# Let's Talk Shea



## mamatomany

O.K. well in light of the fact that I potentially have 35 lbs. of contaminated shea butter in my closet is making me crazy :crazy. Now what?


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## Guest

How did you find out it contaminated? Who did you get it from? have you contacted who you got if from..What is it contaminated with? 
Barb


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## hsmomof4

Yesterday on her list, Lillian announced that at least some of Myron's shea was contaminated. According to her email, he had some wholesale supplier account and they had the shea tested. She said that the first shipment that he sent to this supplier was contaminated (she didn't say with what) and the second one was not, according to an unnamed "reliable source". (Those aren't intended to be scare quotes, I'm just trying to indicate that she's the one who says the source is reliable, not me.) The website that he set up when he was on Lillian's list no longer functions. He has a yahoo group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanSheaButter/ but you cannot view messages unless you join. Lillian says that the shea she got was fine, but I don't know that she had it tested, so I don't know how she knows that.


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## adillenal

He has a phone number listed on the yahoo group but I can't access yahoo at work so I can't give it to you. 
I wonder about this since there should be some documentation not just a statement from someone.

Plus Lillian threw Myron off her list months ago cause they had a falling out so why is she saying he is now off her list?

It is frightening how someone could be run out of business just with someone starting an Internet campaign. Not saying there isn't an issue but it sure is easy to start a BIG stink whether founded or undounded.


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## hsmomof4

> Plus Lillian threw Myron off her list months ago cause they had a falling out so why is she saying he is now off her list?


I went back and looked in the archives...it was actually the beginning of this month when he was removed from the list. Seems a lot longer ago than that. Anyhow, I went back through the archives because I remembered him posting his phone number right before he was removed from the list and that particular post is gone. Here is an email he was using at one point, if you wanted to ask about the shea that you have, but I don't know if it is still working: [email protected]

Or you could try this one, from his current yahoo group: [email protected]


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## adillenal

Also she has more than one list so that would also be a factor and then there is facebook where she announced last week she is closing her shop in Noblesville and moving back home. Guess she has another shop in another town.
Sorry, I just get confused with so many lists.


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## nappint

Oh boy, my head is spinning...again.

If I remember correctly she removed Myron from the list because she & he had a disagreement about a booth space and that he "yelled" at her but not because of tainted Shea. This is the first I've heard of myrons Shea being bad but then I have a really hard time keeping up with all the "stuff" that is posted on Lillian's list... :crazy

And BTW I was supplied with a certificate of testing from Myron before I recieved my order - sooooo what is really going on?


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## NubianSoaps.com

The certificate is something you can reprint from any site that sells shea. You can ask them to send you their certificate and just copy them. I hate to say I told you so but I told you so.

If it was truly tested and contaminated than forward the information in writing from the lab, why all the inuendo...is it contaminated as in cut with another butter, it certainly would explain the price. It would certainly explain how the small samples he sent me twice on accident were completely different shea. I gave one of the samples and showed them to a gal on this forum, they are decidedly different products than what you get when you order the bigger amounts. I tried to reason with Lil about this subject I can't even get this price and I pick it up from the Houston Ship Channel off the boat, well the dock 

Lillian also kicked me off all her lists, then after the Myron ordeal she sent me an invite again, no email or anything after the whole cubea listea/orange oil fiasco. And they need to be CP tested by a third party. I wish she would just coop off her website, keep her website updated with what is on hand, send out mass emails for prebuys and get off all the forum stuff, she just can't handle life on a forum, she doesn't have the personality for it. I told her many times to keep one of her yahoogroups for just announcements of prebuys, to keep the chatter off of it, to stop recommending people to only later tell us how awful they are, it's tireing and old. Lillian we just want to buy scent, how hard is that to understand! Vicki


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## mill-valley

:yeahthat

I didn't know when I signed up that it was going to be drama city. I am looking forward to getting some Fo's from her but geesh, I thought *I* changed my mind a lot!


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## Anita Martin

Amen sisters. I thought it was just me.


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## Sondra

and how contaminated can shea be and not use it in soap?


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## Tallabred

Since we are talking about Shea - Where should I go for shea? Any suggestions?


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## mill-valley

Supposedly Columbus Foods has good quality tested shea...haven't used it myself.


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## Huminbird

aw crap I have 50 lbs of his shea and was planning on whipping up a whole bunch for a huge christmas show. I don't imagine it would be to bad to use in soap but I can't use it as pure whipped shea butter if it is contaminated.

I have allot more to say but it probably isn't suitable for this board.


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## hsmomof4

I was thinking that exact thing, Becky...that anything ucky in it would probably be killed by the lye, but for lotions, whipped butters, etc, there's a big problem.


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## homeacremom

I'd like to know how this deal turns out- privately if necessary- especially if Myron's shea turns out to be good stuff despite the drama. I put off ordering, but will be need to get some more shea soon.

For whipped shea folks seem to drawn to the raw, fair trade product even though it costs more. It is REALLY high right now...shortage I guess. http://shop.agbangakarite.com/category.sc;jsessionid=7AA682A64A8BA11C1F3540E396BD675A.qscstrfrnt01?categoryId=2

Here is columbus foods/ soaper's choice shea. I've always been happy with their products, but have never bought shea from them. Their organic, unrefined oils have always met my expectations and comparisons to higher priced brands so I'd take the chance there if necessary. http://www.soaperschoice.com/cgi-soaperschoice/Web_store/web_store.cgi?query_price_low_range=0&cart_id=$cart_id


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## mamatomany

Judith, I know with columbus foods all his shea and butters for that matter are tested before he will sell them to ensure their safety. That is enough reason for me to want to exclusively buy from him. Vicki does have a good point. The "deal" is too good to be true most likely. It is so cheap that it can't be possible for him to be making any money on selling this product? She gets it right off the boat and it costs her more money than he has sold it for $1.99 a lb.....now I'm leary, cuz' I certainly do not want a law suit because of poor products. That would ruin everything


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## Kalne

Well, for once I'm glad I missed the boat. Apart from a few co-ops (which I will be re-thinking now) I buy exclusively from Columbus. For me, in my location, the shipping is reasonable. He ships fast too. I read that he tests all his products too.


