Shea Butter (Butyrospermum Parkii) INCI and CAS for Notifications

Shea butter looks like the simplest ingredient in your whole formula. One butter, one plant, done. Then you go to fill in the notification form and realize there are actually a couple of ways this could be listed, and picking the wrong one is the kind of small error that causes back and forth with a reviewer later.

The INCI name itself

The standardized INCI name for shea butter is Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter. That is the botanical genus and species (Butyrospermum parkii is the shea tree) followed by the common name in parentheses and the ingredient form. This is the name that goes on your Cosmetic Notification Form and, in most markets, on the retail label itself, not "Shea Butter" alone and not a trade name a supplier might use on their spec sheet.

Some older supplier documentation uses "Vitellaria paradoxa," which is a taxonomic synonym for the same tree used in some botanical databases. If your supplier's paperwork uses that name, do not panic. It refers to the same species, but the INCI naming convention still calls for Butyrospermum Parkii on your filing.

CAS number

Shea butter carries the CAS number 91080-23-8. This is worth double-checking against your supplier's certificate of analysis, because botanical extracts sometimes carry more than one registered CAS number depending on how the extract or butter is prepared, and some botanical materials have no CAS number at all. Shea butter does have one, so there is no excuse for leaving that field blank on a filing.

Refined versus unrefined, and why it matters

This is where things get slightly more nuanced. "Refined" shea butter has gone through a deodorizing and bleaching process that removes most of its natural color and characteristic nutty smell. "Unrefined" or "raw" shea butter retains more of its natural color, scent, and unsaponifiable fraction (the vitamin-rich portion that gives shea its reputation for skin conditioning).

Both refined and unrefined shea butter use the same INCI name, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, and the same CAS number. The difference between them is a processing detail, not a different substance requiring a different name on your filing. Where it does matter:

• Marketing and formulation: unrefined shea is often marketed for its natural, minimally processed positioning, and it can behave slightly differently in a formula (softer, sometimes grainier without proper tempering).
• Documentation: your supplier's certificate of analysis should specify which grade you are using, and you should keep that on file even though the INCI listing does not change.
• Any additional processing: if your supplier has further modified the butter (esterified, fractionated, or otherwise chemically altered it), that could shift it to a different INCI name entirely, since the name describes the actual substance, not just "shea butter with some steps applied."

A quick reference

Attribute	Value
INCI name	Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter
Common botanical synonym	Vitellaria paradoxa (same species)
CAS number	91080-23-8
Typical function	Emollient, skin conditioning agent
Refined vs unrefined	Same INCI/CAS, processing detail only

What this looks like on the notification

On a Cosmetic Notification Form, you list Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter along with its concentration or concentration range in the finished product, the same as any other ingredient. If shea butter arrives to you already blended into a supplier's proprietary emollient complex rather than as a standalone material, remember to expand that blend into its components: figure out what percentage of the blend is actually shea butter, then multiply that by how much of the blend you used in your formula, so the concentration you declare reflects the real amount of shea in the finished product, not the amount of the blend.

Getting a supplier's certificate of analysis for whichever grade of shea you use is worth doing before you file, not after a reviewer asks a follow-up question. Cosmetic Comply matches ingredients like this to their correct INCI name and CAS number automatically, expands supplier blends into their real percentages, and flags anything that looks off before the filing goes out, which is a small thing until it saves you a resubmission.