# Dudu-Shea ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Origin | Nigeria | | Headquarters | Hollenstedt (Lower Saxony, DE) - seat of brand owner/EU manufacturer of record Spa Vivent; the shea butter itself comes | | Owner | Spa Vivent Vertriebs GmbH | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Nigeria | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://www.spavivent.de/ | Dudu-Shea is a single-ingredient skincare brand: an unrefined, cold-pressed shea butter from Nigeria, sold as a ready-to-use natural cream for skin and hair. It is marketed in Europe by Spa Vivent Vertriebs GmbH, a natural-cosmetics importer based in Hollenstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany, which lists Dudu-Shea among the brands that belong to the company [2]. The brand's story is closely tied to that of its better-known stablemate, the Nigerian black soap Dudu-Osun, around which Spa Vivent was built. Dudu-Shea joined the German company's range in 2013 and has remained on sale since, in a fragrance-free PURE version and a scented FRESH version developed for European customers. ## Origin Dudu-Shea has no website of its own, and no founding year or founders are documented for the brand itself. Its documented history begins with its arrival in Europe. Spa Vivent's own timeline records that in 2013 the company "took Dudu-Shea into its range", describing it as an unrefined, cold-pressed shea butter from Nigeria [2]. That year is therefore the date the brand entered Spa Vivent's assortment, not a stated founding date, and this article does not treat it as one. The origin question also has two sides. The product and the brand are consistently described as coming from Nigeria; Spa Vivent's company portrait calls Dudu-Shea "an unrefined shea butter from Nigeria" [3]. The legal owner and the manufacturer named on the product, however, is the German company in Hollenstedt [6]. In short, the shea butter is Nigerian, while the business behind the brand in Europe is German. ## History & milestones Spa Vivent Vertriebs GmbH was founded in 2010. In a 2020 interview with the German sustainability magazine LifeVERDE, managing director Erica Ramsay said the company had focused from the start on sustainable, plastic-free and organically certified products, at a time when natural cosmetics were still a niche [9]. She described Dudu-Osun and Dudu-Shea as brands "from Africa, Nigeria" that she and the company had discovered while travelling, and said the traditional, centuries-old recipes behind them were what drew the company in [9]. Dudu-Osun, the company's first line, is a brand of African black soap, a type of soap that originated with the Yoruba people of Nigeria [8]. Dudu-Shea extended that Nigerian connection from soap to a leave-on product. Its addition in 2013 coincided with another step for the company: according to Spa Vivent, it exhibited for the first time that year at Ambiente, the consumer goods trade fair. Spa Vivent's portfolio continued to grow in the following years. By its own account, the company launched unicorn in 2018 as its first own brand, a line of self-developed natural cosmetics and plastic-free accessories. In the 2020 interview it also named Tanamera Tropical Spa, from Malaysia, among the brands it imported. At some point after the PURE cream was established, the company added the FRESH variant, which it says was conceived exclusively for the European market [5]. No date is given for that launch. ## Ownership Spa Vivent's own pages describe the relationship between the company and Dudu-Shea in two different ways. Its history page lists Dudu-Shea alongside Apeiron, Auromère and unicorn as brands that belong to the company, setting it apart from Dudu-Osun, for which Spa Vivent acts only as a distribution partner [2]. The company portrait on the same website, by contrast, says that Spa Vivent brings the Dudu-Shea natural cream to Europe as the exclusive distribution partner of Tropical Naturals Ltd. of Nigeria [3]. Both statements come from the company itself. The same history page also calls unicorn, launched in 2018, Spa Vivent's first own brand, which suggests that Dudu-Shea was not created as a Spa Vivent brand when it entered the range in 2013. Who produces the shea butter in Nigeria is not stated explicitly for Dudu-Shea. Spa Vivent's headquarters remain at the Hof Fuhrenkamp farm in Hollenstedt. ## Philosophy & positioning Dudu-Shea is built around one ingredient. The company describes it as natural, pure shea butter obtained in the traditional way from the nuts of the shea (karité) tree, and notes that shea butter has long been used as a rich care for dry, stressed skin. Spa Vivent says the butter is cold-pressed because this preserves its vitamins and nutrients, and it stresses glass packaging that protects the contents from UV light. That minimalism fits the wider philosophy Erica Ramsay set out in 2020. She argued that what worked "back then" still works today, and that nature offers enough effective plants and ingredients that nobody needs microplastics, parabens or silicones. In the same interview she placed Spa Vivent's products in the middle price segment of the organic sector. Spa Vivent also frames the brand in terms of its supply chain. The company says it keeps close contact