Rubbing rendered animal fat into your skin might sound gross, but beef tallow has become a trendy skin care product that some claim can clear up acne, is great for dry skin, and even makes you look younger.
Tallow is fat that has been slowly melted, strained and then hardened into a waxy paste. Often used in cooking, all sorts of animal fats — goat, swan, even lion — have also been used as a cosmetics ingredient since antiquity, says historian Susan Stewart.
Now, in 2025, some people are embracing beef tallow as a "natural" skincare choice. On TikTok, hundreds of videos with millions of views discuss or promote tallow products. Brands like Good Ol' Days Tallow Co., Evil Goods!, Betr4you and HolyCow appear again and again, from a raft of creators who earn commission for every jar of tallow they convince someone else to buy.
In one TikTik from the account @ItsColleensShop, a woman drips her finger into a jar of the brand Good Ol' Days Tallow Co. and then licks it before telling the camera, "If you can't eat your skin care, then you shouldn't be putting it on your face."
Videos from other accounts selling other brands of tallow say the same, almost verbatim.
Though Good O' Days Tallow says it comes from grass-fed cows, not everything edible is good for the skin, dermatologists warn.
The claim: Beef tallow is a superior, natural skin lotion that can give you clear, glowing and youthful skin.
The evidence: Tallow's not total snake oil. Your skin may look plump and dewy after applying it, says Marisa Plescia, vice president of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and founder FemChem Beauty. That's because, as a saturated fat, tallow has a high lipid content and these fatty compounds create a sort of barrier that locks in moisture.
However, other products, including shea butter and olive oil, also contain lipids that create the same effect.
"Beef tallow is not any different, really, than any other plant oil that's out there," says Plescia.
And there are way better options for moisturizing your skin than cooking oils, Plescia says. The lotions that chemists formulate include humectants, such as glycerine and hyaluronic acid, which attract and bind to water to keep your skin moist. Plain fats don't have those.
The risks: While some TikTok creators claim that tallow has cleared up their complexion, beef fat can actually make acne worse, warns Dr. Delila Foulad, a board-certified dermatologist at UCLA Health, who specializes in treating skin and scalp disorders
"Beef tallow is essentially a lipid, or an oil. Putting that on your skin could clog your pores," she tells NPR.
There's also a chance of an allergic reaction, similar to how some people's skin reacts to jewelry that contains nickel. Those with psoriasis or eczema should be extra cautious of tallow since their skin barrier is already compromised, says Foulad.
Things that you apply on the skin "can cause a secondary allergic contact dermatitis, which is basically a skin allergy," Foulad says.
For people who still want to try it, she recommends they start with a patch test: Put tallow on just a small area of the skin and wait a couple of weeks before slathering everywhere.
"If you are going to have a reaction, it's not something that usually happens right away," she says.
Also, this animal fat can go rancid over time, especially in hot weather. So keep it in the fridge.
Unlike tallow, traditionally formulated lotions and moisturizers contain antioxidants that prevent decomposition, or spoilage, explains Plescia.
What's behind the trend: Tallow can seem like a more pure option compared to lab-made beauty products that contain ingredients with chemically-sounding names, such as phenoxyethanol and C13-14 isoparaffin.
And the U.S. is having a cultural moment where people are skeptical of synthetic ingredients, says Jennifer Reich, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Denver who researches how people make health and wellness decisions.
"That is a backswing, to corporate developments of things like food and household products that have often had ingredients that have not been particularly safe or have environmental impacts," she says.
NPR has previously reported that certain substances found in some gels, lotions and creams can be harmful to reproductive health, or contain carcinogens. And, in March, the Food and Drug Administration announced a voluntary recall of acne products for possible benzene contamination, which is a carcinogen
As a sort of shortcut to healthier choices, Reich says people opt for things like beef tallow that seem natural because it ostensibly comes from a farm instead of an opaque supply chain of overseas factories.
Tallow seems to have a special appeal for men, notes Jordan Foster, a sociologist at Alberta's MacEwan University.
Red meat has long-standing associations with masculinity: cowboys, cavemen, Ron Swanson. So when men use beef tallow, Foster says they're aligning with those relatively narrow gender scripts, while still participating in a traditionally feminine domain of skincare.
One TikToker @mercercaiden said that he uses a whipped tallow cream as an aftershave and to moisturize his knuckles.
"I feel younger already," he said as he rubbed what looked like a tablespoon's worth of fat into his face.
The bottom line: Tallow balm probably won't hurt you much (though acne and eczema sufferers beware), but watch out for claims that it's better just because it's natural.
Though understandable, Reich says this feeds into a larger trend of rejecting science and warns that information on social media can lack nuance or result in dangerous choices, such as drinking unpasteurized milk or trying unproven medical treatments.
Not every ingredient with a long name is necessarily dangerous but if you want to avoid those that are linked to possible health problems, here are a handful that scientists are especially concerned about.
But Reich says this systemic problem of lax regulations cannot be solved on the individual level, regardless of how hard a person works to figure out which products are safe: "These are really taxing decisions to make every day. They exhaust people."
The best course of action, says Foulad, is to consult with a dermatologist who should be up to date on the latest research and can help you select products that will work well for your skin.
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