I will be sharing all the amazing benefits of using Grass-Fed Beef Tallow on our skin. What tallow is? Why does only Grass-Fed beef contain all the amazing skincare nutrients and benefits? As well as the different products RootsCo Skincare provides using tallow as our key ingredient.
What is tallow? Tallow is simply beef suet (fat) that has been rendered (cooked) down to remove all the impurities. Tallow, whether from beef, deer, buffalo, or any other grass-eating animal was the prized and one of the most coveted parts of any animal harvested.
Tallow has been a staple for thousands of years
For thousands of years, our ancestors practiced what we now call the “Nose to Tail” mindset when harvesting any animal. No part of the animal went to waste. Especially not the most important parts vital to their health and survival! The fat and fatty cuts of meat and organ meats were the first part of the animals to be eaten (used).
This provided the most nutrients and beneficial vitamins our ancestors needed to survive.
You may have watched the TV series Alone, if you have not yet I highly recommend it. It’s a great watch!
To use the show Alone is a current-day example of how when food is scarce humans need to focus on the highest most nutrient-rich parts of an animal to survive.
No part of the animals went to waste.
One of the most interesting things I took away from watching this TV series was one of the survivalists killed and harvested a Moose. Logically, I thought if he can just keep the meat from spoiling or being stolen by another animal he will win.
See the primary reason any survivalist “tapped out” or was forced out medically was almost always because quite frankly they were starving to death (literally).
What I did not know was Moose are extremely lean animals. So even though this man was eating daily, because it was such lean meat he was still starving…… his body getting what it needed from the fats in an animal.
He ended up tapping out because he was losing too much weight and was physically unable to go on.
I felt it was important to share an important bit of information about tallow that has been lost over the years to our cultures. Actually, worse than being lost animal fat in the 1950s was demonized.
Without any scientific data to back the claims, a doctor convinced the US that animal fats and other fats found in plants like nuts and avocados were the reason for the ever spiking heart health pandemic in the US.
Thus the “Fat-Free Diets” hit the scenes and with it the health crisis we see today. Our brains need healthy fats to survive as do our bodies. So this “fat-free” everything brought with it the frankin-foods (my name for fake foods cooked up in a lab somewhere that not only have no nutritional benefits they actually cannot be digested causing a whole list of issues within our bodies – but this is a topic for another post).
For more on the health benefits of cooking with Grass-Fed Tallow check out this article next!
What is Grass-Fed Tallow?
Now, on to the star of today’s post Tallow in Skincare. My husband came to me after listening to one of his favorite bio-hackers and said, “Hey I want you to buy and start using beef tallow in our cooking, please. It has a LOT of health benefits and the highest smoke point to any oil out there.”
Beef what……..
So, I went to google university and typed in beef tallow. Before I start cooking with it I kinda want to know what the heck it is. (lol)
It basically said it is beef fat rendered (cooked) down. Ok…. like lard? I wondered.
I checked it on the Whole Foods website and sure enough there it was. The only problem was we eat a HIGH healthy fat diet. Meaning I make sure we add a LOT of healthy fats such as avocados & avocado oil, olive oil, salmon, butter, ghee, and so on.
At the price they were selling it for on top of it not saying 100% grass-fed grass-finished – quick note when shopping beef “organic” is only what you want if it says grass-fed finished or 100% grass-fed.
Believe it or not, some grass-fed beef is grain-finished aka they want to speed up the fatting process so they pump them full of grain. Grain contains little to no health benefits for the cows (or us) so they will overeat because their brains never send that “I am full” message to their stomachs.
That message only comes from eating foods nutrient-rich.
Have you ever wondered how you can eat 5 slices of pizza but hardly finish 1/4 a plate of veggies? It is not just the “it tastes good” reason that most would assume. It is because pizza is nutrient-poor. Your brain never gets the signal that you feel full because there are no nutrients in that food…. thus you could eat a whole pizza and be gorged and bloated (hey we have all been there, Mexican and Italian foods are the worst about it).
But instead of feeling energized after your six slices of pizza and ready to finish the day, you feel like absolute crap am I right? Sluggish, tired, like you need to roll yourself to your car (lol).
When it comes to nutrient-rich foods Grass-Fed Beef Tallow is at the top of the charts!
Grass-fed Grass-Finished Beef Benefits:
- is LOADED with antioxidants
- anti-microbial palmitoleic acid
- conjugated linoleic acid (linked to cancer prevention and improved brain function)
- rich source of vitamin E, A, K, and D
- contains more carotenoids
- fat-soluble vitamins
- omega 3 fatty acid
These are just a few of the reasons we vote with our purchasing power and buy only grass-fed grass-finished beef, shop local which supports ‘the little guy’, and we get to know the farmer’s ethics and practices.
Beef tallow, back in the days were “grass-fed grass-finished organic” did not need to be stated because that was the only way of raising beef, buffalo, and other hoofed animals (goat, sheep, etc). Before the supermarkets became the primary source of food, families used tallows and lard for EVERYTHING. Cooking, skincare, candles, you name it. These families lived the ‘nose to tail’ lifestyle using every part of any animal harvested. Waste not, want not.
