Mango Butter vs. Shea Butter – Which Butter to Use in Your Next DIY Beauty Product and Why!
If you are just getting started with DIY beauty products, you may see a lot of recipes call for mango butter or shea butter. Why?
What do these butters do for your body? And which one is best, mango butter or shea butter?
Most importantly, if you are out of one, can you substitute it with the other? These are all great questions!
Let’s sort it all out so that you can grab the better butter and get busy making your next hair, skin, or bath and body product!
This post contains affiliate links. You can learn more here.
Pin this image for later!
What is the Difference between Shea Butter and Mango Butter?
Shea butter and mango butter are both used in many DIY home beauty recipes for soaps, lotions, lip balms, hair products, and pretty much any other moisturizing home beauty recipe.
This is because both body butters are great for your skin!
They are both loaded with Vitamins A and E. Vitamin E helps to relieve itchiness, redness, and inflammation of your skin. Vitamin A prevents breakouts and helps your skin to heal.
They both moisturize, hydrate, and nourish your skin better than any store-bought body lotions can. And you can use either body butter every day, for smoother, softer, healthier skin.
But what is the difference between the two? Well, for starters, shea butter and mango butter have different textures.
Shea butter is firmer than mango butter and has a slightly grainier texture. Mango butter tends to be creamier, with a smoother texture. It has a more luxurious feel to it, but shea butter is more widely available.
And when you purchase the same amounts of shea butter and mango butter for your recipes, shea butter will actually make more than mango butter does, making shea butter more cost-effective.
But each body butter also has its own distinct scent, as well.
If you buy unrefined shea butter, it has a slightly nuttier, smokier smell than mango butter. It can be difficult to use unrefined shea butter in your DIY recipes because that smell may still linger, even if you use essential oils to scent your beauty product.
Refined shea butter has no smell, however. But when you refine shea butter, you also lose some of its nutrients.
Mango butter has a slightly fruity scent, which can also make it hard to flavor your DIY recipes. I mostly use refined shea butter for my DIY recipes because it has no scent, and is easy to find. Both are great, however! They can be used interchangeably.
What is Shea Butter?
Shea butter comes from fat that is extracted from the seeds of the African Shea Tree.
It is high in Vitamins A, E, and F. Vitamin F reduces inflammation and helps to regulate healthy cell function. It also keeps your skin from losing water.
Shea butter also boosts your collagen production, which helps you fight aging and wrinkles (if you are worried about that yet!) Collagen is a protein in your bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. It holds the body’s cells together and gives them their strength and elasticity.
Shea butter is great for your skin!
It doesn’t clog your pores or give you acne, either. So, you can use shea butter on your face with no worries. It’s especially good for oily skin.
My favorite kind of shea butter is by Now Solutions. This little tub will last me years! You can get your own tub below!
What is Mango Butter?
Mango butter comes from….you guessed it – a tropical Mango tree! Mango butter is made by cold-pressing the pulp found inside the seeds of the mango fruit.
Mango butter is rich in antioxidants, Vitamins A, E, C, and B6, folate (also known as Vitamin B9 or folic acid), and many minerals, such as iron, potassium, and magnesium.
Vitamin C slows the aging process, improves the appearance of wrinkles, dark spots, and acne, and prevents sun damage. Vitamin B6 supports supple skin and lips. If you lack Vitamin B, you’ll have dry, cracked skin and chapped lips.
Folate increases hydration by maintaining the skin barrier and adequate collagen production. Iron minimizes the appearance of bruises, potassium makes your skin feel soft, and magnesium helps your skin’s overall appearance.
Mango butter also contains more fatty acids than shea butter does, which improves the overall appearance of your skin and promotes healthy cell function as well.
Mango butter is great for acne-prone skin. In fact, mango butter is good for nearly all skin types. It is an intense moisturizer that actually slows down the degeneration of your skin cells, leaving you with a youthful, healthy glow.
You can buy my personal favorite mango butter below!
Which is Better for the Skin – Shea Butter or Mango Butter?
Now that is the question of the day, isn’t it? Both mango butter and shea butter are great for your skin.
Neither will clog pores, and both help with skin dryness, wrinkles, and acne. Both hydrate, moisturize and nourish your skin. And you can use both body butters on your skin, face, lips, and hair.
