This tallow lotion recipe makes a light, non greasy lotion that is so much fun to use. You can even use it in a pump bottle.
Tallow lotion
For me, tallow balm will always be the clear winner when it comes to tallow skincare products. You just can’t beat how pure it is, and how well it works for any skincare need (source).
Learn more here where I share what makes tallow so amazing for skin in the ultimate guide to tallow skin care. I also show how to make tallow balm here.
You could say I am slightly obsessed with tallow. I have so much fun coming up with all sorts of skincare products using tallow, and I have quite a collection already, including scrubs, lip balm, salves, sunscreen, shaving cream, diaper rash cream, lotion bars, and more.
Even though tallow balm is incredible, I really wanted to try and come up with a true tallow lotion, just for the fun of it. I wanted something light and non greasy, like my shea butter lotion, but made with tallow. And, I wanted something you could use in a pump bottle.
After scouring the internet, I discovered that, to my knowledge, nobody else has come up with a tallow lotion recipe like this.
Pin it for later
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Get my full disclosure here.
A fun way to use tallow for skin
After blending and emulsifying and experimenting, I finally came up with a true tallow lotion recipe that does everything I wanted.
This lotion is lighter than tallow balm, and acts just like a traditional lotion on the skin. It absorbs right in without a greasy after feeling.
If you’re looking for the best ever DIY face moisturizer, check out my tallow face cream recipe here.
The ingredients you’ll need
Normally, I like to keep things as pure, simple, and natural as possible, and use something like beeswax to emulsify. That’s what I do in my shea butter lotion and my magnesium lotion recipes, and it always works great.
In my experimenting and designing this recipe, I discovered that beeswax doesn’t work for emulsifying tallow lotion. In order to make this work, I have to stay a little bit from my normally high standards of using only edible skincare ingredients.
I ended up needing to use an emulsifying wax and some stearic acid, just like many homemade lotion recipes call for. Now, in the whole scheme of things, this isn’t really a horrible compromise, and the end product still ends up being way more pure and natural than most commercial natural lotions.
I just had the add that disclaimer here, since this recipe does deviate a little from my normal way of doing things. But, this recipe is just for fun, and like I said, it really isn’t a huge compromise.
The emulsifying wax makes the emulsifying process foolproof. Tallow does naturally contain stearic acid already, but in my experiments, the batches of lotion that turned out the best all contained additional stearic acid.
Tallow lotion recipe directions
Ingredients (by weight):
- 5.6 oz. distilled water
- 0.4 oz. stearic acid
- 0.4 oz. emulsifying wax
- 0.76 oz. grass fed tallow
- 0.76 liquid oil, such as jojoba, olive, etc.
- 24 drops preservative
- 48 or more drops essential oil
Instructions:
- Weigh tallow, oil, emulsifying wax, and stearic acid and place in the top of a double boiler.
- Allow ingredients to fully melt and combine.
- Remove tallow mixture from heat and put mixture in a glass pitcher.
- Slowly pour in water into tallow mixture in a thin stream, while whisking constantly.
- Keep whisking while mixture thickens.
- Add preservative and essential oils, and whisk to combine.
- Pour into container of choice. Lotion will continue to thicken as it cools.
Keeping tallow lotion fresh and shelf stable
Since this recipe does contain water, you do need a preservative. You can use something more natural, like Optiphen Plus. That’s what I normally use when I need a preservative.
Another preservative option is Phenonip, although it is a little less natural than the first option. Phenonip is what is commonly used in homemade lotion recipes.
The choice is up to you. I have’t had a batch of lotion mold or go bad with either preservative.
Also, it’s important to use tallow that is of good quality and properly rendered. I cover all of the details here where I show how to render tallow.
Have fun customizing your lotion
One of the most fun things about making your own body products is that you get to decide what they smell like. I only use essential oils to scent my products. They are pure and natural, and have beneficial properties of their own.
