Rubbing beef fat on your face is the new viral skincare trend: ‘Bigger than ever’
Rubbing beef fat on your face is one of the newest skin care fads.
Beef tallow is currently trending on social media as one of the traditional skin care products.
Balms are a simple ingredient made from the fat around the kidneys of cows and ground into a butter that can be used as a lubricant.
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While many may turn up their noses at using an animal-based product on the face, natural skin care company Hearth and Homestead in Virginia sold out of its long-lasting balm product on Black Friday.
Lily Wilmoth, the company’s founder and president, spoke to Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview about the growing demand for beef.
“It’s bigger than before,” he said. “Our biggest product has always been our skincare-based products.”
How is beef made?
Wilmoth revealed that his tallow balm is made from 100% grass-fed beef, or beef kidney fat, sourced from farms across the country.
The oil is harvested, ground into butter and mixed with vegetable-infused olive oil before being melted, churned, cooled and bottled, he said.
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“It’s not back fat or other types of fat you can get on your steak,” Wilmoth said. “It is a special oil … our ancestors saw that this oil was special.”
“It has more nutrients than any other animal fat,” he continued. “It’s very creamy and white in texture. It has no weird smell or taste.”
These particular fats are where nutrients are stored, including vitamins D and A, according to Wilmoth.
Potential skin benefits
“Our skin is an organ,” Wilmoth said. “That’s why it’s so important that whatever we put on our skin should be something we think about carefully.”
Some moisturizers on the market have “a long list of complex ingredients, preservatives, emollients … perfumes and dyes,” which can worsen skin conditions like eczema and acne, he warned.
“Tallow balm, which is found in oil, does not need protective equipment because it does not contain water,” he said. “It won’t disrupt the skin’s natural barrier.”
Although tallow balm is “not a cure-all” and each person’s skin will react to it differently, Wilmoth noted that many customers say it helps with conditions like acne and psoriasis.
“It has the highest nutritional value of all other animal fats.”
Dr. Brendan Camp, a New York-based dermatologist, agreed that beef tallow is “generally well tolerated” by most skin types.
He confirmed that beef tallow acts as a moisturizer to help “hydrate the skin” and make it feel “smooth and soft.”
“Like beef emollient it fills in the cracks and crevices in the skin and makes it rough,” he told Fox News Digital.
Beef tallow contains omega-3 fatty acids and various vitamins, Camp noted, which help maintain the skin’s barrier health and protect it from “oxidative stress.”
It is not suitable for everyone
Wilmoth admitted that he “can’t guarantee that everyone will see dramatic results,” since each person’s microbiome is different.
“Depending on your skin type, you may find that something else works better for you,” she said.
People with oily skin may find beef tallow products “too heavy or greasy,” warns Kampu.
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“If you have sensitive skin, you may want to consider doing a patch test on the inside of your arm before using it liberally on the skin,” he recommended.
For those who choose not to use beef, Camp suggests trying other basic moisturizers that are free of fragrances and dyes and contain hydrating ingredients like ceramides, glycerin, hyaluronic acid and squalane.
He also noted that, like many over-the-counter supplements, beef products are not regulated by the FDA.
In a video posted on Instagram and shared with Fox News Digital, Dr. Tiina Meder – cosmetic safety expert, dermatologist and founder of Meder Beauty in London – questioned the hype about tallow balm.
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Meder, who grew up in Estonia in the 1970s, shared that her mother used to apply beef to her face and hands in the cold winter because there were no other options.
“It was the only thing to protect the children’s faces and hands from burning in the cold,” he said.
But Meder wondered why people would choose not to use the variety of creams and moisturizers available today that are “better than beef tallow.”
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“Beef tallow is not bioidentical,” he said. “Beef tallow lipids are very similar to lipids in human skin.”
“Depending on your skin type, you may find that something else works better for you.”
Linoleic acid, found in human sebum glands, is very important for skin health, Meder noted, as it is an anti-inflammatory antioxidant and promotes the appearance of viscosity – but beef tallow does not have it.
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Meder added that some of the lipids found in beef tallow can be inflammatory in humans and “irritate the skin.”
“It’s not fair to put beef tallow on the skin when you have such a large choice,” he said.
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