Which body butter you choose will depend on what you are using it for, and what your skin type is.
Shea butter has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. It can be used to treat psoriasis, eczema, rashes, blackheads, and whiteheads. It easily removes dead skin cells without harming your skin.
But shea butter also aids in the production of collagen and has firming properties, making it a great choice for fighting wrinkles, stretch marks, and scarring.
Mango butter also helps with stretch marks, scarring, and wrinkling, though, by slowing down cell degeneration and encouraging cell rejuvenation. And it also has antibacterial qualities, stopping bacteria from entering your skin pores.
Both body butters are good for your skin!
Benefits of Shea Butter for Skin
Not only does shea butter moisturize your skin, but it also heals itchy, dry skin. Shea butter acts as a barrier to lock in moisture and soothe your skin. It’s great for rashes, psoriasis, and eczema.
But it also has antibacterial and healing properties, so it’s awesome for acne. And it stimulates collagen production, which fights stretch marks and wrinkles, giving you young, healthy-looking skin.
Plus, shea butter actually protects your skin from sun exposure! So, if you are making a DIY sunscreen, you may want to use shea butter instead of mango butter.
If you have a nut allergy, you may want to talk to your doctor before trying shea butter. A shea tree is a nut tree, after all.
Benefits of Mango Butter for Skin
Mango butter is rich in antioxidants and loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids. It is awesome for your skin too!
Mango butter keeps your skin supple, soft, healthy, and young, by encouraging constant cell rejuvenation. It can soothe dry, itchy skin, and treat eczema as well. It even calms the itch of those pesky bug bites!
Mango butter doesn’t prevent sunburn, like shea butter does, but it is great for treating sunburn.
If you are allergic to mango fruit, you may want to talk to your doctor or test mango butter on a small area first, before using it. It typically does not cause an allergic reaction, but you just never know.
Which Body Butter is Best for Dry Skin?
They are both great!
Mango butter easily absorbs into the skin to repair it from the inside out, soothing and rejuvenating the skin cells.
But shea butter is the ultimate moisturizer and can heal dry skin, eczema, and psoriasis.
You can use either body butter to heal your dry skin.
Which is Better for the Face – Mango Butter or Shea Butter?
Again, they are both great for the face!
They both keep from clogging your pores and treat acne. They both fight aging and wrinkles, and they both rejuvenate your skin, giving you a healthy, youthful glow.
But shea butter might be a better choice for your DIY face cleanser.
It is better for oily and acne-prone skin. It also treats blackheads, whiteheads, and rashes.
And it can protect you from the sun, whereas mango butter cannot.
Plus, shea butter can remove makeup!
Which Butter is Best for Wrinkles?
Again, both shea butter and mango butter are great for preventing wrinkles!
There is no one real contender here. They both have anti-aging properties. They just work in slightly different ways.
Shea butter stimulates collagen production, promotes cell renewal, and increases blood circulation.
Mango butter acts as a protective layer on dry areas, stops bacteria from entering your pores, and repairs and rejuvenates your skin.
The end result is the same: healthy, youthful skin.
Which Butter is Best for Glowing Skin?
I’m starting to feel like a broken record here, but again, both body butters are great for giving your skin a healthy glow! You can use either one.
But mango butter does come out on top this time.
Mango butter has more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fatty acids than shea butter does. These nutrients all slow down the aging process, by reducing the appearance of wrinkles, dark spots, bruises, and acne.
But they also repair your skin, from the inside out.
If you can get your hands on both, go with mango butter. It makes your skin feel soft and supple, giving you that radiant, youthful glow.
Is Mango Butter or Shea Butter Better for Eczema?
Unrefined shea butter is probably the best to treat your eczema. It is loaded with Vitamins A, E, and F, and is used to treat psoriasis and eczema.
But unrefined shea butter has a nutty and woody smell to it, which can often still be picked up, even with essential oils masking it.
If you refine the shea butter, however, it removes the nutty scent, but it also removes most of the natural healing properties.
So, if you don’t like that nutty smell, then it’s best to go with mango butter because essential oils have a hard time covering it up. The mango butter is not quite as good, but it does have antioxidants, which nourish your skin.
