It’s a day of the week throughout a month of the 12 months, which suggests TikTok has give you one more unusual tidbit of well being recommendation. This time, Effectively+Good’s editors noticed TikTok customers touting beef tallow in skincare as a miracle answer to all of your skincare considerations—and, like all of the TikTok developments that got here earlier than, it deserves a skeptical eye and a (certified) knowledgeable’s evaluation.
First, what’s beef tallow and the place does it come from?
“Beef tallow is rendered fats,” says Lauren Ploch, a board-certified dermatologist at Georgia Dermatology and Pores and skin Most cancers Middle in Augusta, Georgia, and at Southern and Georgia Dermatology in Aiken, South Carolina. “It’s wealthy in lipids however supplies no protein or carbohydrates.” Tallow can come from any ruminant animal (herbivorous mammals whose moniker stems from their type of digestion, known as rumination), which incorporates sheep, bison, buffalo, goats, sheep, and even giraffes. Right here, we’ll be particularly speaking about tallow sourced from cattle.
For 1000’s of years, tallow has been repurposed by human beings: the primary dipped candles had been created in Historical Rome utilizing tallow, and it will later be utilized in soaps in the course of the Center Ages. Wonderful as these advances in humanity had been, although, these of us in 2024 have one thing none of these civilizations possessed: choices. Tallow could have served as a terrific hand cream or lip balm 500 years in the past, however we’ve got entry to (actually) tens of 1000’s of merchandise and, extra importantly, expert-driven analysis to assist us select the fitting merchandise that meet our particular person objectives and desires.
Wait, so how does beef tallow relate to skincare?
Good query, hypothetical reader! Briefly…it most likely shouldn’t be, however tallow has lately gathered a faithful social media fanbase, who contemplate it a form of “wellness celebrity” ingredient, selling its use in cooking (completely effective!), dietary supplements (meh), and skincare merchandise (yikes).
A fast look by means of TikToks about beef tallow in skincare or the #beeftallowskincare hashtag on Instagram (used on 5,000 posts and counting) will present you a mountain of influencers singing the praises of beef tallow to deal with every part from pimples and dullness to dryness and effective strains. (These are simply findable on each TikTok and Instagram, however I gained’t hyperlink particular posts right here because of the potential for spreading misinformation.) These customers usually maintain up merchandise or level viewers towards retailers that embrace beef tallow of their formulation, generally alongside sponsorship disclosures to indicate the poster’s partnerships with the featured model or calls to buy their affiliate hyperlinks to the merchandise.
You might be far much less more likely to be proven, sadly, any certified dermatology consultants selling these merchandise. Why? Effectively, all of the board-certified derms are too busy making an attempt to assist folks recuperate from utilizing beef tallow of their skincare routines.
Is beef tallow good to your pores and skin? Ought to I take advantage of it?
When contacted for her experience on this topic, Dr. Ploch knowledgeable me that she had seen a number of pores and skin points precipitated by beef tallow in her medical follow, a lot of whom found the ingredient by means of social media.
“I’ve had a number of folks are available for pimples flares after utilizing beef tallow,” says Dr. Ploch, including that she wouldn’t suggest it for acne-prone pores and skin and personally doesn’t use it in any respect. So, why are folks utilizing it within the first place? “Individuals are at all times in search of pure moisturizers, however our pores and skin lipids usually are not the identical composition because the lipids in beef tallow,” says Dr. Ploch. “Our pores and skin lipids are ceramides, ldl cholesterol, and free fatty acids; tallow consists of fatty acids.”
Most lotions, says Dr. Ploch, mix substances into formulation that moisturize your pores and skin in several methods. Some moisturizers (hyaluronic acid, as an illustration) are humectants that draw and retain moisturizer into the pores and skin, whereas others (like ceramide lipids) hydrate your pores and skin as emollients. “Different moisturizers, like dimethicone and petrolatum, can create an occlusive barrier to dam moisture from leaving the pores and skin,” she explains. Whereas tallow can present emollient and occlusive properties, she warns that it may be pore-clogging and inappropriate for these with acne-prone pores and skin.
For these debating or presently utilizing beef tallow to deal with their pimples, Dr. Ploch’s recommends discontinuing its use instantly. As an alternative, she suggests turning to a delicate cleanser, delicate chemical exfoliants, and a moisturizer formulated with the “appropriate composition of lipids for our pure pores and skin (ceramides, ldl cholesterol, and free fatty acids).”
By the best way, in case your curiosity about tallow in skincare stems from a want to pursue extra environmentally pleasant and sustainable magnificence practices, it’s possible you’ll end up disenchanted on that entrance, as properly. Journalist Jessica Scott-Reid at Sentient intently examined the claims of influencers and entrepreneurs selling tallow as moral. “This tactic might be traced again to the meat trade,” writes Scott-Reid; it’s a philosophy that ignores the “substantial processing” all animal merchandise should bear to grow to be usable, identical to every other skincare ingredient. As is the case with many merchandise responsible of greenwashing, the moral-sounding adjectives regularly splashed onto the labels of beef tallow merchandise—eco-friendly, ethically sourced, et al—are largely unchecked.
“I don’t assume that folks notice that almost all of our skincare merchandise are derived from pure sources,” says Dr. Ploch, “however these pure sources are purified and distilled into their lively substances, then these lively substances are rigorously measured into protected portions to combine into skincare merchandise.”
What to remove From beef-tallow TikTok
Should you keep on TikTok lengthy sufficient—or for any size of time in any respect, actually—it’s possible you’ll discover simply what number of “consultants” are floating round on the platform. Psychological well being consultants with out psychology levels or counseling accreditations, health consultants with no expertise in sports activities medication or private coaching, relationship consultants whose solely {qualifications} embrace their very own courting historical past…you get the image. At instances, that is amusing (castor oil navel pulling, anybody?). It additionally speaks to the bigger problem of most individuals’s lack of entry to certified medical professionals.
This isn’t to say that all TikTok critiques and proposals are unfounded or harmful. The platform might be a wonderful useful resource for locating group and combating isolation, discovering tried-and-true budgeting recommendation from individuals who’ve been in a variety of monetary constraints, or unearthing distinctive present concepts. Nonetheless, influencers who declare to own authoritative information and experience in health-related matters can inflict unintentional hurt on their viewers. A bit due diligence and warning can prevent from, say, taking chemical peel recommendation from somebody with next-to-zero dermatological information whose solely stake within the recreation could also be their partnerships with peel-making sponsors.
“We have now so many protected, confirmed substances in skincare merchandise,” says Dr. Ploch. “There’s no motive to experiment with our most vital organ: our pores and skin.” The lesson: If you would like or must take skincare recommendation from the web, take it from board-certified people who gained’t inform you to place rendered beef fats in your pimples. Your pores and skin will thanks. Derms will thanks. Even the cows will most likely thanks.
