You might have seen wellness influencers on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram touting the benefits of beef tallow for skin, emphasizing its moisturizing, all-natural qualities.
It’s understandable that people are looking for products that aren’t overloaded with ingredients they can’t pronounce. But “natural” doesn’t always mean that a product is healthy, and dermatologists agree that beef tallow should be avoided by most consumers.
We connected with Farah Moustafa, MD, a dermatologist at Tufts Medicine, to give us the lowdown on beef tallow for skin, including why it’s trending, beef tallow risks, and alternative products that can add moisture to your skin more safely.
What Is Beef Tallow?
Beef tallow is made by melting the fat that surrounds a cow’s organs. It’s similar to lard, which is made of pig fat. At room temperature, beef tallow is solid and creamy.
Traditionally, beef tallow is used like lard or shortening, for frying foods and in baking. But it’s also been used as a soap ingredient and skin product. Beef tallow is high in saturated fats, fatty acids, and vitamins A, D, E, K, and B12, which is why it’s promoted as a moisturizing and hydrating skin care product.
Why Is Beef Tallow Trending in Skin Care?
These days, “natural” skin care products are all the rage, and beef tallow is no exception. Beef tallow has been trending on social media for the past year or two as a homeopathic way to moisturize your skin, Dr. Moustafa says.
“It’s rich in fatty acids and has all these fat-soluble vitamins in it,” she adds. “So, there’s a kind of face-value appeal to it.”
People like it because it’s an animal product, not synthetic or viewed as a chemical-laden product made in a lab. “There’s this emphasis on clean beauty, and many of my patients will come in telling me they’ve tested all their skin care on websites that score how ‘clean’ they are,” Dr. Moustafa says.
But “natural” doesn’t always mean healthy or risk-free, she emphasizes.
It’s important, too, to consider the reasons why you’re seeing a product like beef tallow all over your social media feed. A 2025 analysis of social media influencers who push beef tallow found that most weren’t doing it to better the health of their viewers. Financial gain was the main motive behind social media posts about beef tallow, and the majority of health influencers had no healthcare background or credentials.
Potential Benefits of Beef Tallow for Skin
Dermatologists like Dr. Moustafa don’t recommend beef tallow for skin, but you still might be wondering if it has potential skin benefits. Is beef tallow helpful for dry skin? Can you use beef tallow for sensitive skin? Is it hydrating, moisturizing, or protective?
Beef tallow is rich in fatty acids and has emollient-like properties, Dr. Moustafa says. In this way, theoretically it would be moisturizing. But just because something may be able to moisturize your skin doesn’t mean you should use it that way.
“It’s like rubbing butter or oil on your skin,” Dr. Moustafa explains. “There is some value, but you can get that value in other ways, not necessarily beef tallow.”
Moreover, there isn’t substantial evidence to support beef tallow benefits for skin. In fact, in a 2024 scoping review, investigators noted that more research is needed to understand the role that beef tallow can play as a cosmetic product for use in humans.
Risks and Safety Concerns
Not only are there few evidence-based benefits to using beef tallow for skin, but there are some real risks to using it. Dr. Moustafa shared her greatest concerns:
- Pore Clogging and Breakouts. Many people wonder, “Is beef tallow comedogenic?” In other words, can it clog your pores? The answer is a definite yes, Dr. Moustafa says, and that’s her biggest issue with using beef tallow as a moisturizer. “It’s highly comedogenic,” she says. “So, people moisturize and they get horrible acne breakouts. That’s kind of like you’re solving one problem and creating another.”
- Allergic Reactions and Irritation. The other main issue Dr. Moustafa has with beef tallow is that it can cause allergic reactions and skin irritation. Interestingly, it’s not usually because of the beef tallow itself, but from other added ingredients. Beef tallow “often smells really bad,” Dr. Moustafa says, so “people will make a cocktail of things to try and cover or mask the smell, and those are the things that cause allergic contact reactions.” Typically, it’s an essential oil or other added fragrance that will cause an allergic reaction or skin irritation.
- Lack of Regulation and Quality Control. Since beef tallow is a natural skin care product, it’s unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and isn’t FDA-approved for use. Most beef tallow moisturizers are a DIY situation, and most people who sell it aren’t employing third-party testing to ensure it’s safe for consumers. “There’s no way to regulate it,” Dr. Moustafa says. “And people are making small batches and selling them in their TikTok shops and things like that.”
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use Beef Tallow?
Dr. Moustafa doesn’t recommend that anyone use beef tallow. Instead, she suggests using a commercially produced moisturizer that is noncomedogenic. But there are certain individuals who should take extra precautions and stay away from any beef tallow products.
“If someone has oily-prone skin at baseline, or they have highly inflammatory acne, a beef tallow moisturizer is for sure going to cause a problem,” she says.
Expert and Dermatologist Perspectives
It’s clear why people are attracted to “natural” skin care products like beef tallow, Dr. Moustafa says: “People are interested in more natural substances, and I think that’s a great idea in theory.”
There is value in digging deeper on topics pertaining to health. “It makes everybody more educated,” she says. “But you don’t want to fall into a TikTok trend or try something just because it’s online or on social media and it sounds good.”
Dr. Moustafa urges people to find products that can achieve similar things as beef tallow but aren’t something anyone can just cook up in their kitchen. “Some things are better left to formulation experts and chemists,” she emphasizes.
Additionally, as Dr. Moustafa notes, when it comes to skin care, the term “chemical” is not necessarily a bad word. “You know, everything is a chemical,” she says. “So, we have to be careful about fear mongering our everyday items.”
If people find themselves interested in beef tallow moisturizers, Dr. Moustafa recommends they try a “clean beauty product” that’s been commercially manufactured, regulated, and recommended by your dermatologist.
How to Use Beef Tallow Safely (If You Choose To)
Dr. Moustafa is clear that beef tallow isn’t something you should try, period.
“We generally try to point people in a different direction,” she says. As such, she doesn’t recommend any particular techniques for using it more safely. “I don’t think that there’s a scenario where I would be like, OK, use it in this way or some other ‘right way.’”
That said, if beef tallow is something you’d like to try on your skin despite warnings against it, talk to your dermatologist about best practices, such as patch testing the product on a small area of skin before trying it on your face.
Beef Tallow vs. Other Moisturizers
So, how to compare beef tallow vs. modern moisturizers? Again, the bottom line here is that beef tallow isn’t something you should use on your skin. Not only is it unregulated, but its benefits are not proven. For many people, beef tallow products can cause increased acne, skin irritations, and even allergic reactions.
Most people who are interested in beef tallow “want a thick emollient-based moisturizer, something with a lot of lipids,” Dr. Moustafa says. People interested in beef tallow might also be looking for a moisturizer rich in ceramides, which lock in moisture and protect the skin barrier.
You can get a moisturizer with these qualities that is much safer to use on your skin. Dr. Moustafa recommends looking for a lipid-based moisturizer that has ceramides in it: “That will get you those kinds of rich emollient results without necessarily clogging pores, causing acne, or some of the other issues that are associated with beef tallow.”
Finally, always check labels before purchasing a skin moisturizer. “I have my patients always check to make sure that product is noncomedogenic, because your everyday drugstore product can also clog pores and cause acne,” Dr. Moustafa says.
