Have you been looking for a moisturizer that doesn’t contain harsh chemicals, carcinogens, and skin irritants? Maybe you’ve got sensitive skin or eczema and the moisturizers you’ve tried are either too harsh on your skin or just don’t provide enough moisture. Whatever your reason, if you want a moisturizer that’s gentle, effective and doesn’t need to be reapplied multiple times a day, or even every day, then give our tallow skin moisturizer a try!
What’s in it?
We wanted a moisturizer that checked every box. Non toxic (meaning free of any harmful ingredients, skin irritants, and made with all natural ingredients) gentle, and effective. We also wanted to be sure our moisturizer contained everything our skin needed and nothing it didn’t. We settled on using high quality beef tallow, coconut oil, and raw Shea butter.
Why do you use Beef Tallow?
4 of the 5 of us have eczema and sensitive skin. We found that even the top doctor recommended moisturizers weren’t enough and needed to be applied 2-3 times a day. With the hefty price tag of specialized moisturizers we needed something that worked better than that. We spent weeks researching and came across beef tallow moisturizers. We were very hesitant to try it, however once we did the benefits were obvious. The make up of beef tallow is extremely similar to human skin, because of that it is easily recognized by our bodies and readily absorbed. With tallow moisturizers we were also able to use less and apply less frequently. (More Benefits of Tallow)
Okay, but won’t I smell like raw beef?
My husband thought the same thing and if you use tallow and don't mix it with anything then you probably will, but the smell is mild and fades quickly. Still, we prefer an unscented moisturizer, and that's one of the reasons we use Shea butter. We’ve found that Shea butter neutralizes the tallow smell and it’s also highly beneficial to your skin. We add coconut oil to provide softness, and further enhance the benefits for your skin.
I asked my doctor and they said they don’t recommend it.
We are not doctors or medical professionals, so follow the advice of your doctor, but if your doctor encouraged you to use a product like Cetaphil, then I recommend you ask them about individual ingredients. Cetaphil contains PEG-30 which in the USA is allowed in cosmetics (PEG is banned in Europe because of it's harmful effects.)
Every PEG can be contaminated with carcinogens like 1:4 dioxane.
Cetaphil also contains Dimethicone which is a silicone that forms a barrier intended to helps seal in moisture. That sounds good until you realize that silicone doesn’t break down or dissolve in water and soap doesn’t remove it either. That means that over time it’s actually keeping moisture from your skin. The more you use a product with dimethicone the more difficult it can be to actually moisturize your skin. To fully remove this chemical you’ll need an oil cleanser or multiple baths.
Benzyl alcohol (which is also in Cetaphil) is a toxin they classify as safe for cosmetics in low concentrations. Low concentrations means up to 5% for adult humans however it can be fatal to infants regardless. Europe allows a max concentration of 1%. (in my opinion this is still too much.) There are other concerning ingredients as well but you can ask your doctor about those.