Tallow, the magical cure all skin care

Every few years there is a new skincare product trend that seems too good to be true. So, when tallow was being talked about as the ultimate moisturizer due to its hydrating benefits and fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K I was elated. I thought how perfect can this be? Here I have a byproduct from my farm that can be used to help bring in more income and offer a truly clean skin care product for our customers.

Tallow is the rendered fat from cattle and when we started to sell beef in 2021, I was hoping to find a market for the fat. I personally am a fan of cooking with animal fats, but we would hardly put a dent in our inventory as one steer provides enough fat for our family to cook with for over a year. Stay tuned for next month when I talk about cooking with tallow, as that deserves its own post.

A while back I read about a study that was conducted where experts on a certain topic were put in a room together and asked questions about their expertise. The catch was some of the “experts” were actually not experts. When the questions were done the actual expects said “I don’t know” much more frequently than those who were pretending to be experts. Ever since I have been very skeptical of any information where it seems too good to be true, as true experts discuss the pros and cons. The tallow trend is a great example, influencers and companies trying to sell you their tallow-based product spew nothing but positive information regarding how tallow is the perfect skin care product. I fell for this hard last year and have spent countless hours reading about the benefits of tallow and even crafting my own skin care moisturizer products. Since I wasn’t coming across many negative facts, I started to wonder what was being excluded or what simply wasn’t true. I do contain some knowledge regarding skin care as I have my cosmetology license and was always fascinated by the science of skin care on a molecular level. Due to this basic understanding, it made sense what I was learning about the benefits of tallow. It is hypoallergenic due to the lack of scent and its sustainability is much higher than other products as it is considered a by-product and the lack of market means it was tossed. Of course knowing where tallow comes from is important as the cows need to be grass fed and not come from a commercial operation where they are grain finished.

I kept seeing time and time again how tallow is a monosaturated fat and high in oleic acid making it great for your skin barrier. If only it were that simple or at least true. Let’s first talk about oleic acid, more commonly referred to as omegas or fatty acid. Oleic acid is a omega-9 fatty acid that your body does naturally produce and is found in sebum, the oil that is produced from glands attached to your hair follicles. This relation with our own natural oils is the reason it absorbs so efficiently into our skin and why you will see it advertised as mimicking the composition of our own natural oils. It is also rich in antioxidants which helps slow the signs of aging skin. IT helps calm and smooth the skin with inflammatory properties and can actually help conditions such as eczema, rosacea and psoriasis. This is where most articles stop.

NOT ALL SKIN IS THE SAME!!!!!!!!

If it was then then the global skincare market would not be a worth over 110 BILLION DOLLARS! Due to this, oleic acid can harm the skin barrier for some and actually cause eczema and rosacea. One example I often refer to when thinking about how differently people can react is during COVID-19, when families who caught the virus experienced vastly different symptoms. Some individuals showed no symptoms at all, while others were hospitalized due to severe illness. Skin care will never be a one size fits all and our tallow products might not be right for you. Learning the cons of tallow has not deterred my borderline obsesion with its sustianablity and wide range of product use. It has helped me narrow down the type of products we will focus on.

Bar Soap

Bar soap has been lifechanging for me. I have always dealt with itchy skin. At one point I went to and energy reader who helps determine the cause of health issues, she found that my skin issues were caused by a sensitivity to bacteria. I am horribly itchy after showering if I use anything other that tallow soap. If her reading was correct than the antibacterial componante of tallow would be why I don’t itch as badly. Don’t worry, I won’t be a hypocrite and end this paragraph here. The downfall to any bar soap is the pH, which is high in comparison to our skin. Our skin’s pH falls in the 4.5 to 5.5 range while bar soap sits at 9-10. This can do some harm to our pH balanced skin barrier and cause irritation. Luckily this is why we have toners. If you are someone who wants to use bar soap but become irritated, then an application of 1:2 ACV/water solution after showing can help.

This is the main product we will do producing for skin care for a while. I am still working on lotions but it will be hair care products that we launch next as soon as I get the proper pH balance I am looking for with a mix of a few ingredients.

Please let me know what you think I have turned on comments for my blogs and would LOVE feedback.

Cheers,

Farmher Tiffany