Few celebrities are as relatable as Hilary Duff. Maybe it was watching her grow up as Lizzie McGuire, bopping as tweens to her album Metamorphosis, or seeing her brilliantly segue into an adult role on Younger (bated breath for the Duff-focused spinoff). The same charm Duff projects on screen carries over to her real-life presence, both on the red carpet and in her intimate, unfiltered Instagram posts.
After announcing she was expecting her third child and second with partner Matthew Koma in late October, Duff’s streak of posts normalizing the nitty-gritty of pregnancy continued. While discussing her thoughts on the highs and lows of her pregnancy body and the fashion changes it requires, Duff revealed that one product in specific is saving her itchy stomach from New York’s dry winter — a 100 percent pure shea body butter.
The one that Duff spotlit in yesterday’s post came from brand Sun Potion, but unsurprisingly, it’s sold out almost everywhere. Fortunately, shea butter is both highly effective and ubiquitous in the skincare world. The trick is to look for a product that features the butter either on its own or as one of only a handful of ingredients, so that it’s moisturizing power isn’t too diluted.
Options like Sky Organics’ 100 percent Pure Unrefined Raw African Shea Butter are ideal, as the cream’s 4,206 five-star Amazon ratings attest that it’s rich, smooth, and melts into your skin without resistance. Shoppers write that, just as Duff mentioned, it “saves” their dry winter skin in a single day, and works just as well to keep their hair moisturized.
Buy It! Sky Organics 100% Pure Unrefined Raw African Shea Butter, $17 (Orig. $25); amazon.com
Sky Organics’ butter is currently marked down 32 percent to $17, but it faces stiff competition from NOW Solutions’ likewise 100 percent shea butter, which is typically $17 but currently on sale at a 41 percent discount for $10. NOW’s butter brings in 995 five-star ratings, and Duff’s wisdom again comes through: One shopper writes that they used it for two pregnancies, and have no stretch marks from either — and it’s not thanks to genetics.
“I am not one of those lucky people who just doesn’t get stretch marks,” the reviewer writes. “I have lots of stretch marks on my butt and outer thighs from gaining and losing weight in my early 20s. This has made my old stretch marks harder to see, and prevented me from getting any new ones.” They continue: “I went from 116 pounds to 150 my first pregnancy, and still did not get a single mark on my stomach. I am a firm believer that this shea butter is the reason why!”
Buy It! NOW Solutions Shea Butter, $6 (Orig. $10); amazon.com
Duff’s not the only celebrity to reach for shea butter. Leighton Meester once said she incorporates it into her DIY body lotion, while Lupita Nyong'o said in 2018 that pure shea butter “does wonders” for her hair. If you want to follow in their footsteps and whip up your own creation, 6,831 Amazon shoppers can’t speak highly enough of ordering a $10 pound of the butter and letting your creativity run wild for personalized holiday bath melts. If that sounds intimidating and you just want to dip your toe in shea butter before trying the big leagues, Credo has a cute $12 tin of it that shoppers love for saving dry, cracked hands.
Whatever your decision, you can trust Duff won’t steer you wrong. And if you’re as excited for the potential Lizzie McGuire reboot as we are, it really feels like a lucky ritual to channel her while rubbing on some shea butter and singing the theme song under your breath. If you have a hairbrush on hand for lip-syncing and a thirst to expose Paolo, all the better.
Buy It! Eu’Genia Unscented Shea Butter, $12; credo.com
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