Chebe Butter for Hair Length Retention (soy, nut, coconut free)

• 1/2 cup raw cocoa butter

• 1/4 cup Jamaican Black Castor oil or raw coconut oil

• 1/4 cup avocado oil

• 2 level Tablespoons chebe powder

Chebe is a seed from Chad, that’s combined with ingredients like lavender croton, gum arabic, and other local products to create a medium-coarse powder that smells like a rich incense (but isn’t overpowering in the butter or in your hair), and is used on the hair strands to strengthen the strand and promote length retention. It’s especially good for fine, highly porous strands that are prone to breakage. You can get chebe powder on Amazon, or from natural hair product importers or sellers, just make sure that your product is from Chad. As with anything, allergy test the chebe powder before using it.

Melt all ingredients together in a double boiler, cover and cool in the refrigerator until set. Use a hand mixer a few times throughout the cooling process to mix the chebe through the butter mixture, as it’ll settle to the bottom. Hand mix one last time to whip before transferring to a wide-mouth jar for storage.

To use: apply to freshly cleansed, heavily damp (but not sopping wet) hair, focusing on the ends of the strands in particular. If you use the LOC method or a version of it, this can be used as the “cream layer” to seal in your moisturizing products.

For the best results, immediately after application use a steam bonnet, or wrap your head in a heating pad and steam your hair for 30 minutes to an hour to help the chebe butter penetrate the hair shaft.

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