It also has some healing and anti-inflammatory properties, too, helping to relieve the itch.
Mango Butter vs Shea Butter in Soap
Although you can use both body butters in your DIY soap recipe, shea butter is the better choice.
It is a harder body butter, adding to the firmness of your soap bar. With its soft, creamy texture, mango butter just doesn’t firm up quite as well.
Shea butter also has antibacterial qualities, which makes it a great choice for both, soap, and facial cleanser. It doesn’t clog your pores and removes your dead skin cells without damaging the rest of your skin.
Shea butter also treats acne, blackheads, and whiteheads – and not just on your face, either. It reduces the inflammation of acne, psoriasis, and eczema.
Although I wouldn’t use a soap bar as sunscreen, adding shea butter to your DIY soap recipe can help protect your skin from the sun, in addition to sunscreen.
So, in my opinion, shea butter does come out on top this time, being the best for your at-home soap recipe.
Mango Butter vs Shea Butter for Deodorant
Although you can use both, shea butter and mango butter, in your DIY deodorant recipe, mango butter is the better choice.
Mango butter can actually kill skin infections, keeping your armpit free of harmful bacteria and those pesky little pimples.
Mango butter is also a very smooth, creamy body butter. It’ll go on nicer than shea butter will.
Mango Butter vs Shea Butter for Hair
Once again, both mango butter and shea butter are great choices here! They both are awesome in your DIY shampoos and conditioners.
Mango butter is easily turned into an oil, to add to your hair care products. It has a light texture and is not greasy.
And the fatty acids in mango butter are very nourishing, protecting your hair from breakage. It also protects your scalp from irritation and dry, flaky skin.
If you already have dry, irritated skin, shea butter is great for treating dandruff. It retains moisture on your head and prevents dry scalp.
It also prevents hair breakage, by nourishing your hair and making it stronger.
So, you really could use either body butter for your at-home hair care routine!
Which Natural Butter is Best for Skin?
You really can use either body butter for your DIY beauty products. They both are great at moisturizing your skin, preventing wrinkles, and giving you that healthy, youthful glow.
Which body butter you choose will depend on what recipe you are using it for, and what your skin condition is.
If you suffer from dry skin, eczema, or psoriasis, you might go with shea butter. It is better at healing dry skin than mango butter.
Shea butter is also the better choice for soap bars and facial washes because it is anti-bacterial and has healing properties.
If nothing else, try them both out! Play around a bit with both, mango butter and shea butter, and see which one works best for your skin.
I personally use shea butter the most. It is the most widely available, and the refined version has no scent, while mango butter does have a slight, fruity scent.
But the choice is yours!
Final Thoughts on Mango Butter vs. Shea Butter
Both, mango butter and shea butter are excellent body butters for your DIY skincare routine. Mango butter and shea butter have similar consistencies and provide similar benefits to your skin, so you can easily substitute one for the other in your recipe.
Shea butter, however, is best for treating eczema, psoriasis, and dry skin. It is anti-bacterial, so it is also best in facial cleansers and soaps. Plus, shea butter helps to protect your skin from sunburn and removes makeup!
Mango butter is the better choice for deodorants, though. And although they both can leave your skin glowing, mango butter can give you a more radiant, youthful look.
And while mango butter won’t protect your skin from sun exposure, it will treat it, if you do get a sunburn!
When choosing a body butter, just remember that only refined shea butter is scent-free. Unrefined shea butter has a nutty, smokey smell, and mango butter has a slightly fruity smell. You’ll need to keep this in mind if you are adding essential oils to your recipe.
Also, mango butter has a creamier, more luxurious texture than shea butter. If you want to pamper yourself, you might go with mango butter. Shea butter is more cost-effective, though.
The choice is yours!
Let me know which one you tried in the comments below, and what you thought!
Related to Mango Butter vs. Shea Butter
Unbiased REVIVE Essential Oils Review (Read This Before You Buy!)
Get High-Quality Essential Oils that Won’t Cost an Arm and a Leg | Rocky Mountain Oils Review!
Natural Preservatives in Skin Care | Do We Really Need Them?
Using Essential Oils Safely | Here’s Everything You Need to Know
A Quick Guide to Starting a Natural Skin Care Routine for Beginners