with its shea butter project in Nigeria and visits it regularly, so that the people producing it are treated and paid fairly [5]. No independent audit of that project is documented. ## Products & innovation The range consists of two variants of the same cream, each sold in 100 ml and 15 ml sizes. - **Dudu-Shea Natur-Creme PURE** contains a single ingredient, shea butter (*Butyrospermum parkii*), which the company describes as 100 percent cold-pressed African shea butter [6]. Because it contains no fragrance of any kind, it keeps the natural nutty smell of the raw butter. - **Dudu-Shea FRESH** is the same shea butter cream with a fresh, natural fragrance blend added. Spa Vivent says this version was designed exclusively for the European market. The company presents the cream as an all-purpose product: it suggests it as a body and hand cream, for feet and lips, as a face cream and for hair care. Its product information also describes the butter as suitable for problem skin, naming eczema and acne-prone skin as examples; no clinical testing of the product is cited for those uses. According to Spa Vivent, the Dudu-Shea natural cream is certified organic by ICADA Natural and is vegan [5]. No other third-party certifications are documented for the brand. Spa Vivent notes that certification varies from product to product across its portfolio, and the awards and test results shown on its website concern its other brands rather than Dudu-Shea. Spa Vivent supplies its range through organic supermarkets, wholesalers, specialist natural-cosmetics shops, pharmacies, beauty salons, hotels and wellness spas, as well as selling directly to consumers [3]. ## Recognition Dudu-Shea has received little editorial attention, and no awards are documented for the brand. In 2016 the German product-testing community Pinkmelon reviewed the 15 ml pure shea butter. The tester described a very firm, crumbly texture that softens with body heat and a smoky, tart smell, and reported using it daily as a lip balm [10]. The brand was also named in LifeVERDE's 2020 interview with Spa Vivent's managing director, cited above. ## Current status Dudu-Shea is active. As of October 2026, the 100 ml PURE cream was listed as available for immediate delivery in Spa Vivent's online shop, and the company's current history page, which covers events up to 2023, still lists Dudu-Shea among its brands. The brand continues to be sold by Spa Vivent through retail, professional and direct channels. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2013 | Dudu-Shea added to Spa Vivent's range (same year Spa Vivent first exhibited at the Ambiente consumer goods fair) | https://www.spavivent.de/Historie | | — | Dudu-Shea FRESH variant (with added fragrance) created exclusively for the European market; year not stated | https://spavivent.de/dudu-shea-pure-und-fresh | ## Certifications {#belagg-certifications} - **Icada Natural** — “Die Dudu Shea Natur Creme ist durch ICADA Natural biozertifiziert und selbstverständlich vegan.” — https://spavivent.de/dudu-shea-pure-und-fresh ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Dudu-Shea® Natur-Creme PURE (100 ml / 15 ml) - pure African shea butter** — Bestandteile: 100% kaltgepresste afrikanische Sheabutter — https://www.spavivent.de/Dudu-Shea-100ml-reine-afrikanische-Sheabutter-Natur-Creme_1 - **Dudu-Shea® FRESH - shea butter natural cream with added fragrance** — Die Variante Dudu-Shea® FRESH wurde exklusiv für den europäischen Markt konzipiert: die beliebte Natur-Creme ist in der Variante FRESH mit einer natürlichen, frischen Duftkomposition erhältlich. — https://spavivent.de/dudu-shea-pure-und-fresh ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} Shea butter (Butyrospermum parkii), unrefined, cold-pressed Source: https://www.spavivent.de/Dudu-Shea-100ml-reine-afrikanische-Sheabutter-Natur-Creme_1 ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **LifeVERDE (German sustainability magazine)** (2020) — Interview with Spa Vivent managing director Erica Ramsay (18.08.2020) naming Dudu Osun and Dudu Shea as brands from Nigeria that Spa Vivent imports and discovered while travelling. — https://www.lifeverde.de/nachhaltigkeitsmagazin/gruene-wirtschaft/entdeckt-auf-reisen-naturkosmetik-mit-tradition-und-grosser-wirkung - **Pinkmelon (German product-test community/blog)** (2016) — Product test of the 15 ml pure shea butter (16 May 2016): very firm, crumbly texture that softens with body heat; smoky, tart smell; reviewer uses it daily as lip care. — https://www.pinkmelon.de/test/pflege-2/body/spezialpflege-7/dudu-shea-reine-afrikanische-sheabutter.html ## Sources 2. (T1) https://www.spavivent.de/Historie 3. (T2) https://www.spavivent.de/Wer-sind-wir 5. (T2) https://spavivent.de/dudu-shea-pure-und-fresh 6. (T2) https://www.spavivent.de/Dudu-Shea-100ml-reine-afrikanische-Sheabutter-Natur-Creme_1 8. (T3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudu-Osun 9. (T3) https://www.lifeverde.de/nachhaltigkeitsmagazin/gruene-wirtschaft/entdeckt-auf-reisen-naturkosmetik-mit-tradition-und-grosser-wirkung 10. (T3) https://www.pinkmelon.de/test/pflege-2/body/spezialpflege-7/dudu-shea-reine-afrikanische-sheabutter.html --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-13 Please cite with a link to the article URL.