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## Huminbird

Since I got so much of this goofy stuff is there a way for me to get it tested cost effectively? I guess I will have to do my research on this but if anyone has any ideas on how to get it tested please let me know.


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## NubianSoaps.com

The thing is if you look through it, it is shea. It's smells like shea, it melts like shea and I have had no problems in my soap with it. Now I didn't use it for anything but soap. I only use Columbus foods for soap, it does have a definite graininess to it at times. I got 10 pounds the last time Bethany did a coop for shea on this forum and others, when it got here it was so nice I spent a weekend packaging it into jars for sale, so I won't need to buy that quality of shea until after the first of the year.

It's just ridiculous that if it's contaminated we don't know what it is contaminated with. After all she all but sold the blasted stuff! After poo pooing our warnings. Vicki


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## kidsngarden

Holy cow! It's like a soap opera. I wish we could just have a cut and dry coop and now I'm stuck because I ADORE the pink sugar, global garden and BRV I got from her and I never got them memo about the "new" group and so I didn't hear about the coops going on just recently for those. Wading through the drama on the lists has gotten to be too much.

As for shea, I personally love agbanga. I know they are big money comparatively, but they are a trusted company and even at $5 a pound it's worth it to me. Maybe I'll do a coop again sometime.


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## NubianSoaps.com

Shoot sorry, it was Bethany  I will edit my email.

I would love to give Lillian another chance, perhaps as a group we could email her? Ask her to simply post over here what she is cooping, we could even let her have her own sticky? But nothing but posting the coop? What do you think? Cause I am not joining another yahoo group! Vicki


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## mamatomany

Hey Bethany, the BRV, do you use it in soap? Does it turn dark brown?


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## hsmomof4

Works for me, Vicki.


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## kidsngarden

mamatomany said:


> Hey Bethany, the BRV, do you use it in soap? Does it turn dark brown?


I do use it in soap and no it does not discolor.

And having lillian just do coops here sounds good...


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## Aja-Sammati

Well, everything with a grain of salt! If anyone was following (I am on three of those lists :crazy), she posted about his shea being contaminated right after their blowout...and posted info from the dish maybe? that whoever it was had co-oped contaminated kokum...I sent her an email about what it was supposedly tainted with...the stuff she listed she made sound much worse than it really was (not that tainted is good...)...she kind of retracted to wait for testing...who knows??

Really, they don't test _every_ grain of shea butter anywhere! Something could always slip past the testing and kill a customer...how do you know that the person that packs your blue bag in your box from Columbus isn't leaving germs on the bag that are getting into your butter as soon as you unpack it? :tearhair The drama and hype pushes me over the edge sometimes!


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## NubianSoaps.com

Your emoticon says it all Michelle  Vicki


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## hsmomof4

I remember her posting about the kokum being contaminated and saying to go to the dish for more info on the whole "kokum crisis", but nothing about the shea. She said that the kokum was contaminated with aspergillus (mold) and enterobacter bacteria, and something about having her daughter do some sort of test on a kokum nut....


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## Aja-Sammati

Her daughter I guess gave her the lowdown info on what the kokum was contaminated with...I did some research on aspergillus niger and enterobacter bacteria... mostly curiosity. The mold can be toxic if you eat it, or inhale enough, it usually contaminates wine, onions, common in soil. Here is the less technical info: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_niger
(I read some very deep research on A. niger in relation to the production of toxins in red wine, very interesting :lol)

Here is a short overview of the basics of enterobacter:
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Enterobacter

microbewiki is a cool site, btw


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## hsmomof4

Yeah, but I guess my point was that at the point of impact, nothing was said about the *shea* being contaminated...she wasn't going to do business with him any more but we should still buy his shea because it was "fine." And only later on, was it, "the shea is contaminated" with the implication being that *that* was the reason he was removed from the list.


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## Aja-Sammati

ahhhh- yes, that is actually what I was pointing to also :blush crossed wires...


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## Huminbird

So...there may really be nothing wrong with the shea butter, its one person's word against anothers and there are no hard facts. Ug! What drama. I am to busy for that myself. I have decided to find another source of scents. I love her scents but hate all the drama.


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## hsmomof4

Well, there might be hard facts. We just haven't seen them at this point. She says that someone reputable tested the shea and some of it was contaminated. But she hasn't shared the actual tests results or who had it tested.


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## nappint

hsmomof4 said:


> Well, there might be hard facts. We just haven't seen them at this point. She says that someone reputable tested the shea and some of it was contaminated. But she hasn't shared the actual tests results or who had it tested.


...and therein lies the problem. I know I was told by Lillian via e-mail several times to quit questioning and just trust her and her expertise when it came to Myron's shea. So here we are several months down the road, after she's had a falling out with Myron, and now his shea is "contaminated" but she hasn't posted the proof that she claims she has!

I know if it were me who had brought people to a supplier and after shouting down skeptics I had to admit that there might be a problem with his product you had better believe I would be scrambling to contact everyone personally with ALL the information and make sure they weren't using a possibly dangerous product. I really don't like how any of this has been handled.

I will say that I have some of Myron's shea. I have been using it personally since the end of July or first of August. I have made whipped shea with it and I use that daily on my itchy dry skin (including my face). I have not had any problems or issues with it.


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