Tallow Soap Benefits and Ingredients + How to Make

What Is Tallow Soap?

Tallow soap, which is solid at room temperature, is made from the rendered fat of cows or sheep and has a long history of use in cooking, candle making, and soap making.

While some worry that soap made from animal fat can smell strange or feel greasy, tallow soap is odorless or has a very mild fatty scent, if made properly.

Tallow soap is also rich in different minerals and vitamins, such as:

• Zinc: This mineral has anti-inflammatory properties and can heal and repair skin by reducing redness and irritation and producing new skin cells [1].
• Selenium: It has antioxidant features that protect the skin from damage by destroying harmful free radicals and supporting overall skin health by boosting the skin's defense mechanisms [2].
• Iron: It is essential for maintaining healthy skin and supporting healing processes by delivering oxygen to skin cells, which is crucial for cell regeneration and repair [3].

Tallow soap comes in different types based on the animal fat used, which affects its nutrients, features, and texture.

Learn More: Lard vs. Tallow: How To Use These Fat Sources?

Types of Tallow Soap

Tallow soap can be made from different animal fat sources, which gives it different features and benefits. Each type of tallow soap has a different texture and lather and is suitable for different uses. Here are some common types of tallow soap:

• Beef Tallow Soap: It’s made from cow fat and is known for its rich, creamy lather and moisturizing properties. Beef tallow is widely available and commonly used in traditional soap-making.
• Deer Tallow Soap: Made from the fat of deer, this type of tallow is less common but more expensive than beef tallow soap as it’s used for sensitive skin.
• Grass-Fed Tallow Soap: This soap is made from the fat of animals raised on a grass-fed diet. Due to the healthier diet of the animals, it provides higher quality than beef tallow soap. This tallow contains higher levels of nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins, which make it a good choice for nourishing and moisturizing the skin.

Generally, these tallow soaps are better options than chemical soaps due to their natural ingredients, but how can these ingredients help skin health?

Learn More: Beef Heart: Nutrients and Side Effects + 5 Ways to Eat

How Is Tallow Soap Good for the Skin?

The vitamins in tallow soap can be easily absorbed by our skin because the fat composition of tallow is similar to the natural oils in human skin, such as palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. These ingredients help renew the skin's natural barrier, keeping it elastic and youthful as we age [4].

Additionally, most tallow soap benefits come from the vitamins included, such as A, D, E, and K, which each provide unique skin benefits. Vitamin A promotes cell regeneration and improves skin texture, while Vitamin D supports skin cell growth and repair [5] [6].

Also, vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant and protects the skin from oxidative stress, and Vitamin K helps with healing scars and stretch marks [7] [8].

Tallow also contains Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which boasts anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, enhancing its overall skincare benefits [9].

Tallow soap forms a protective layer on the skin, which effectively locks in moisture, which helps prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL) while allowing the skin to breathe and remain hydrated [10].

To enjoy these tallow soap benefits, you can buy premade soaps from reputable brands or easily make your own soap using simple ingredients to make sure the soap is completely natural and free of artificial additives.

Learn More: The Carnivore Diet and Skin: How Can Carnivore Improve Skin Health?

How to Make Tallow Soap?

Making tallow soap at home can be a cost-effective way to create a natural soap. There are two main methods for making tallow soap: cold and hot processes. Both methods involve mixing tallow with lye to create soap, but they’re different in their techniques and especially curing times.

Cold Process Tallow Soap

Cold process tallow soap uses pure tallow and coconut oil, making it the perfect soap bar for dry and sensitive skin. Using the following ingredients, you can prepare 12 bars of tallow soap.

