Why We Choose Tallow Over Store-Bought Lotions

If you've ever flipped over a bottle of lotion and tried to read the ingredients, you’re not alone. Between the chemical names, synthetic fragrances, and preservatives, it's hard to know what you're really putting on your skin. That’s why we keep things simple around here—and why our family farm stands behind one time-tested, nutrient-dense ingredient: grass-fed tallow.

What is Tallow?

Tallow is rendered animal fat, typically from beef, and it’s one of the oldest skincare staples in the world. Our ancestors knew a thing or two about moisturizing—before there were factories and synthetic creams, there was tallow, and it worked.

At The OzzBarn Family Farm, we use locally sourced, grass-fed beef suet (Kidney Fat) to create our whipped tallow balms. It’s pure, creamy, and packed with skin-loving vitamins your body instantly recognizes.

Why Tallow is Better for Your Skin

Unlike water-based lotions, tallow is:

• Bioavailable: Your skin recognizes the structure of tallow, which mimics its own natural oils.
• Vitamin-Rich: It’s loaded with vitamins A, D, E, and K—crucial for skin repair, softness, and glow.
• Non-Comedogenic: Despite being a fat, it won’t clog pores. It supports a healthy skin barrier and can even help with conditions like eczema, dry patches, or flaky skin.
• Shelf-Stable: No sketchy preservatives needed. We whip it with a blend of oils like jojoba, olive, and essential oils for added benefits and a light, natural scent.

What’s In Most Lotions?

Here’s what you’ll often find in commercial moisturizers:

• Water (which dries out your skin without proper oils to lock it in)
• Synthetic emulsifiers (to keep oil and water from separating)
• Preservatives like parabens or phenoxyethanol (which can disrupt hormones)
• Fragrance (a blanket term for undisclosed chemical blends)

The truth? Most of those ingredients are there to improve texture, shelf life, or scent—not to actually nourish your skin. Personally, I care far more about what a product does than how it looks or smells—especially since I can’t stand the overwhelming, chemical-heavy fragrances in most commercial skincare.

Thankfully, tallow checks all the boxes. It whips into a rich, creamy balm with no added color, no artificial scent, and no unnecessary junk. Some of our tallow balms take on a slight hue depending on the herbs we infuse them with, but otherwise, our rendering process is dialed in to deliver optimal nutrients and a smooth, nourishing texture. And no—you won’t smell like a cow. Promise.

That said, every batch is just a little bit different. I tend to “measure with my heart,” and tallow itself varies depending on the breed, age, and diet of the animal. We do our best to minimize these natural differences, but we also embrace them—because real ingredients come with real personality.

A Farm-to-Skin Philosophy

We believe skincare should be as clean as your food. Our tallow is:

• Sustainably sourced
• Rendered in small batches
• Crafted with intention—just herbs, oils, and real animal fat. That’s it.

Whether you're slathering it on after a day in the sun, using it to calm down dry patches, or applying it to your baby's cheeks, our tallow balm is the kind of product you can feel good about using.

Want to Try It?

Explore our handcrafted Tallows to see what real nourishment feels like.
Your skin will thank you.

Curious in learning how to render your own tallow? We have created a Tallow 101 Rendering Guide to help you master the skill. Even if you're not interested in making your own skincare, tallow is amazing to cook with as well, and so much more beneficial than most the oils you can find in your local grocery store. Plus, you can use the same methods to render down some pork fat, also known as lard. Let me just tell you, a nice tri-tip smothered in some lard, with our all purpose seasoning The OzzBarn Blend is one of my most absolute favorites. I love it with the tallow as well, but these are our three main dinner prep items around here.