My favorite way to come up with gorgeous scents for my homemade personal care products is to use a pre made seasonal blend from Plant Therapy and add some vanilla to it. It smells so good!
Another way I love to use tallow is as a deep conditioning treatment for my hair. Read all about how I use tallow for hair here.
More tallow skincare recipes
Tinted lip balm with tallow and honey
What do you like to make with tallow?
Share your favorite ways to use tallow in the comments!
Join our traditional wisdom community, and get exclusive access to my online resource library, where every freebie I’ve made is in one spot!
Shop this post
Organic, 100% grass fed tallow
Want to shop for organic handmade skincare products?
Check out the Bumblebee Apothecary Shop here.
Want to grab some labels for your homemade skincare?
I’ve done all the hard work for you with this set of 30 printable skincare product labels. All the recipes are included on the back labels, too! Get your set of printable skincare product labels here.
Follow along with Bumblebee Apothecary
Thanks for stopping by! Be well! ?
If you make this recipe and love it, please give it 5 stars! Also, tag me on Instagram @bumblebeeapothecary
Tallow Lotion Recipe Light, Non Greasy
This tallow lotion recipe makes a light, non greasy lotion that is so much fun to use. You can even use it in a pump bottle.
Ingredients
- 5.6 oz. distilled water
- 0.4 oz. stearic acid
- 0.4 oz. emulsifying wax
- 0.76 oz. grass fed tallow
- 0.76 liquid oil, such as olive, jojoba, etc.
- 24 drops preservative
- 48 or more drops essential oil
Instructions
- Weigh tallow, oil, emulsifying wax, and stearic acid and place in the top of a double boiler.
- Allow ingredients to fully melt and combine.
- Remove tallow mixture from heat and put mixture in a glass pitcher.
- Slowly pour in water into tallow mixture in a thin stream, while whisking constantly.
- Keep whisking while mixture thickens.
- Add preservative and essential oils, and whisk to combine.
- Pour into container of choice. Lotion will continue to thicken as it cools.
Notes
All ingredients are by weight.
Hi Marissa,
I’m curious to how you chose to use the preservative you linked to. I’m not implying that it’s not a good choice. I’m new to natural preservatives so I’m just trying to research which one would be the absolute best and least toxic. I know you want the cleanest products as well. I would just love to know where I would find more info. Thank you for all your helpful advice!
Hi Marisa,
I would love to make this tallow lotion,as I have been using your whipped tallow balm for a very long time now,but I find it a bit heavy at times.If I want to use Leucidal complete as a preservative,should I use the same amount as in the recipe?
Thank you.
How long would this last without the preservative? Could it be kept in the fridge to make it last longer? My family uses a LOT of lotion… Im wondering if I could get away with no preservative if they used it up fast. Thoughts? Thank you!
I just tried your recipe and it worked great! I’m happy, it was my first time making lotion and I had to measure my ingredients at my local health food store because I don’t have a scale. Lol. Anyway, I was just wondering if tallow could be subbed for lard? It seems like it would be a good way to help the vitamin D levels in the winter since pastured lard is a great source of vitamin D.
Can I use magnesium brine as the water portion of the recipe? I’d love to combine both tallow and magnesium in a lotion!
I would use my magnesium lotion recipe and substitute the shea butter for tallow 🙂 https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/best-organic-magnesium-lotion-recipe/
How do you solve the issues using tallow presented, hence why you added the steric acid, preservative and emulsifying wax? I only need to make a lotion with magnesium, otherwise, I just rub beef tallow on my skin.
Can this be used on the face? I live in an arctic climate, cold and dry. Thank you.
Hi there! I’m trying your tallow lotion recipe for the first time and was curious what the consistency should be when done?
I’m using Wagyu tallow and it looks almost like cottage cheese. Should it have turned out more smooth/creamier?
If so, any ideas what I need to do different?
Thanks!
