case, go back to mango butter. To work out your porosity without any equipment, see our article on the porosity of coily hair.
Why shea isn't on the list
Leaving it out isn't an oversight. Shea is the most widely used butter on coily hair, and it works very well on some hair: the thickest, the densest, the driest. On that hair, there's nothing to fault it for.
On all other hair, it clearly fails. Its density leaves a white residue on the strands, weighs down the roots and gives that greasy look that only goes with the next shampoo. Because it's everywhere and cheap, it's the first thing most women try, and they draw too broad a conclusion from it. The jar at the back of the cupboard didn't prove that butters don't suit you: it proved that this one, on your hair, is too dense. Try mango before you give up.
The technique: measure, warm, place
Even a well-chosen butter can miss the mark, and it's almost always the same three things that decide the result.
The amount
Take the equivalent of a grain of rice for a whole head. That's far less than you'd think, and it's the measure that separates a soft end from a stuck-together strand. If there are white marks, you've used too much; the answer is never to add water on top, but to start again with less.
The warmth of your hands
Warm the butter between your palms until it's properly liquid, not just soft. A butter that's still pasty goes on in clumps and won't spread afterwards. Avoid the microwave, which heats too quickly and breaks down some of the components in the jar.
The area
Lengths and ends, never the scalp. Butter placed near the roots builds up there, traps sweat and flakes, and becomes one of the most common causes of itching. This is the one rule with no exceptions.
Then there's the quality of the jar. An unrefined butter, organic if possible, keeps its original smell and colour; deodorised and bleached versions have lost some of what made them worthwhile. A pure butter lists just one ingredient on its label, and it does go off: one to two years, after which the smell turns.
What a butter can't replace
That leaves the question we hear most often in consultations: should you put a butter on at the end of the wash, to hold in what the treatment has just provided? The answer is no, and our own answer has changed.
Step 06 of the Rituel Texture® is called Lock in moisture. It goes like this: La Crème Coiffante applied generously, a final pass of the Peigne de Man Dol', then a protective braid or twist. Nothing else comes in between, because La Crème Coiffante helps hold on to the moisture brought by the wash and already combines a water-based base with cocoa butter, in the right proportion. A raw butter added on top doesn't improve that proportion, it throws it off balance.
A butter's place is elsewhere, and it's a real one: between two routines, on the ends only, when they turn rough again. A grain of rice, warmed, smoothed over the ends on the Thursday after a Sunday routine. It's a comfort top-up in cold weather. To maintain moisture from one routine to the next, see also our method for moisturising coily hair.
The mistakes that waste a good jar
- Using a hazelnut-sized amount instead of a grain of rice.
- Applying it while still pasty, without melting it between your palms.
- Putting it on the scalp, or near the roots.
- Adding it on top of La Crème Coiffante at step 06.
- Keeping a jar whose smell has turned.
Mango, cocoa, avocado: which one for your hair?
Our experts look at how your hair behaves with you online, and tell you which butter and how much of it suits your hair.
Book a consultation
