She's better in shea butter.

May 28, 2007 8:56 AM

Is shea butter a distinctly feminine scent? I love the smell of it on a lady; is it unseemly on a man, or just as pleasant? Let's not get into any gender debates, I'm only curious because most often I smell it on women.
posted by Evstar to clothing, beauty, & fashion (17 comments total)

I wouldn't say so. It seems pretty unisex to me.
posted by Jess the Mess at 9:06 AM on May 28, 2007

Shea butter is a common component in moisturizers and body butters sold through both drugstores and shops like Lush and the Body Shop which is why you smell it on women more often. I personally think of it as a unisex smell.
posted by jadepearl at 9:14 AM on May 28, 2007

Shea butter? Gender-neutral.
posted by Melinika at 9:23 AM on May 28, 2007

Gender neutral, for sure, though I think maybe girls overall are more likely to product themselves up.
posted by dame at 9:32 AM on May 28, 2007

It's definitely a bit sweet, but the cool thing about scents is that they smell different on different people. I assume that your male physiology would make a neutral scent like Shea butter a bit more masculine.
posted by lunasol at 9:38 AM on May 28, 2007

If I smelled it in a mixed-gender crowd, I would probably assume it was being worn by a girl, but would not be terribly surprised to find otherwise.
posted by phrontist at 9:38 AM on May 28, 2007

Totally gender-neutral. To me it just smells clean, and makes me think there is skin nearby which I might like to touch. ;)
posted by arcticwoman at 9:43 AM on May 28, 2007

Gender-neutral. Like vanilla, and morning breath.
posted by tepidmonkey at 9:48 AM on May 28, 2007

I found an unscented lip-balm made with it, so gender neutral.
posted by brujita at 10:04 AM on May 28, 2007

The AskMeFi crowd would tell you it's gender neutral, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that 90% of the folks down at Associated Iron and Steel Workers #405 would beg to differ.
posted by voxpop at 10:07 AM on May 28, 2007 [5 favorites]

Sometimes it's what it's mixed with that makes it smell more feminine. It's definately neutral.
posted by 6:1 at 10:15 AM on May 28, 2007

Thanks, fellas.
posted by Evstar at 10:44 AM on May 28, 2007

I've made body butters and moisturizers with raw, unrefined shea butter, and I would say it's definitely a gender neutral scent. To be honest, I don't think it smells all that nice, and usually add a lot of scent to cover the shea smell. It smells too much like vegetable oil for me. *shrug*
posted by oneirodynia at 3:00 PM on May 28, 2007

Shea butter is a common component in moisturizers and body butters sold through both drugstores and shops like Lush and the Body Shop which is why you smell it on women more often. I personally think of it as a unisex smell.

I don't know of any unscented shea products from either LUSH or the Body Shop, so I very much doubt that one would be able to smell the shea butter in those products.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:05 PM on May 28, 2007

voxpop, I wouldn't be so sure.
posted by oats at 6:46 PM on May 28, 2007

What is shea butter?
posted by gum at 12:12 AM on May 29, 2007

Wiki
posted by gergtreble at 6:11 PM on May 29, 2007