Safe, Traditional Skin Care- Vintage Tradition Tallow Balm

I have to share my latest find with you- Vintage Tradition Tallow Balm. These amazing balms are completely natural (to the point of being edible) and do wonders for your skin.

When we had our sustainable farmstead,  my hands were really chapped. We also had a lot of dry skin in the New England winter that nothing would touch. I tried all my go-to stuff- shea butter, coconut oil, natural lotions- but nothing, and I mean nothing, comes remotely close to the results I get with tallow balm.

Silky smooth, non-greasy hands…and let’s not forget to mention knees, elbows and heels. As a barefoot enthusiast, my heels aren’t always their smoothest…and this tallow balm is the ONLY thing that’s ever kept them smooth for longer than a day or two.

Wait, what? TALLOW?   What is tallow?

Tallow is gently rendered animal oil, (aka: fat) usually from cows or sheep. Our ancestors overwhelmingly used tallow to care for their skin until animal products fell out of fashion and were replaced with chemicals, petroleum products, chemically fractionated plant products, and synthetic vitamins.

Why use tallow in skin care products?

Tallow is nature’s original skin care product and works better than the man-made products that began to replace it in the 20th century. Modern-day research has confirmed the traditional wisdom of our ancestors. Tallow contains abundant natural fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and fat-soluble activators, which are found only in animal fats and which all promote skin health. Tallow also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, and palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties.

Vintage Tradition makes each and every one of their tallow balms, by hand, with only three ingredients- 100% grassfed, beyond organic beef tallow, pure olive oil and pure essential oils! They are careful during production to use only stainless steel and glass (no plastics).

Most personal care products are absolutely laden with toxic chemicals, which are absorbed through your skin, reaching your organs within a short time frame. If you don’t know where your favorite products stand, you can check them out at the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. If you’ve never checked this before, you will really be in for quite a shock. Suffice it to say, sticking with natural products is definitely the way to go.

You know what else is really cool?

Vintage Tradition is so committed to getting the word out about healthy, chemical-free skin care products that they openly share exactly how they make their tallow balms, so if you have a plethora of tallow hanging around or if you are committed do-it-yourselfer, you can make your own tallow balm. You can find a full breakdown (with super helpful pictures) HERE.

For those of us who would rather buy the pre-made tallow balm, Vintage Tradition is available via THIS LINK.


There are NINE scents to choose from, including totally unscented, and remember- it’s from pure essential oils NOT fragrance oils. There are also two sizes, a 2 oz. and a 9 oz. I buy the 9 oz about 3 times per year. I use the tallow balm daily- on my face as a moisturizer, and on hands, knees, elbows and heels.

The original scents are:

Pretty Girly Scent is very floral and sort of rose-like. It contains the essential oils of lavender, elemi, palmarosa, geranium, and celery seed. It’s very nice, but I am not typically a floral fan. This scent is definitely a bit stronger and lingers for awhile on the skin. However, I will use this up because it feels so great and it so nourishing!

Mild Manly Scent is very clean and fresh and is actually my FAVORITE! (Hey, it’s not just for guys!) Matt and I actually fought over this jar and I keep finding it in his cabinet. This one is scented with the essential oils of cedarwood, ylang ylang, lavender, basil, and sandalwood. This scent lingers just enough to softly scent the skin and I love it!

Almost Unscented is very mild and the smell doesn’t linger. I think anyone would be happy with this scent and this (or totally unscented) would be great for kiddos and babies. This one is scented with cedarwood, lavender, and sandalwood essential oils.

Totally Unscented  contains no essential oils, which would normally neutralize the scent of the tallow. The scent of tallow is distinctive although not necessarily unpleasant. This would be ideal for someone with scent sensitivity or for littles.

And the newer scents are:

Rugged Cliff contains the following essential oils: patchouli, Roman chamomile, bergamot, elemi

Outdoor Spice contains the following essential oils: elemi, cedarwood, geranium, balsam fir, cinnamon bark, clary sage, orange, eucalyptus radiata

Windswept contains the following essential oils: carrot seed, German chamomile, spearmint, clove, grapefruit

Sensible has a clean, balanced, fresh-air scent. It contains the following essential oils: Roman chamomile, clary sage, myrtle, ginger, tangerine

Campfire Glow contains the following essential oils: Melaleuca alternifolia, hyssop, rosemary, ginger, tarragon, grapefruit

Which one would you like to try?

 

 

Comments are closed.