The very idea of ​​lubricating yourself with animal fat may not be so appealing initially. It sounds more like something our ancestors living in caves did. Not the modern man who has sophisticated laboratory and the opportunity for exact ingredients and delicious ingredients for the perfect skin cream.

In fact, humans have used tallow for a long time in healthcare and home use. It now seems according to studies that they knew exactly what they were doing!

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In the past, everything the animal had to give was taken care of. Fat was an important source of energy and nutrition. The fatty parts, unlike today, were coveted. In recent centuries, you can read about tallow as an ingredient in home care, such as candles and soaps. Due to faulty science saturated fat was seen as something unhealthy from the 50s, the fat disappeared both from the food and from the skin care. The fear of fat is still deeply rooted in us today and the processed vegetable based oils have had a greater impact in recent decades in the force for demonizise animal fat.

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Today, there are no studies that can show that saturated fat can cause disease. It has been thoroughly reviewed in many substantial reviews over the past decade. In fact, there are studies today that show the importance of saturated fat for us humans.

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Tallow is the name for "sebum" in Latin and means our sebaceous glands in the skin which is our own body softener and regulates moisture and fat in our skin.

Be prepared to fall off the chair! You are now about to learn about the perfect skin care.

Tallow is fat from cattle. Just like us humans, it has subcutaneous fat and fat that sits around the organs. This fat is called tallow. For our skin cream, we only use the tallow that sits around the animal's kidneys. So-called kidney tallow. It is healthy to both eat and lubricate the skin for its high content of vitamins, minerals and optimal fat composition.

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The perfect skin care in such a way that the tallow is almost identical to our own fat composition in the skin. The membranes of our cells are largely composed of fatty acids and 50% of it is saturated fat. You've probably only heard of saturated fat in food - like butter - but it's an essential part of our cell membrane. The saturated fat gives our skin elasticity and stability.

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The resemblance of tallow to our own skin means that it can mimic the caring and protective effects of our own skin. We are an animal so ingredients from the animal kingdom are more logical for us than the plant kingdom when it comes to finding natural skin care.

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In addition to the optimal fat composition, tallow contains important fat-soluble vitamins - A, D, K and in skin care the popular vitamin E. The tallow we use is from Swedish grass-grazing organic certified animals, which gives an optimal balance in the fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 and 9 (alpha linolenic acid and linolenic acid).

Let's take a closer look at the content of tallow and what effect it can have on our skin;

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Vitamins A, D, E and K - are important nutrients and fat soluble both for our inside and outside. Remember that the skin is our largest organ and absorbs nourishment that way as well. These vitamins are abundant in the tallow.

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Omega3 and omega 6 fatty acids - The balance of these two is almost optimal, ie 1: 1 in fat from grazing animals. It thus provides a good balance in anti-inflammatory effects for the skin. There is much evidence, if not scientific support, that it has a positive effect on rocacea and eczema.

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Stearic acid   and oleic acid - are fatty acids that are mostly found in our outer skin layer and in our sebaceous glands. They soften, moisturize, regenerate and have an anti-inflammatory effect. The stearic acid has a repairing effect and maintains the skin's flexibility. The oleic acid is a support for the nutrition to be able to penetrate deep into the skin.

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Conjugated linoleic acid - often referred to as CLA in skin care and used for its anti-inflammatory effects and is also antimicrobial.

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Palmitic acid - has an active antimicrobial effect. It is also one of the ingredients of our skin but which also decreases as we get older.

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Palmitic acid - helps our skin stay smooth and supple. Something that also decreases with age.

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The tallow  you see is a fantastic boost to nutrition and contains building blocks our body is well aware of and can use to repair, soften, moisturize and maintain our skin.

As the composition of the tallow is almost identical to our own skin, it is absorbed and easily absorbed by our skin. The body simply recognizes it!  

 

According to the comedogenic scale - which shows how likely fat sources in cosmetics can clog pores - tallow ends up low on a five-point scale. Both coconut fat and avocado fat as well as soybean oil will clog your pores more.

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But just like much else, it can be a little too much of a good thing. That is - "little goes a long way" - if you feel that it does not go into your skin, you have probably applied too much.

• Fallon, Sally, Enig, Mary G., PhD (2001). Nourishing Traditions. NewTrends Publishing, Inc., Washington: 11.

• Fallon: 18.

• James, William D.; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk M. (2006). Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology. Saunders Elsevier: 7.

• Thody, A. J.; Shuster, S. (1989). "Control and Function of Sebaceous Glands". Physiological Reviews. 69 (2): 383–416.

• Barbara Boughton, Ph.D., Victor R. Wheatley, Ph.D. (August 1959). "The Fatty Acid Composition of the Skin Surface Fat ('Sebum') of Normal Human Subjects", Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Volume 33, Issue 2

• Cheng JB, Russell DW (September 2004). "Mammalian Wax Biosynthesis: II. Expression Cloning of Wax Synthase cDNAs Encoding a Member of the Acyltransferase Enzyme Family"

• Ip, C, J.A. Scimeca, et al. (1994). "Conjugated linoleic acid. A powerful anti-carcinogen from animal fat sources." Cancer 74(3 suppl):1050-4.

• Fallon: 19.

• Enig, Mary G., PhD (Winter 2007). Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts. "Some Recent Studies on Fats".

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