A Nourishing, Traditional Skin Moisturizer Your Whole Family Can Use
Quick Answer
Tallow balm is a traditional skin moisturizer made from grass-fed beef tallow, a liquid oil like olive oil, and optional essential oils. To make it: melt 1 cup tallow, stir in 1/4 cup olive oil and 48 drops of essential oils, then pour into a glass jar to set solid or whip until fluffy. Total time is about 40 minutes, and it keeps at room temperature for months.
What is tallow?
Tallow is rendered beef fat, primarily from suet, that has been used for cooking and skin care for thousands of years. Grass-fed tallow is rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and its fatty acid profile is remarkably similar to human skin cells, which is why it absorbs so beautifully and nourishes so deeply.
How to make tallow balm
Whipped or solid, tallow balm is a skin healing miracle you won’t want to be without. It might seem kind of strange at first to use something like beef fat on your skin. The truth is, using tallow for a skin moisturizer is a practice that is thousands of years old. It’s truly a traditional skincare product that has been loved for centuries.
What makes tallow so amazing? Grass fed tallow contains a unique myriad of nutrients that heal, soothe, and moisturize skin. Let’s take a look. Grass fed tallow:
- Is deeply nourishing and moisturizing
- Contains Vitamins A, D, K, & E, & B12, all of which are extremely beneficial for skin
- Also helps to prevent skin’s loss of moisture
- Contains conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) with natural anti-inflammatory properties
- Has all of these nutrients that are found together only in animal products
- Contains oleic acid (omega 9) aids other components in penetrating deeply into skin
- Is antibacterial & antimicrobial
- Contains palmitic acid which helps improve the protective barrier function of skin
- Is rich in minerals
- Contains stearic acid which helps to repair damaged skin, and improves skin’s flexibility and suppleness
- Aids in skin regeneration for skin that appears healthier and more youthful
- Contains palmitoleic acid (omega 7) which is one of our skin’s basic building blocks
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What can tallow balm do?
After you’ve learned how to make tallow balm, you’ll have an extremely healing home remedy right at your fingertips. Grass fed tallow balm is so versatile.
Have dry skin? Nothing works better to moisturize! Eczema bothering you? Tallow balm calms and soothes and can even clear eczema up completely.
Struggling with acne? The unique nutrient blend and antimicrobial properties of tallow soothe and heal even deep, cystic acne.
Diaper rash? Tallow balm heals rashes in record time. Too much sun? Tallow balm to the rescue. Tallow balm is even amazing as an anti-aging face cream.
Did you know that tallow balm can also help with gut wellness? Learn more here.
Want to go deeper with real food and gut wellness?
If you love making nourishing things from scratch, you might love what I teach in my free Gut Reset Jumpstart guide. It’s a simple, step-by-step plan to start supporting your gut health this week, using real food you already have access to. No supplements, no overwhelm, just a doable first step.
A perfect baby balm
When it comes to my babies, I’ve always been extra conscious of what I put on their skin. You can’t beat tallow balm for purity, gentleness, and awesome skin soothing properties. It works great for newborn skin creases and general moisturizing. Diaper rash heals very quickly with tallow balm. It’s a perfect all around skin treatment for a variety of baby needs.
The tallow balm ingredients
Tallow from cows eating only grass has the highest amount of skin loving nutrients. When looking for beef fat to make tallow balm, look for fat from 100% grass fed beef. You can render the tallow from beef fat yourself, or use already rendered tallow.
By itself, tallow at room temperature is rather stiff and hard to use on skin. Mixing a very small amount of a liquid oil, like olive oil, helps to make it more easily spreadable.
Tallow balm and essential oils
As incredible as tallow balm is on its own, it can be even more amazing when you add certain essential oils. The possibilities are really endless. You can go with single oils, or blends, depending on what you want to use the tallow balm for. Lavender is one of my favorite essential oils for its beautiful scent and the many things it can do for skin.
For soothing eczema or healing diaper rash, a blend of Lavender, Copaiba Oleoresin, Palmarosa, Lemon, Frankincense carteri, and Helichrysum italicum will work wonders. If you want an anti-aging tallow balm for your face, a blend of Lavender, Frankincense Serrata, Lemon, Petitgrain, Coriander, Turmeric, and Rose Absolute works beautifully. Many other essential oils can be used, depending on what you want your tallow balm to smell like.
What dilution to use
For general, daily, adult use, an essential oil dilution of 1 % is best. That’s what I go with when I make my tallow balm. For babies, I tend to avoid essential oils in most cases. However, if I need to help something like diaper rash heal, I will do a very gentle dilution. 0.25% is usually a good dilution for babies. I also make very sure to only use baby safe essential oils for those times.
