Are you obsessed with keeping your hair beautiful and stronger for long? If you are, then the Cupuacu butter might be worthy of your attention.
This oil is extracted from the Cupuacu tree, which is native to the Amazon forest in South America. It is related to the cocoa tree, and if you pay close attention to the scent, you’d notice a similarity.
The Cupuacu butter is creamy and soft and is a popular natural option for skin and hair maintenance. What’s more, it possesses scientifically-backed benefits that make it one of the most effective remedies for hair maintenance and re-growth.
In this article, we are going to discuss these benefits in detail plus also guide you on how to use it.
Table of Contents
Cupuacu Oil Potential Benefits
Worth noting is that the oil is rich in lauric, oleic, linoleic, and myristic acids. These play a part in providing your hair with the moisturizing and hydrating effects it needs to grow into a fuller and thicker “mane.”
And that’s not all. This natural remedy boasts a pretty long list of benefits. Let’s analyze some of them in detail.
Moisturizing and Hydrating Hair
The fact that Cupuacu butter absorbs water is what makes it suited for sealing moisture within your hair. We can attribute this property to its high phytosterols levels, and these help in moisturizing frizzy and dry hair.
For those with brittle hair, this butter would hydrate your hair strands plus would remain softer for a longer period.
Light
If you have ever used Shea butter for moisturizing your hair, you must have noticed your hair feeling weighed down in the end.
Cupuacu butter is a lighter alternative if you want to avoid such an experience again.
Protection against UV Rays
If you spend a lot of time out in the sun, then you should consider using this butter together with some sunscreen.
This is because it has high contents of Vitamin E and is crucial in protecting your hair from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Nourishment for the Hair
Another benefit of Cupuacu butter is that it is packed with useful nutrients for your hair, including antioxidants and vitamins. Therefore, you should find it particularly helpful for weak and dry hair.
When the butter gets into the hair cuticle, it nourishes each strand from the inside, thereby making it stronger from the inside.
Smoothens the Hair
Do you have an overly dry scalp or frizzy hair? If you do, then you should also try out the Cupuacu butter. Rubbing some of this oil onto your hair strands goes a long way in softening dry hair.
Further, if you have thick or damaged hair, this butter would be of great help in restoring the original vibrancy of your hair.
Related: 10 Common Causes of Hair Loss in Both Men & Women
Boosts Hair Growth
You should be pleased to know that this butter is also helpful in aiding hair growth. This is due to the essential fatty acids that contribute to the elasticity and durability of the hair. An improvement in these two aspects boosts overall hair growth.
What’s more, is that the moisturizing and hydrating properties also play a part in improved hair growth.
Emulsification Benefits
If you like creating hair products at home, you may find Cupuacu butter to be a useful ingredient. This is because it can help in stabilizing an emulsion.
Besides this consistency, the butter could also help in improving shelf life. This makes it an economical option for you if you like creating hair care products at home.
Anti-inflammatory Benefits
Besides your hair, you should also find this butter beneficial to your scalp due to its anti-inflammatory properties. It helps in soothing the skin when it experiences topical inflammation.
How to Use the Cupuacu Butter on Your Hair
This butter is quite straightforward to use, and there are various ways that you can go about it. First, there are some items (utensils) that you need require, and they include:
- Large mixing bowl
- 2 Medium ceramic bowls
- Mixing utensil
- Spatula
- Electric hand mixer
- Storage jar
The ingredients that you need for the process include mango butter, cupuacu butter, kokum butter, cocoa butter, rosehip oil, avocado oil, aloe vera gel, castor oil, jojoba oil, vitamin E and Sweet almond oil.
Step 1
Start by putting all the butters in a ceramic bowl. Add 52g of mango butter, followed by 15g of Cupuacu butter, then 14 g of cocoa butter chips, and lastly, add 12g of kokum butter.
Step 2
Half-fill another medium ceramic bowl with boiling water, then dip the other bowl (yup, the one with the butters) inside the water (like you’d do in the double-boiler method).
This is to allow the butters to melt, a process that should take you roughly an hour. After melting, let it cool for a while before adding the oils.
Step 3
Start by adding 15g of avocado oil, followed by 15g of castor oil. You can then add 14g of Jojoba oil, 6g of sweet almond oil, 4g of olive oil, 3g of vitamin E, 1g of argan oil, and lastly 0.5g of Rosehip oil.
Stir the mixture gently before placing it in the fridge for approximately an hour to solidify.
Step 4
Use a butter knife to lift the butter out of the bowl and transfer it to a larger bowl. You should then add 27g of natural aloe vera gel.
Proceed to use the electric mixer on this new mixture. Use the spatula to scoop out the mixture into the jar for storage.
PS: The how-to guide on this article was inspired by this helpful Vlog.
How To Apply It
Now that you’ve prepared the oil, it’s time to apply it to your hair. These are the steps you need to follow.
Step 1
The best way to apply cupuacu oil is by sectioning your hair, applying a bit of oil, and massaging in a circular motion. If you suffer from dry hair, you should apply it by combing the butter through your hair.
Step 2
Leave the butter to sit in for 60 seconds or so, as a pre-shampoo.
Step 3
Clean your hair using a mild shampoo. You may apply your favorite conditioner as usual.
Combinations
There are several ways through which you could add to the effectiveness of the Cupuacu butter. This involves adding some ingredients which would make the treatment more useful.
Cocoa Butter
If you want to maintain your curly hair, a mixture of Cupuacu and Coconut butter would do the trick.
Coconut/Castor Oil
This combination is designed to make your hair shinier and more vibrant.
Rice Proteins
When you mix the butter with rice proteins, you would be doing an excellent job of nourishing your hair with essential nutrients as well as hydrating it.
Related: How to use Rice Water for Hair Growth
Shea Butter
For those with dyed hair, this combination is most ideal for keeping the hair in good condition.
Comparisons
We want to make you understand why Cupuacu butter is the ideal choice for maintaining your hair. Therefore, we decided to make a brief comparison with its common alternatives, namely Mango and Shea butter.
Cupuacu Vs. Shea Butter
Unlike Shea butter, Cupuacu is light, soft and is absorbed into the skin faster. On top of that, it does not leave any greasy residue on the skin plus retains moisture.
Keep in mind that Shea butter remains good at hydrating your hair.
Cupuacu Vs. Mango Butter
The difference between these two is not that big. For instance, just like Cupuacu, mango butter contains the Oleic, Stearic, and Palmitic fatty acids. It is also packed with antioxidants.
On top of that, Mango butter contains squalene, which helps in keeping the skin looking youthful for a longer period.
You could always use a combination of the two as they would complement each other.
Final Thoughts
Basically, Cupuacu butter is the solution to most problems involving the skin and the hair. It leaves you with shinier and longer hair, plus it makes the skin look more youthful.
You will also appreciate how easy it is to use while the shelf life is impressive as well.
In short, if you are keen on maintaining your overall beauty, the Cupuacu butter would be a useful product to have in the cabinet.
So why don’t you head out to the store and get yourself this butter oil and we believe that you will not be disappointed with the results.