I’m happy to help! It should be a smooth, creamy, pumpable consistency, like any lotion you’d get in the store. It sounds like yours didn’t emulsify properly. Without knowing more, it’s hard to say what happened, like if you used any substitutions. I hope it turns out well if you try again!
Hi, I am excited to try this recipe! I am making this for my whole family, so I am wondering… can I simply double the recipe or are there things you would use less of? Sometimes in baking that is the case, so I just want to make sure.
Yes, it works great to double this! I haven’t found any changes that need to be made 🙂
Do you know if I could add powdered goats milk to this?
I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you do!
Could I use vegetable glycerine (from coconuts) instead of stearic acid in this recipe?
I haven’t tried this, so I’m not sure. If you try it, let me know how it works!
What are your thoughts on using emu oil as a liquid oil substitute? Also, I’ve read great things about witch hazel. What are your thoughts on using non-alcoholic wh as part of the water measurement?
Those are great ideas! Emu oil sounds amazing as a liquid oil – I would love to try it in combination with the tallow! I do love witch hazel for certain things. I use it in my after shave lotion: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/after-shave-lotion-recipe/
Our cream is in two locations, one warmer than the other. The warm one is separating (about 70 degrees, the cool one is 60 degrees.} . It looks like the oil is separating out. Any suggestions? We love the recipe.
Mark
I’m happy to try and help! I’m not sure why this would happen, unless you used any substitutions in the recipe. The commercial emulsifying wax is usually quite reliable in preventing separation. I haven’t seen it separate, and it gets pretty warm here in the summer. If you did use any substitutes, I’d try it with the emulsifying wax that I recommend, and see if that helps 🙂
I want to make a tallow based balm with an infused vinegar.
Would you recommend a preservative? (No other water added)
Would I need an emulsifying wax or would beeswax be suitable?
I know it seems off topic from your post but this one was the closest I could find!
What an interesting idea, that sounds nice! I would probably still use a preservative, and I’d do emulsifying wax. I couldn’t get beeswax to work well for this particular recipe, so that’s what I’m guessing would work better for yours as well. Hope that helps!
Is the measurement for the emulsifying wax 4 oz or 0.4 oz? Maybe a typo? Also, can you link to a scale that will measure .76 oz? Mine will only do tenths of an ounce and it looks like that is how most kitchen scales are. This is all new to me!
0.4 oz. by weight is correct, no typo 🙂 Yes, here is the scale I use: https://amzn.to/2PZaALl
I just got all the ingredients but am still uncertain of the amount of emulsifying wax.
The recipe above is different from your reply, but your reply says the recipe is correct.
The recipe above says “04.” which equals 4 ounces of emulsifying wax, but your reply say the emulsifying wax is “0.4”, same as the steric acid.
Which is correct? The decimal in the emulsifying wax is not in the same place in the recipe as it is in your replies.
I’m really looking forward to making this and don’t want to do it wrong. Thank you for creating and sharing these recipes!
That’s a typo – thank you! 0.4 is correct. I didn’t catch that at first. I will go fix it 🙂
Thank you!
Hi, is the emulsifying wax 0.4 oz the same as the stearic acid.can you tell me how many ml in total this batch makes? I’m use to working in my so I’m getting really confused trying to work it out 🙂
Great question! The emulsifying wax is different from stearic acid. This recipe makes 8 fl. oz. of lotion. You can use an online converter to convert into milliliters. Hope that helps!
Same here, very confusing. But she said it totals 8 fl oz so it must be 0.4 oz stearic acid and 0.4 oz emulsifying wax.
Yes, the recipe is correct, it is 0.4 oz. by weight of stearic acid and 0.4 oz. by weight of emulsifying wax 🙂
Hi I enjoy watching your post! I would like to make the tallow lotion. Question is does the distilled water have to be hot?
Thanks! Kimberly
Thank you! No, room temperature water is what I use 🙂
Thank you makes things easier for me ?..