Tallow also has the highest smoke point (400°F / 200° C) making this the ONLY oil anyone should be used in deep frying. This used to be the oil even Mcdonald’s used to fry their french fries until the dreaded seed oils hit the scene.
I plan on doing a full in-depth post on seed oils and the havoc they wreak on our brain health in another post, so for now, check out this post on the harmful effects of seed oils here by one of my favorites Dr. Mark Hyman after of course you finish reading this article.
Dr. Hyman was interviewing a brain doctor on his podcast “The Doctors Farmacy” about seed oils and the brain doctor shared a story of a restaurant using seed oils to fry foods and when they were taking their cook’s apron coats to the dry cleaners they literally caught on fire in the van to the dry cleaners.
A crazy story you have to hear the whole thing but to sum it up for my point here – seed oils were never meant to be used in heat, just the process of extracting oils from seeds like some of the most popular grapeseed, soybean oil, and canola oils found in just about every processed food, yes sadly even organic foods.
And in this case, even “organic” cannot fix the problem created by distilling these seed oils.
Tallow Skincare
Ok, now hopefully you have a good baseline understanding of the benefits of Grass-Fed Tallow, how does that help your skin?
Have you ever seen those lotion marketing commercials where they say “enriched with vitamins _______” and list the vitamins they put into the lotions?
Well, this is because our skin literally drinks whatever we put on it. You may recall in elementary science classes we learned our skin is our largest organ. That means it absorbs products we put on it from;
- laundry soaps left in our clothes (if you don’t think your soap residue is in your clothes from commercial store-bought laundry soap do a quick youtube on “laundry stripping” your sure to be shocked and discussed)
- Lotions
- Perfumes
- Shampoos, conditioners, hair care products (if you have ever struggled with dandruff it is the build-up and ingredients in these products causing it)
- Mouth wash
- Skincare
- Make-up
A recent study found the average American woman put up to 500+ synthetic chemicals on her body A DAY! And up to 4 pounds of that is ingested into our skin…. no big surprise 6 out of 10 American women suffer from hormonal issues (autoimmune disorders).
Dr Hyman as well as many other experts in the holistic healing realm say if you wouldn’t eat it you probably shouldn’t put it on your skin. Good rule of thumb.
Alomst a decade ago now I became aware of the damaging effects of things we are using daily. To read more on my journey to naturally healing my Thyroid (when doctors said it was not possible) – Click Here (also lets connect and be insta buddies! I share SO many great recepies, tips, tricks, diy’s and what we eat in a day over on Instagram)
Fact Check Your Products
Did you know there is a free app called Think Dirty? You can download it and scan everything in your house from skincare, and makeup, to cleaning products, and it, will rate the products you are using daily on a scale of 1 to 10.
1-3 is Green meaning it has cleaner ingredients
3-7 is Yellow meaning it has some questionable ingredients you probably want to stop using it
8-10 is Red aka THROW IT AWAY right away! Toxic ingredients!
Let me save you a LOT of time – if you see the word “fragrance” or can smell it as an artificial fragrance IT WILL BE RED! Trash it…..you do not want to be using VOCs on your body or in your house!
Things most commonly found with VOCs:
- Candles
- Lotions & Perfumes
- Shampoos & Conditioner & other hair care products
- Laundry soaps
- Room Sprays
- Household Cleaners
- Car air fresheners
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) have a whole host of side effects on our health!
The American Lung Association said, “Breathing VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, can cause difficulty breathing and nausea and can damage the central nervous system as well as other organs. Some VOCs can cause cancer. Not all VOCs have all these health effects, though many have several.”
Minnesota Pollution Control says, “Exposure to VOCs themselves can cause a variety of health effects, including irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat; headaches and the loss of coordination; nausea; and damage to the liver, kidneys, or central nervous system. Some VOCs are suspected or proven carcinogens.”
VOCs have also been linked to chronic ear infections and diarrhea in toddlers and infants (who knew your favorite fall candle could cause such damaging health side effects to a child). They are proven to be at the top of the list of Autoimmune disruptors (hormone disruption) which leads to a dominions effect on other health issues.
You can quickly see why fact-checking what may seem to be “normal everyday” products like your deodorants can be such an alarming and urgent task! (Like after you read this article download the Think Dirty App and start your ditch and switch list right away)
So Why Tallow for Skincare
As I mentioned earlier, about the lotion commercials and how they proudly claim to be adding healthy ingredients for your skin like Vitamins B12, and so on….. well first those “vitamins” are cooked up in labs by scientists. This is the lowest form of supplementation we can get because our bodies do not recognize it and thus normally we just pee most of it out.
Second, this shows you these companies KNOW that our body “drinks” what we put on it….. so why would they put harmful synthetic chemicals like parabens, sulfates, and plastics in our skincare products?
