TruShea was developed at Tru, San Francisco’s top day spa. The concept when developing Tru was to approach the creation of the treatments with the following philosophy: For each traditional spa staple (facial, massage, mani/pedi, wet body treatment), if we were to throw out the “norms” and ignore what everyone else does, and if money were no object, how would we invent the perfect spa treatment? This line of thinking led us to reevaluate countless procedures and components, including the traditional massage mediums.

Certainly there had to be something better than greasy oil or sticky cream, something that feels better and leaves your skin feeling better. Something that – unlike most massage creams – is all natural. Since your skin is a vital organ, and the massage medium is spread onto almost every inch of it, shouldn’t we aim a little higher than a substance like oil that at best is benign? Doesn’t it make sense to try to find something that actually provides benefits to the skin other than making it slippery? For months, Tru searched high and low for massage balms, even employing a few during the first year of operation. But each potential solution had its share of drawbacks. Finally, sick of being sent back out to find something else, Tru’s Director of Services decided to create something.

The result was a balm based on Shea Butter. Shea Butter is made from the nuts or pits from trees that grow exclusively in the wooded savannahs in West Africa. In terms of skin applications, Shea Butter is easily nature’s most perfect substance, with an incredible list of benefits.

Shea Butter has been a staple in African pharmacology since at least the 14th century, utilized to this day for everything from treating skin ailments, treating arthritis and other pains, cooking, as a decongestant, and to promote healing after surgery just to name a few. In fact, the Shea tree is more commonly called the Karite Tree, which means “Tree of Life”.

Its only been the last few decades, however, that commercial mechanisms have been in place to make Shea Butter availability outside of Africa economically viable. Shea Butter appears to be the ‘hot’ ingredient, recently appearing on products bearing the names of some of the United States’ largest cosmetic manufacturers. Of course, adding it as a small ingredient for labeling purposes is much different than a product that is primarily premium Shea Butter.