Beef tallow skincare trend concerning docs: ‘Not really the best’
Moo-ve over moisturizer — this rich alternative has the internet saying, “Holy cow.”
Beauty gurus are beefing up their skincare routine by smearing beef tallow on their faces to beat acne, revive dullness and transform their skin.
Otherwise known as beef fat, tallow is traditionally used in cooking, as well as candle- and soapmaking. But now, TikTokers are swapping their top-shelf skincare for the low-cost suet in the latest attempt at a glowing complexion — despite concerns from dermatologists.
Several online vendors market beef tallow as a cure-all for dermatological conditions, and balms are available on popular storefronts such as Amazon. The TikTok tag #beeftallowskincare has scored over 11 million views on the app, as users clamor to snag a jar and try it themselves.
Health and wellness influencer Hannah Bronfman championed a pot of “lipid-rich” tallow in an Instagram video last month.
“I literally slather this all over my face every single night,” said the 35-year-old, who moonlights as a DJ. She gushed to her 1 million followers about the fatty “game-changer,” claiming it doesn’t clog her pores.
TikToker Julia Yak, a self-proclaimed holistic health and nutrition coach, endorsed tallow as her one-and-only secret to smooth skin, claiming she ditched traditional skincare in favor of the beef-derived product.
“Beef tallow is the only thing I put on my face as skincare,” Yak told her 52,000 followers in a video, claiming the “simple ingredient” schmear doesn’t smell like beef.
“I’ve been using it every single day for months now and my skin absolutely loves it,” she said in the clip, which attracted over 309,000 views, bragging that it changed her life.
But experts say the tallow pales in comparison to traditional skincare products. Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah told The Post that although the use of tallow on the skin is not “unsafe,” it wouldn’t be his “first choice.”
“There’s so many great skincare products out there now that are affordable and widely available that it just wouldn’t make sense to me to take a chance on an ingredient that we don’t know works or not,” said Shah, who boasts nearly 18 million followers on TikTok as the “Derm Doctor.”
He noted that consumers tend to skew towards clean and cruelty-free products. Tallow, then, is “anti what the skincare industry is looking for.”
While loaded with triglycerides and jam-packed with vitamins and fatty acids — which can be found in mainstream skincare products and have been shown to benefit skin — there is at least one unfortunate downside to the TikTok-touted tallow.
“Tallow, because it’s high in oleic acid just like olive oil is, it’s been shown to disrupt the skin barrier and actually cause more irritation versus plant oils that are high in linoleic acid,” Shah said, explaining why it’s “not really the best moisturizer.”
Dermatologists typically look for products that are high in linoleic acid and low in oleic acid, and the reverse can irritate the skin, he continued. He also noted that despite claims of being noncomedogenic, tallow will most likely clog pores because it is heavy and thick.
“I wouldn’t actually even prefer it as a moisturizer when you actually break down the ingredients inside of it,” he warned.
