Most people working with cosmetics are by now very familiar with Shea butter, a fat which is collected in the Sahel countries Review of Some Unconventional Tree Seed Oils from Africa for Application in Cosmetics Authors: Dr. Vijai K. S. Shukla, Mr. Hendrik A. C. Le Poole, International Cosmetic Science Centre ApS, Lystrup, Denmark. in Western Africa and now widely used as a key emollient in numerous cosmetics products. It is now hardly imaginable that until some 15 years ago Shea butter was hardly known. Yet Africa has much more to offer and there are countless other oils and fats with very interesting properties which have hardly been explored, let alone are being used in Western cosmetic products. In the following section we will make a selection of a few oils and butters which we believe have the potency to become important and regular constituents of Western cosmetics because of their undeniable benefits and, above all, increased availability due to better organised collection and quality control programmes.