Our Ghana Farm
Our Ghana Farm
Where African botanical heritage meets Oxford science
Our Ghana Farm. Tamale, Northern Ghana
West Africa has been producing the world's finest Shea Butter for centuries. Our farm in Tamale, Northern Ghana is where we grow and press a significant portion of ours ā on land we own, under standards we set, without compromise.
THE STORY
West Africa's most celebrated botanical ā on our own land
Shea Butter is one of the most widely used natural ingredients in the world. It appears in thousands of products ā from pharmaceutical creams to luxury skincare to mainstream hair care. But the Shea Butter in most of those products is not the same Shea Butter that West African women have used for generations.
Most commercial Shea Butter is refined. It has been bleached, deodorised and heat-processed to give it a longer shelf life, a more appealing white colour and a neutral scent. In that process the very compounds that make unrefined Shea extraordinary ā the natural vitamins, the antioxidants, the essential fatty acids in their natural ratios ā are significantly reduced or removed entirely.
Carine knew this long before Oxford confirmed it. The Shea Butter her family used growing up ā brought from West African communities who had pressed it the traditional way for generations ā was a different substance entirely from the refined white butter that appeared in the products she found in London.
So when AfrohairCandy began sourcing at scale, the question was never whether to use Shea Butter. It was whether to use Shea Butter that was actually Shea Butter. The answer was our farm in Tamale.
Unrefined Shea Butter retains its full complement of naturally occurring Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin F, allantoin and cinnamic acid ā compounds that refined Shea has largely lost.
Vitamin A supports skin cell regeneration and hair follicle health. Vitamin E is one of the most potent natural antioxidants protecting both skin and hair from oxidative stress. Vitamin F ā the essential fatty acids linoleic and linolenic acid ā maintains the skin and scalp barrier function. Allantoin has natural anti-inflammatory and soothing properties. Cinnamic acid offers natural UV protection.
Every one of these compounds is present in our Tamale Shea because we do not remove them. The colour is yellow to golden. The scent is distinctively nutty. The texture is firmer and more complex than its refined counterpart.
This is what Shea Butter is supposed to be.
THE LAND
Northern Ghana ā the heart of West African Shea country
The Northern Region of Ghana is one of the most significant Shea-producing areas in West Africa. The climate ā hot and dry with a distinct wet season ā is precisely what the Vitellaria paradoxa tree, from which Shea Nuts are harvested, requires to thrive. These trees grow slowly and live for centuries. They cannot be cultivated in the way most crops are cultivated ā they grow on their own terms, producing their first nuts after approximately 15 years and reaching peak production after 45 to 50 years.
Our 100 hectares of Shea Nut trees in Tamale are mature producing trees. They have been growing long before this farm became ours. We manage the land around them ā removing invasive species, maintaining soil health, harvesting responsibly ā but we do not alter the trees themselves. They produce as they always have.
The Shea Nuts are harvested by hand during the annual harvest season. They are then cracked, dried and pressed using traditional methods that preserve the integrity of the butter. Nothing is added at any stage of this process. Nothing is removed. What goes in is a Shea Nut. What comes out is Shea Butter exactly as nature produced it.
WHAT WE PRODUCE
INGREDIENT 1 ā Unrefined Shea Butter
Source: Tamale, Northern Ghana ā our own farm
Description: Cold-pressed from Shea Nuts harvested by hand from our own trees. Full vitamin and antioxidant profile intact. Golden yellow colour. Naturally nutty scent. Everything refined Shea has lost ā present.
HAIR & SKIN
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INGREDIENT 2 ā Cocoa Butter
Source: Ghana
Description: Cold-pressed from Cacao seeds ā the same bean that makes chocolate. Extraordinarily rich in fatty acids including oleic, stearic and palmitic acid. Creates a protective barrier on skin that seals in moisture without blocking pores. One of the most deeply nourishing skin ingredients available anywhere.
SKIN
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INGREDIENT 3 ā Coconut Oil
Source: Ghana
Description: Cold-pressed from fresh Coconut flesh. Rich in lauric acid ā a medium-chain fatty acid that penetrates the hair shaft more deeply than most oils and significantly reduces protein loss. One of the few oils scientifically documented to penetrate the hair cortex rather than simply coating the cuticle surface.
HAIR & SKIN
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INGREDIENT 4 ā Black Soap
Source: Ghana ā traditional method
Description: Traditionally made in Ghana from Plantain skin ash, Palm kernel oil, Cocoa pods and Shea Butter. Rich in iron, vitamins and natural compounds that cleanse without stripping. A living piece of West African botanical heritage in our body wash and soap formulations.
INGREDIENT 5 ā Palm Oil
Source: Ghana
Description: Unrefined red Palm Oil from Ghana ā full beta-carotene content retained. Rich in Vitamin E and antioxidants. Used alongside our Cameroon and Congo Palm Oil sources to create the most complete Palm Oil profile across our formulations.
HAIR & SKIN
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THE STANDARD
Pressed the way it has always been pressed
Everything produced on our Ghana farm meets the same standard as everything produced on our Congo farm. No synthetic fertilisers. No pesticides. No chemical intervention at any stage of growing, harvesting or processing.
The Shea Nut trees on our Tamale land have never been treated with synthetic chemicals. The soil around them is maintained through natural methods. The harvest is done by hand. The pressing is done using traditional methods that preserve the full botanical integrity of the ingredient.
We do not refine our Shea Butter because we have never seen the logic in removing what makes it extraordinary. The colour, the scent, the texture that most commercial producers eliminate as undesirable are the signs that the Shea Butter is exactly as it should be.
If you cannot eat it ā it does not belong on your hair or your skin. Our Tamale Shea Butter you could absolutely eat. And it has been eaten ā as food, as cooking fat, as a nutritional supplement ā by West African communities for as long as Shea Nut trees have grown on this land.
THE CONNECTION
Two farms. One standard.
AfrohairCandy owns farmland in two countries ā the Democratic Republic of Congo and Northern Ghana. Different ecosystems. Different climates. Different botanical profiles. But one standard that applies to both without exception.
The Congo farm gives us ingredients found nowhere else on earth ā Bulukutu, Congolese Eucalyptus Root, wild rainforest honey, Congolese clay. The Ghana farm gives us West Africa's most celebrated botanical ingredient in its most authentic and most potent form.
Together they represent something no other natural hair or skincare brand can claim. Not just ethically sourced. Not just organically grown. Grown on our own land, in two of Africa's most botanically extraordinary regions, under standards we set and enforce personally.
This is what from soil to scalp means when you hold an AfrohairCandy product in your hands.