Is Your Skincare Routine Ready for Beef Tallow?

Curious about the latest beauty trend that's causing a stir? Dermatologist Dr. Stephanie joins us to shed light on the controversial practice of using beef tallow as a skincare solution. While it may be nutrient-rich when consumed, its effects work differently when applied to our skin, in much the same way as coconut oil. If you are considering using this natural remedy on your skin, make sure to tune into this podcast first...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, this is Dr Stephanie. Today we're talking about using beef tallow on our skin, so I was contacted recently by a beauty journalist and I was asked what I think about using beef tallow on the skin topically, as this seems to be all the rage right now. But before answering that question, I'd like to talk a little bit about beef tallow in general. So more commonly, it's, of course, eaten as food, and what do I think about that? I think that's completely fine as part of a balanced diet. Beef tallow is actually rich in many fat-soluble vitamins A, d, e and K, also rich in vitamin B1, as well as monounsaturated fats, choline and various other nutrients. So in general, it's a quite nutrient-rich food. But having said that, I strongly recommend not using beef tallow topically on the skin, but rather stick to having it as food, and there are several reasons for that. One of the main reasons is that it's very occlusive, will clog up your pores like nothing else and will increase your risks of breakouts, especially if you have a tendency for acne or rosacea or perioral dermatitis POD already. Because it's so occlusive, that also means that it can trap bacteria, dead skin cells and sebum on the skin surface, creating an environment that's very conductive to comedone and acne development. In fact, the comedogenic properties of beef tallow are comparable to another highly pork-logging ingredient. Beef tallow are comparable to another highly pork-logging ingredient, which is coconut oil, which I also strongly advise against using topically on the skin. Coconut oil is, of course, another one of those very popular natural oils that's often used on the skin, which I would definitely not recommend, although coconut oil as a food is again very healthy and it's also very good cooking oil because it is highly stable in contrast to a lot of the unsaturated fats. But let's come back to beef tallow and using that on the skin. So even if you apply it on the skin and you feel it's not doing any harm, you don't see any acne spots developing, that doesn't mean that you will not develop acne later. Typically, acne lesion development cycle is around eight weeks. So if you start using beef tallow, you might not see any acne until eight weeks later. So that's always important to keep in mind. Might seem and feel fine initially, but then it may haunt you a couple of months later.

Speaker 1: 3:21

My other concerns with using beef tallow as skincare is that the quality will be very variable. There may be possible contaminants or bacteria that could cause skin infections, and if the tallow isn't properly stored and preserved, it can go rancid, which not only really has a very unpleasant odor but could also cause skin irritation. Or if you're allergic to beef, you could of course, even experience allergic reactions. But my main question is really why would you want to use beef tallow on your skin? There are so many really amazing skincare formulations on the market with multiple ingredients that work in concert and that have been properly formulated and tested. So my advice as a dermatologist is to choose a non-comedogenic moisturizer that is specially formulated to hydrate and calm the skin, but without clogging your pores and leaving an inclusive barrier on top of your skin. So in summary, that's a definite no from me for topical use of beef tallow. I hope this makes sense and I speak to you again soon.