beef tallow Beef tallow: a Guru Score of 52% from 5 experts

Every take, in full

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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✕Mixed

"Beef tallow is filled with healthy fats, fats that are anti-inflammatory. Plus, it can be quite moisturizing to your skin and it has a lot of healthy vitamins for your skin. So, beef tallow isn't necessarily bad for the skin, but it's also not necessarily anything that will technically deage your skin. Beef tallow can be a great moisturizer, and if you like it and you don't mind smelling a little bit like a burger, then it's okay to apply it on your skin. But a couple of caveats to that. Number one, beef tallow can be comedogenic. So, if you have a history of acne, then be careful with it and make sure that you're tolerating it fine and it's not causing breakouts. Beef tallow can eventually go rancid. So, ideally, you want to go with a commercially prepared option. And the third thing is don't expect that beef tallow is going to create those changes that you're seeing in these people's skin. While beef tallow can be an effective moisturizer for your skin, it's not something that's truly anti-aging like a retinol moisturizer or other actives."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

718k subs

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"You don't need to get beef tallow on your face and you're going to smell like a brisket. You're going to clog up your pores. This does not have any preservatives. This will go bad. beef tallow belongs in your cast iron skillet and not on your face. Be very careful with what can come with it. I see other products with essential oils or beeswax in it and both can cause an allergic contact dermatitis very commonly, especially on the face. Go with gentle skincare instead."

Mixed Makeup

1.47M subs

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"Here's my beef with beef tallow. People say, 'Oh, it's very similar to sebum and it's fatty acid concentration. So therefore, it shouldn't break people out.' I have news for you. Look at people with acne. What oil is breaking them out? Sebum. So, if you're putting something that's like sebum on the skin in somebody who has acne, like it will break them out, too."

Dr Dray

2.67M subs

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"The main drawback of using beef tallow is that it is not something that has preservatives in it, so you can't guarantee the stability of any of these given constituents whether it be vitamin A, D, E, or K, or the antioxidants. And because there are no preservatives, you also run the risk that with time it can go rancid, and that can be very problematic for your skin, cause irritation, skin problems, rashes, breakouts. Applying beef tallow to the skin generally speaking it's not unsafe to do that, and you know it's an emollient so it softens and smooths the skin. It may help with barrier function, but to what extent any of the constituents of beef tallow are going to truly yield skin benefit remains unaddressed by research study. People will claim all sorts of things, that it's got anti-aging properties, and they will try and extrapolate the fact that it has vitamin A and suggest that it is acting like retinol, which is not exactly true. You can't just have vitamin A there and expect it to get into your skin and act like retinol. It's just not the same thing."

All 2 takes from Dr Dray

Why Is Everyone Putting Beef Tallow On Their Skin?

"The main drawback of using beef tallow is that it is not something that has preservatives in it, so you can't guarantee the stability of any of these given constituents whether it be vitamin A, D, E, or K, or the antioxidants. And because there are no preservatives, you also run the risk that with time it can go rancid, and that can be very problematic for your skin, cause irritation, skin problems, rashes, breakouts. Applying beef tallow to the skin generally speaking it's not unsafe to do that, and you know it's an emollient so it softens and smooths the skin. It may help with barrier function, but to what extent any of the constituents of beef tallow are going to truly yield skin benefit remains unaddressed by research study. People will claim all sorts of things, that it's got anti-aging properties, and they will try and extrapolate the fact that it has vitamin A and suggest that it is acting like retinol, which is not exactly true. You can't just have vitamin A there and expect it to get into your skin and act like retinol. It's just not the same thing."

Beef Tallow for Skin: Dermatologist Explains the Truth

"There are some potential benefits for using beef tallow on the skin. Because tallow is rich in lipids, it can function as an occlusive and an emollient for the skin. That means it can help to reduce transepidermal water loss, support skin hydration, and support the needs of the skin barrier. Fatty acids like palmitic and stearic acid can help to reinforce the structure of the stratum corneum, that is the outermost layer of your epidermis. Oleic acid, which is another component of beef tallow, may also help enhance penetration of things into the skin, and it may also help to improve softness and flexibility of the skin surface. There's also some evidence that certain fatty acids can have anti-inflammatory effects and may even reduce the burden of the acne-causing bacterium, Cutibacterium acnes. So, from a purely biochemical standpoint, there is reason to think that tallow could be helpful for the skin. Here's where it gets complicated. The issue is that some of these fatty acids can also negatively impact your skin. For example, oleic acid, a penetration enhancer, can disrupt the skin barrier with ongoing use. That would lead to an increase in transepidermal water loss and dehydration of skin's outermost layer, an impairment in barrier function for skin conditions like eczema, acne, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis."

Dr. Whitney Bowe

74k subs

✕Mixed

"Beef tallow can disrupt the skin barrier. Some of that oleic acid in these products is bound up as triglycerides, so we're not sure exactly how much free oleic acid is being released onto the skin to do that damage, but I have seen some issues with my patients along the way. In general I'm not a huge fan of leave-on products with ingredients that are relatively high in oleic acid, and it's really about the ratio of linoleic acid to oleic acid, which isn't favorable with beef tallow. Another downside is that many beef tallow products I've seen on the market are also mixed with essential oils, and I have several patients with sensitive skin who react when they use leave-on products with essential oils. I've yet to see a beef tallow brand that's actually invested in clinical studies to prove safety."

Common questions

Frequently asked.

What is beef tallow?

Beef tallow is a rendered fat derived from beef that is marketed as a natural moisturizer and skincare ingredient.

Is beef tallow worth it?

Mostly no. None of the 5 gurus who reviewed it came away sold, leaving it a Guru Score of 52%.

What is beef tallow's Guru Score?

beef tallow holds a Guru Score of 52%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 5 independent expert reviewers we have collected.

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