(sorry that was rhetorical I am still trying to comprehend this question myself)
Tallow, which is rendered down beef suet, is L O A D E D with nutrients and vitamins!! We actually want our skin to drink up all that goodness!
So now that we know our skin is drinking the skincare we put on it, we have to choose skincare that we know is safe and natural. Ideally skincare is so clean we could eat it!
The antioxidants, conjugated linoleic acid (linked to cancer prevention and improved brain function), a rich source of vitamin E, A, K, and D, and fatty acids in Grass-Fed Tallow mimic our skin’s own natural oils making it a PERFECT pair!
Our skin LOVES tallow and can easily absorb all that goodness.
RootsCo Skincare
Using other powerful and beneficial oils such as coconut oil, and olive oil both contain their own power-packed nutrients for our skin. As well as the known powerful benefits of plant medicine using Essential Oils.
Though I am not a doctor and make no claims that essential oils can “heal you”. I will say I believe in the power plants have in healing.
In the US the medical industry quickly realized they could not patent a natural substance such as Lime Essential oil which contains high trace values of Delimonien which in medical studies has been proven to kill off cancer cells.
So instead they started getting scientists to cook up a synthetic version of these natural substances to put into medications that they could in fact patent and profit from.
Capitalism at its finest (insert sarcasm)
Years ago when I discovered this my search for natural products was a ruff one. No think dirty app. No idea how to read product labels (not sure a chemist could read them). And when I did find something clean and natural I normally didn’t like it much.
Thus, began my journey to make my own. And I fell in LOVE with it!
Who knew I was a chemist too?!?!?
But it was not until I stumbled upon tallow skincare that I felt this product needs to be sent out into the world. Funny I think of the scene from Cobra Kia where Johny said, “Sent it to the internet” (lol).
Why RootsCo Skincare?
After making my very first round of Grass-Fed Beef Tallow, and already learning of its amazing benefits for our skin. Growing up in my mom’s Beauty Salon, then later working my way through college as a makeup artist and skincare specialist, later on to the Medi-Spa industry working with plastic surgeons’ offices….. how could I resist?
My husband was so excited, “So babe we are cooking with tallow?” Me: “ummmmm well not yet, BUT (bright-eyed with excitement) I made some Tallow Cream for our face and body!”
Wish I could share his confused face with you, it is still forever in my mind.
Don’t worry, we do cook with tallow all the time now, and if you want to know why you should too CLICK HERE to read more on the health benefits of cooking with tallow (important note: BE SURE it is grass-fed grass-finished tallow we sell cooking tallow at roots co check it out on our shop page at the top).
Recap Why Your Skin Loves Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow?
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow is DEEPLY nourishing to our skin
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow most closely mimics our own skin cells’ biology
- Unlike a plant-based oil, Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow sinks into the skin, it does not just set on the top (leaving an oily feeling like a lot of butter and oils do)
- Our Skin can absorb Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow’s vitamins: A, D, K, E, and B12 (this combination of vitamins is only found in animal products, you will not find this powerful vitamin combo in plant-based products)
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow naturally has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties (this provides our skin with skin healing properties and antibacterial properties)
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow is great for acne-prone skin
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow is rich in minerals (over 89% of Americans are mineral deficient due to farming practices used in the western world)
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has natural anti-inflammatory properties
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow contains Omega 9 fatty acid also known as oleic acid helps the other nutrients penitrat deeply into the skin
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow contains palmitic acid which aids the ‘barrier’ function of the skin – keeping the bad stuff out
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow contains stearic acid which helps to repair damage to the skin, improves skins flexibility and suppleness
- Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow contains Omega 7 fatty acids, one of our skin’s basic building blocks, this aids our skin in giving us that youthful radiance and glow that naturally fades over time
Conclusion
Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow as you can see has a very long list of reasons why our skin LOVES it and why it feels so good on our skin. The fact that drugstore and department store beauty and skincare market so heavily all the “vitamins”.
Again these are synthetic, cooked up in a lab somewhere vitamins – NOT the ones found in plants and animals, thus our bodies don’t know how to process them and most of them end up in one end out the other…. literally flushing them down the toilet.
Whereas Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow, which most closely mimics our own skin cells’ natural makeup, can easily absorb into our skin giving us all the vitamins, nutrients, nourishment, and protection our skin needs and deserves naturally without any toxic synthetic chemicals!
There are 12 amazing reasons why anyone should trash the toxic chemical drugstore and department store skincare and go with a 100% all-natural (literally so safe you could eat it…..though I would not recommend that (doesn’t taste very good lol) skincare line like our own RootsCo and our Signature Tallow based skincare!
Thanks for visiting the blog, I hope your hand around and search for some other great and informative posts (like the ones listed below).
And before you go…..was there anything you learned today that you will implement right away? Comment below I would love to connect with you in the comment section! And if you purchase any RootsCo Skincare please share it on your SM. Let’s spread the message and help others rid themselves of beauty products that hurt their health!
RootsCo Skincare ……..because beauty should never harm your health!
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