Now that I told you about my experience in working with tallow and why we wanted to give it a try, I thought I would tell you a bit more about this interesting local fat.
Squeamish about the idea of slathering beef tallow on your skin? I hear you. I was at first too. I understand if you are not interested.
If you are interested, keep reading. I am going to get into the amazing benefits of this fat and answer questions you all have been sending to me. Some questions we got were:
- Is it greasy?
- Will it make me break out?
- Will I smell like a steak, or will dogs chase me down the street?!
- Won't this encourage animals to be killed for their fats?
SKIN BENEFITS:
- Whole food ingredient for your skin
- Anti-inflammatory - making it a good choice for folks with eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea
- Comedogenic (won't clog pores)
- Omega's 3, 6, and 9 - beneficial for the skin and our whole body health
- Source of vitamins A, B12, D, E, and K
- Fatty acid make-up of tallow is very similar to our own skin - Tallow contains oleic acid, linoleic, palmitoleic, and stearic acids, which are the same fatty acids that are in in our sebum and in extra-virgin olive oil too.
- Tallow soaks into our skin deeply and hydrates for a longer time, as it blends in well with our own sebum because it is similar in fatty acid composition.
- Tallow encourages our bodies to produce collagen, which keeps our skin flexible and supple.
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS:
- Bioregional fat from right here in Alberta. Using tallow instead of other fats such as Shea Butter reduces our environmental footprint, helping us live up to our values of being bio-regional sourced ingredients, while aiming for zero-waste.
- Nose to tail - Helps reduce a known waste from the meat industry. Tallow used to be highly used by our ancestor for everything from making candles, sauteing foods, oiling leathers, to restaurants using it for frying. In recent decades, it has often ended up in the landfill as customers weren't buying it anymore.
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Minimally processed fat - whole food ingredient. Which would you rather in your skin and which would you rather cook with? Food is medicine and medicine is food.
Tallow Seed Oils, Canola Oil, Vegetable oils Tallow is a naturally occurring fat, cut off the bones and organs of cows at time of meat butchering. Then the fat is chopped and cooled/frozen. I receive the fat in whole form, and heat it gently in a water bath for several hours, then strain it through cheesecloth and voila, that is how I get rendered, pure tallow! Seeds are:
- mechanically extracted to remove the shells, then
- chemically extracted with Hexane (a known carcinogen) to pull out the fatty acids,
- then purified and refined with bleach to create a clear and odorless oil.
Now to get to the Questions!
- Is it greasy?
No, but you don't need much to nourish your skin. It's not something you need to slather on like lotion. A little goes a long way and stays on your skin without feeling like its on top of your skin.
- Will it make me break out?
- Will I smell like a steak, or will dogs chase me down the street?!
This one made me giggle. No, you won't smell like a steak...the tallow does has a slight smell, but so does Shea Butter, or plant oils, so we blended it with therapeutic grade essential oils to create an enjoyable skin experience for you. I have been trying this at home for a couple weeks now and my dog and cats have shown no extra interest in my hands or body than asking for the usual cuddles and pets.
- Won't this encourage animals to be killed for their fats?
