As I was making my yearly batch of DIY sunscreen, I thought I’d add my all time favorite skincare ingredient. If you’re a tallow fan like I am, you’ll want to know how to make tallow sunscreen.
Tallow sunscreen
I am obsessed with tallow for skincare. My all time favorite skincare product is tallow balm, and I show how to make it here. I also have a tallow lotion recipe here.
Tallow is actually a centuries old skincare product, but recently it has been gaining popularity. I decided to take my DIY natural sunscreen recipe and make it even better.
Why do I love tallow? Tallow is overflowing with an abundance of skin friendly nutrients, including fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants. I talk all about the benefits of tallow for skin care here.
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Why put tallow in sunscreen?
Since tallow has such amazing skin benefits, I knew it would be the perfect ingredient for my homemade sunscreen. Tallow from 100% grass fed, grass finished cattle contains a wider array of skin beneficial nutrients than any plant based oil.
I like adding it to my sunscreen recipe because I want all of those fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants. They are amazing at preventing and protecting from sun damage.
If you’re looking for the best ever DIY face moisturizer, check out my tallow face cream recipe here.
What kind of tallow is best?
My favorite tallow is from 100% grass fed, grass finished cattle, because it is the richest in beneficial nutrients. If you have tallow from grass fed cattle that were fed some grain, it is still a pretty good choice.
For this recipe, you can use straight tallow, or tallow balm. If you use tallow balm, the finished sunscreen will have a little bit of a softer consistency, but that’s totally fine.
All of the ingredients are by weight, not volume. This makes it easier, because you don’t have to melt anything just to measure it. If you need to make your own tallow, I show how to render tallow here.
Tallow sunscreen recipe directions
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. beeswax
- 2 oz. tallow or tallow balm
- 2 oz. virgin coconut oil
- 3 oz. liquid oil, such as carrot seed, argan, jojoba, or olive, or a combination
- 2 oz. non nano zinc oxide
Instructions:
- Weigh all ingredients and put them in the top of a double boiler.
- When all ingredients are melted, mix well with a whisk.
- Allow mixture to cool slightly.
- When mixture just starts to thicken but is still pourable, put in storage container. I like using glass jars or silicone tubes.
- Allow to solidify the rest of the way.
Why make your own sunscreen?
Commercial sunscreens contain lots of toxic ingredients, including chemicals that are hormone disruptors, can cause brain damage, nerve damage, and prenatal harm. Some research even indicates that some ingredients in commercial sunscreens could promote skin cancer (source).
By making sunscreen yourself, you can avoid all of those sketchy ingredients. You’re in complete control of all of the ingredients, so you can use safe, natural ones. And when you make it yourself, you can even add tallow!
Sunscreen controversy
There are a lot of different opinions out there when it comes to using sunscreen. It can be overwhelming!
Which sunscreen is better: homemade or store bought? Does homemade sunscreen work? Which zinc oxide is okay to use? Should we even use sunscreen at all?
Whew. Let’s take a second to calm down and breathe, and then I’ll explain what we’ve decided to do.
After researching the whole situation, we’ve decided to let our bare skin get a responsible amount of sunlight, because sunlight on skin is very healthy! I’ll talk more in a second about what we do to protect our skin from sun damage, from the inside out.
By responsible, I mean avoiding the most extreme sun exposure, and using shade and clothing to shield from sunburns. That’s our strategy most of the time.
Every now and then, like when on vacation, for example, we’ll find ourselves in a situation where we are in the sun longer than normal, and at a risk for getting sunburned. In those times, we use our homemade tallow sunscreen.
I make sure to use only non nano zinc oxide. That way, the particles are supposed to be large enough to not be absorbed into the bloodstream (source).
We’ve been using our homemade sunscreen for years, and it works great. It protects us from sunburn every single time. I love that it is safe enough for very young children to use.
How we protect our skin from sun damage
What you eat is everything. Interestingly, I read about the fact that when a person eats inflammatory industrial seed oils, also known as vegetables oils, these toxic and often rancid oils can react with the sun’s rays as one of the causes of skin cancer (source).
Here are some of the ways we protect our skin from sun damage:
- Eating antioxidant rich animal foods with abundant fat soluble vitamins, such as fats from organic, pasture raised animals
- Avoiding toxic, inflammatory industrial seed oils
- Using responsible sun exposure to allow our skin to build a healthy tan gradually
- Nourishing our skin on a regular basis with tallow balm
If you want an amazing exfoliator for feet, you’ll want to know how to make a homemade foot scrub with tallow. I also have a luxurious and super hydrating DIY shaving cream with tallow in it.
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 nutrient dense skincare
Tallow skin care: the complete guide
How do you like to use tallow?
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As I was making my yearly batch of DIY sunscreen, I thought I'd add my all time favorite skincare ingredient. If you're a tallow fan like I am, you'll want to know how to make tallow sunscreen. All ingredients are by weight. Tallow Sunscreen
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
