SheaMoisture is an independent company.

The company was founded in Harlem in 1991 by Liberians Nyema Tubman and Richelieu Dennis (and his mother Mary Dennis). The company was inspired by Dennis' Sierra Leonean grandmother, Sofi Tucker, who sold shea butter at a village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912.

In 2017, Unilever acquired the parent company of Shea Moisture, Sundial Brands, for an undisclosed amount.