Tallow skincare has become really popular in the last few years, and for good reason!
Animal fat contains fat soluble vitamins that are very close in make up to our own human oils. People are finding that alcohol based lotions are causing dry skin and rashes. Fragrances are linked to hormone disruption and in my experience, fragrances dry my skin out and give me body aches. Seed oils seem to sit on the skin and never absorb properly, at least in my experience. But tallow, it absorbs beautifully and makes a visible difference in skin.
Animal fat seems to be solving a lot of people’s skin issues. I would suggest too that when we use animal fats as a moisturizer we are absorbing the nutrients too.
From my own experience, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer 12 years ago and I set out on a journey to clean up my life, inside and out. I was trying all the health store lotions to no avail. I was learning the importance of cooking with butter and tallow and how seed oils were linked to inflammation when I got the idea to just use some of that rendered tallow right on my rashy red face. It seemed to work overnight and from there I began soaking up all the animal based skincare ideas.
Today I have to make all of my skincare as I’m very sensitive due to my thyroid. I react with rashes on my neck and migraines, among other issues.
I also love that I’m using a multipurpose ingredient such as tallow. One doesn’t really need to do anything special with it, if you cook with tallow simply put some in a jar and rub it on your face. But if you’re wanting something a little more decadent, you might enjoy making this light, fluffy whipped tallow balm.
I used to make and sell this whipped tallow balm and it was my most requested product. I called it the Whipped Tallow Beauty Balm which is a mouthful but it makes your skin glow.
Today I’m sharing my recipe here. This makes a lovely everyday moisturizer, or whip up a batch and pipe into pretty jars as gifts! I hope you enjoy.
Ingredients
These are the basic ingredients in this recipe. The added liquid oils help to create the whipped texture and the beeswax holds the “shape”. Adding a couple of drops of raw honey at the end feeds the healthy microbiome of the skin. Keeping a healthy skin barrier keeps out pathogens and aids in repair.
A few notes about the ingredients: my original recipe I use organic olive oil but avocado oil is a good substitute if you don’t have any on hand. Jojoba oil can be a bit pricey so if you want to stick with basic ingredients that you might already keep on hand as staples, you can certainly omit the jojoba oil and use olive or avocado oil. Castor oil is a wonderful oil for smoothing and soothing the skin, but again, you can omit and just use olive or avocado oil in its place too.
In this recipe I’m using a mix of sheep fat and beef tallow because currently my freezer is full of sheep fat I need to use up, lard works too but the end result is a bit more liquidy /runny.
I am also adding full spectrum vitamin E Oil, because I find it soothing. There is a lot of debate out there that full spectrum vitamin e oil is also a preservative, some say yes, some say no. I used it and have never had this product spoil. The longest I’ve had it on my shelf has been about 6 months without issue. beyond that, I can’t say as we use it up fairly quickly in our household.
When it comes to storage, I use glass jars and I wipe my glass jars out with isopropyl alcohol to disinfect them and make sure they’re completely dry. The cleaner/ dryer your jar, the more shelf stable your product will be. I also store it out of sunlight in my bathroom. Better yet, a cool dry place, but I use mine daily so I leave it on my counter and out of sunlight light.
Essential oils, my original recipe I use geranium and frankincense, however I’m currently pregnant and most smells are bothering me so I didn’t add them to this batch. You can use what ever oils you like or keep it scent free. I have read to be careful regarding citrus oils as they can cause skin sensitivity in the sun. In this recipe I did add some vanilla extract because I’m enjoying that scent and I wanted to try to cover the sheep fat scent. It wasn’t strong but it did produce a slight warm vanilla scent.
Ok, I think that’s it for the preliminary information, ha ha, let’s get started on the recipe.
Whipped Tallow Beauty Balm Recipe
2 cups Tallow
1 Tablespoon Beeswax
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Castor Oil
1 Tablespoon Jojoba Oil
1 Teaspoon Full Spectrum Vitamin E Oil
2 Drops of Honey
Essential of choice
Begin by melting the beeswax and tallow together. You can buy beeswax pellets which makes for easier measuring. I buy bees wax in bulk from a farm in Canada. It’s micro filtered so I’m not getting any sediment in it and it’s so fragrant. It is a bit tedious cutting it and afterwards you want to gently heat your knife blade and then carefully wipe with a paper towel.
I love being a paper free kitchen but there are areas I use paper towel. Cleaning beeswax off utensils being one good reason so as not to clog my sink pipes or dish washer. Use a paper towel to wipe out your tallow from your measuring cup too, for the same reasons.
Here’s my sheep fat. A few months ago I just rendered it and poured it into silicone molds. Once it was set up, I popped my little sheep fat blocks into a ziplock bag and into the freezer. I’m estimating about one cup here; so my recipe will be half beef tallow, half sheep fat. You can use all beef tallow.
Using a double boiler method, I just fill a stock pot with water and place my kitchen aid bowl on top of that to melt my oils.
Once my tallow and beeswax have melted, carefully remove the kitchen aid bowl from the steamy hot pot. Carefully.
Now add your liquid oils and stir. I used one tablespoon of each but again, you can just keep it simple and use three tablespoons of olive oil.
If you live in the arctic like me, well, remote northern Alberta, you can place your bowl outside if it’s winter to allow the oils to set up. Likewise, just place in the freezer until the oils have set up.
The specks in my set up oils are from the vanilla extract which whipped in nicely.
If your oils whips up slightly translucent looking and runny, just pop the bowl back in your freezer for a few minutes.
Once the oils are set up enough they should whip into stiffer peaks. Scraping the sides of the bowl is necessary as chunks of fat will solidify to the edge of the cold bowl and need to be whipped.
Once you have a good consistency it’s time to add the vitamin e oil, honey and essential oils. I just estimate two drops from a squeeze bottle of honey. If I have local honey or honey in a jar, I just eye ball a bit off a spoon.
I added some more vanilla extract to see if I could get more scent, it worked slightly and whipped in very well.
You can pipe or scoop this into jars. It certainly looks prettier if you pipe it in, it’s neater too. To pipe it, simply scoop the whipped balm into a large ziplock bag, cut a small corner and squeeze neatly into the jars. For today, I didn’t feel like doing that so I just scooped it into my sanitized jars.
Sell it, gift it, use it for you.
I hope you try it and love it!
Warmest Blessings,
Ashley