Ingredients

• 18 oz. beef tallow
• 4.5 oz. lye
• 12 oz. coconut oil
• 10 oz. water

Instructions

1. Pour the water into a heat-resistant glass. This is important because adding the lye will quickly make the water very hot.
2. Add the lye to the water and stir until it dissolves. The mixture will heat up quickly.
3. Pour the tallow and coconut oil into a saucepan, and melt them over medium heat.
4. Let the ingredients (tallow and coconut oil) cool to 37 degrees. It can take a couple of hours.
5. Add the lye water to the oils slowly and mix with a blender until the mixture thickens.
6. Pour the soap into soap molds. Silicone molds don't need any preparation, but other molds may need parchment paper.
7. Let the soap harden in the molds for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.
8. Remove the soap from the molds and let it cure for 3-4 weeks before use.

Learn More: Tallow Lip Balm Recipe: Simple and Tinted

Hot Process Tallow Soap

Cold process soap making allows the chemical reaction to happen over a 4-week curing period, but the hot process (crock pot soap) allows the chemical reaction to complete immediately with the help of heat. Here’s how to make 11 bars of tallow soap with a hot process:

Ingredients

• 30 oz. tallow or lard
• 4 oz. lye
• 11 oz. water

Instructions

1. Melt the tallow in a crockpot.
2. Stir the lye into the measured water, stir until dissolved, and let it sit for a few minutes as it heats up.
3. Place the melted tallow in the crockpot and slowly stir in the lye-water mixture.
4. Use an immersion blender to mix until the mixture reaches a pudding-like consistency that holds its shape when dripped on top. This can take 3 to 10 minutes.
5. Cover the crockpot, set it on low, and let it cook for 45-60 minutes. It will bubble and froth.
6. Pour or scoop the mixture into a mold and let it set for 12-24 hours.
7. Remove the solid soap from the mold, cut it into bars, and let it cure for 1-2 weeks. You can use the soap immediately, but curing will make it harder.

If you don’t have enough time or resources to make tallow soap at home, you can still use tallow soap benefits by buying the products of trusted brands that produce high-quality tallow soap with natural ingredients.

Learn More: Suet vs. Tallow: How Do These Dietary Fat Resources Differ?

The 4 Best Tallow Soap Brands

Here are some of the best tallow soap brands known for their high-quality ingredients and skincare benefits:

• Fatworks
• White Oak Pastures
• Vintage Tradition
• Buffalo Gal Grassfed Beauty

Fatworks

Fatworks tallow soap provides deep hydration and numerous skin benefits due to its rich content of essential fatty acids like palmitoleic acid. This soap produces a creamy lather that improves the bathing experience and is a good choice for wet shaving.

Fatworks also uses a process called "superfatting" to add extra grass-fed tallow, to provide even more hydration and protection for the skin.

White Oak Pastures

White Oak Pastures produces handcrafted tallow soaps using high-quality natural ingredients and tallow from its grass-fed cattle. These nutrient-rich soaps are good choices for sensitive and dry skin.

The farm is committed to regenerative agriculture, and its soaps reflect its dedication to sustainability and high-quality, natural ingredients.

Vintage Tradition

Vintage Tradition’s tallow soaps are made from 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised beef tallow. They focus on creating traditional, nutrient-rich soaps free from artificial additives and preservatives.

Buffalo Gal Grassfed Beauty

Buffalo Gal Grassfed Beauty produces pure and natural tallow soaps known for their simple ingredients and traditional qualities and can last up to 60 days if stored in a cool and dry place, away from direct sunlight and moisture.

They offer 3 different tallow soaps:

• Simply Unscented for sensitive skin;
• Calendula Flower, which includes organic calendula tea and oil, for soothing sensitive skin and babies;
• Charcoal and Green Clay for deep cleansing, and effective for acne, oily skin, and clogged pores.

Learn More: The Carnivore Diet and Gout: The Best and Worst Meats to Eat

Summary

To achieve tallow soap benefits such as skin hydrating and healing scars and stretch marks, you can buy it from different brands or easily make it at home.

If you want to buy ready-to-use soap, always check the product’s label to make sure that it uses only natural ingredients and no artificial additives.

Learn More: Simple Tallow Soap Recipe: 7 Recipes to Try at Home