Home› Our Story

Our Story

The Aviela Story

"You wouldn’t expect a holiday to change your life, but it happened to my family in 2007 when a visit to my home country, Ghana in West Africa, actually changed two lives.

My name is Patricia Monney and, at the time my daughter, Charissa, was two years old but still hadn’t taken her first steps because of a stiff ankle that simply wouldn’t support her weight.

Our GP at home recommended that we allow the issue to resolve itself but, whilst on that Ghana holiday, a respected doctor suggested I massage unrefined Shea Butter into the ankle several times a day. It was hard to believe that this simple, everyday vegetable extract contained the kind of powers that would make a difference but, since it couldn’t do any harm, I duly massaged her ankle for a couple of minutes, three or four times a day. It took barely four days for Charissa to feel comfortable enough to put her weight on her foot. A day or so after that, she took those first precious steps.

While the massaging action itself no doubt played a role, ‘unrefined’ Shea Butter is widely known to have natural anti-inflammatory properties, and these clearly helped to make her ankle more comfortable.

It was obvious that the ingredient was worth investigating further, so I began researching what I now know to be ‘nature’s miracle product’. To cut a long story short, I found my life’s passion and created Aviela Skincare, a range of all-natural skincare products, each containing high concentrations of 100% pure, highest grade, unrefined Shea Butter."

Why Unrefined Shea Butter

Aviela is a natural skincare range using ethically sourced, 100% PURE, highest grade, UNREFINED Shea Butter as the hero ingredient. By only using the highest grade, unrefined hero ingredients, we retain the beneficial properties of these ingredients as the valuable minerals, proteins and essential fatty acids have not been compromised through any refining process.

Transforming skin through the raw power of nature, Transforming lives by supporting the communities that craft our hero ingredients

From raw, unrefined, key ingredients which help give our products the efficacy to transform the skin; to delicate, light and airy textures; each product has been carefully crafted to deliver absolute pleasure. At the heart of all of our products is our hero ingredient, highest grade, unrefined Shea Butter, which we ethically source directly from the fields of Northern Ghana from a Women’s Cooperative that is very close to our heart.

Find Out More

A-vee-el-ah

Aviela is a very dynamic word used by the Dagara people from the Northern part of Ghana (where Patricia comes from). It generally has a positive connotation to mean something ‘Good’ or ‘Nice’ or ‘Beautiful’.

What Makes Aviela Unique

The dense, hard and often greasy texture of raw, unrefined Shea Butter can make it a difficult ingredient and product to work with. For this reason, unrefined Shea Butter is often melted and refined to make it soft enough for easy use. However, the heat required to melt the Shea Butter can compromise its valuable minerals, proteins and essential fatty acids, resulting in some of its beneficial properties being lost.

After many months of trial and error, the solution for us came in the form of Patricia's kitchen mixer - this gave the Shea Butter a light and airy texture, without the need for heat, whilst also reducing the greasiness associated with standard unrefined Shea Butter.

Today, all Aviela's products have light whipped textures, enabling them to melt smoothly and effortlessly into the skin, whilst maintaining the valuable minerals, proteins and essential fatty acids found in raw, unrefined Shea Butter.