What Is Murumuru Butter? What Are Its Benefits To Natural Hair?

Murumuru butter is extracted from the seeds of the astrocaryum murumuru. It is native to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.

Benefits of Murumuru Butter to Hair:

All butters that can be used for hair have more or less the same benefits. They:

• Nourish hair and the scalp with vitamins and minerals thereby helping to keep both healthier for longer. This nourishing feature makes oil great for treating dry, damaged and frizzy hair in hot oil treatments and for massaging the scalp. 
• Have moisture sealing properties thereby keeping hair softer for longer. However, all liquid oils (except coconut oil (which is actually solid anyway) and jojoba (which is actually a wax and not an oil)) can seal hair better than butters because they have a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fats – the type that cannot penetrate the hair cuticle.
• Penetrate the hair cuticle to fortify hair from the inside; they do this better than oils because they have a higher amount of saturated fats and monounsaturated fats.
  
• Help to boost hair’s shine but not as well as liquid oils.

Different butters perform each of these functions to a different degree. 

Good Substitutes For Murumuru Butter

In terms of the benefits, murumuru butter is very similar to coconut oil but apparently, structurally, it should provide better moisturizing & conditioning to hair than coconut oil. Apparently tucuma butter - one I haven't tried yet - also has similar properties to murmuru.

It has a high affinity for hair proteins and will definitely penetrate into your hair cuticle in the way coconut oil does. Being light in weight makes it a great ingredient for thin hair so I'll be using it in some of my "Adore Me" Hair Recipes. As a very conditioning oil it's also suitable for products designed for dry hair (see my "Feed Me" range of DIY Hair Recipes) and for weak, brittle or damaged hair (see my "Love Me" range of DIY Hair Recipes).

SATURATED c.85%

• Caprylic acid (2%)
  
• Capric (2%)
  
• Lauric acid (46%) 
  
• Myristic acid (26%) 
  
• Palmitic acid (6%)
  
• Stearic acid (3%)
  

MONOUNSATURATED c.12%

• Oleic acid 12%
  

POLYUNSATURATED c.3%

• Linoleic acid 3%
  

As a reminder the composition of coconut oil is 91% saturated fats, 6% monounsaturated fats and 3% polyunsaturated - so, very similar to murumuru butter.

It has a melting point of 25˚C to 37˚C and a shelf life of 1 to 2 years.

---

​Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:

• Neno Natural's Free DIY Hair Recipes

Ref:

• wikipedia.org/Astrocaryum_murumuru
• swiftcraftymonkey/few-other-butters
• exoticbuttersandoils/murumuru butter
• gardenofwisdom.com/butters

---