Whipped or solid?
You can make tallow balm in a solid form, or you can whip it. The solid form lasts the longest, since no air incorporated. The whipped form is the easiest to use, since it is light and fluffy, a lot like whipped cream. The whipped form is my personal favorite. Get my tallow lotion bar recipe here.
How to make tallow balm instructions
Ingredients:
- 1 cup grass fed tallow
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 48 drops essential oils of choice (for a 1 % dilution)
Directions:
- Melt tallow over gentle heat until it is liquid.
- Remove tallow from heat. Add olive oil and stir to combine.
- Add essential oils and stir again.
- For solid tallow balm, pour balm into glass jar. Allow to harden in the refrigerator. When solid, let balm come to room temperature before using.
- For whipped tallow balm, pour liquid balm mixture into a large mixing bowl. Allow to solidify at room temperature. When solid, whip with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Store in glass jar.
- Store both forms of tallow balm at room temperature.
I put 50+ of my best tallow and natural living recipes together in one place. Soaps, lotions, natural remedies, mom-and-baby products — all made with the same simple, pure ingredients you already love. It’s a beautiful full-color, 92-page book, available in print or as a digital download.
Why I really make this
Here’s the thing I want you to know: making your own tallow balm is not just about saving money or avoiding chemicals, though it does both of those things. For me, it’s part of a much bigger picture.
The same ancestral wisdom that says put nourishing fat on your skin also says feed your gut with the foods it was designed to heal on. If you are here rendering tallow and reading ingredient labels, there’s a good chance gut health is already on your radar. Maybe you’ve noticed connections between what your family eats and how their skin looks, how their energy feels, how often they get sick.
That connection is real. And it’s exactly what I help moms explore in a deeper way. If you’re curious about what it looks like to use real, nutrient-dense food to support your whole family’s gut health, my free Gut Reset Jumpstart guide is a great place to start. It’s simple, beginner-friendly, and it meets you exactly where you are.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tallow Balm
Tallow balm can be used to moisturize dry skin, soothe eczema, support healing of rashes and diaper rash, reduce the appearance of fine lines, and calm acne-prone skin. Many people also use it as a baby balm, a lip treatment, and a sunburn soother. It is one of the most versatile skin care products you can make at home.
Yes. Tallow balm made with grass-fed tallow and no essential oils is gentle enough for newborn skin. It is actually one of the purest things you can put on a baby because there are no synthetic fragrances, preservatives, or fillers. Skip the essential oils for babies under three months, and do a small patch test first if your baby has very sensitive skin.
Many people find that tallow balm helps with acne rather than making it worse. Tallow’s fatty acid profile is very close to human sebum, which means it can help support the skin’s natural balance rather than disrupting it. Its antimicrobial properties can also help calm inflamed, acne-prone skin. In my experience, people who have struggled with cystic acne often see real improvement when they switch to tallow balm and ditch commercial moisturizers full of synthetic ingredients.
Stored at room temperature in a glass jar with a lid, tallow balm typically lasts 6 to 12 months. Tallow is naturally shelf-stable and does not need refrigeration. If your balm starts to smell off or rancid, it is time to make a fresh batch.
Yes! Tallow balm makes a wonderful face moisturizer. It absorbs well without leaving a greasy residue, and the vitamins and fatty acids in grass-fed tallow are particularly supportive for aging, dry, or sensitive facial skin. Start with a small amount, warmed between your fingers, and pat gently into clean skin.
Lavender is the most popular choice because it is gentle, widely tolerated, and supportive for all skin types. Frankincense is wonderful for a more anti-aging focused balm. Rose, helichrysum, and carrot seed are also lovely for facial skin. For a simple, baby-safe version, leave essential oils out entirely and let the tallow do its work on its own.
More things you can make with tallow
Have you tried tallow balm?
How has tallow balm helped you? Have you ever made it yourself? Which essential oils do you think you’ll try?
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Tallow Balm
A Nourishing, Traditional Skin Moisturizer Your Whole Family Can Use
Instructions
- Melt tallow over gentle heat until it is liquid.
- Remove tallow from heat. Add olive oil and stir to combine.
- Add essential oils and stir again.
- For solid tallow balm, pour balm into glass jar. Allow to harden in the refrigerator. When solid, let balm come to room temperature before using.
- For whipped tallow balm, pour liquid balm mixture into a large mixing bowl. Allow to solidify at room temperature. When solid, whip with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Store in glass jar.
- Store both forms of tallow balm at room temperature.
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