Get in on the amazing skin benefits of tallow, by making your own tallow lotion bars. These firm bars are great for dry skin, mild, and can be customized to your preferences, herbal needs, or allergies. Take advantage of local sources for beef fat, and dried or fresh herbs, to make these as local to you as possible.
Tallow is a useful ingredient for homemade salves and lotion bars. It can be locally sourced, or made from things you’re already purchasing. You don’t need to purchase rendered tallow to make lotion bars, you can use suet or beef fat trimmings to make your own using this method. Make your own grass-fed beef tallow with suet from grass fed beef, or use trimmings if you don’t have access to suet. Trimming beef fat works the same, but is slightly less rich in vitamins than suet.
Tallow is a semi-firm fat, so can be used in the place of other semi-solid fats in other recipes, as well. It can be used as a substitute for shea butter, or cacao butter.
You can infuse the liquid oils with any herbs you want to, for your skincare benefits. I like using calendula and lavender blossoms, chamomile, and other mild herbs. You can also tweak and adjust based on the herbs you have on hand, or what’s ready in your garden.
Tallow is good for skin hydration, and as an intense moisturizer. It helps nourish the skin, can be helpful to eczema, and can help form a protective layer against dryness.
Making a Tallow Lotion Bar:
Lotion bars are ideal for winter skin care. They are solid at room temperature and their thicker consistency heals rough winter heels, chapped hands, and dry, thickened elbows better than water-based lotions. They are easy to make in batches. Use a 2 ounce round silicone mold and gift them in cupcake papers, stacked in a wide-mouth pint jar, for a high value gift. 6 lotion bars will fit in a pint jar. The recipe can be doubled.
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How to Make a Tallow Lotion Bar
- Yield: 3 lotion bars, 2 ounce size 1x
Description
A tallow lotion bar that is easy to make, and can be customized if desired.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil or herb infused oil
- ¼ cup tallow
- ¼ cup beeswax pastilles
- 35 to 50 drops Lavender Essential Oil
Instructions
- Create a double boiler with a glass measuring cup and small saucepan.
- Measure the olive oil, tallow, and beeswax into the cup.
- Warm until the beeswax melts, monitor closely. Remove from heat.
- Add the essential oils and stir till combined.
- Pour into 2 ounce molds, silicon soap molds or candy molds work well. You can also use smaller molds, which will give you more bars.
- Allow the lotion bars to cool completely before removing from the molds.
- Package individually in 2 ounce tins or in groups in a jar, separated with cupcake liners. Small molds, like chocolate molds, can make single use bars that can also be packaged similarly for gifting. Use mini cup cake liners for mini bars.
- Store finished bars in a cool, dry place. The bars make great gifts, and are great to keep on hand for convenience when you run out too.
Yield: 3 lotion bars, 2 ounce size
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup olive oil or herb infused oil
- ¼ cup tallow
- ¼ cup beeswax pastilles
- 35 to 50 drops Lavender Essential Oil
Directions:
- Create a double boiler with a glass measuring cup and small saucepan.
- Measure the olive oil, tallow, and beeswax into the cup.
- Warm until the beeswax melts, monitor closely. Remove from heat.
- Add the essential oils and stir till combined.
- Pour into 2 ounce molds, silicon soap molds or candy molds work well. You can also use smaller molds, which will give you more bars.
- Allow the lotion bars to cool completely before removing from the molds.
- Package individually in 2 ounce tins or in groups in a jar, separated with cupcake liners. Small molds, like chocolate molds, can make single use bars that can also be packaged similarly for gifting. Use mini cup cake liners for mini bars.
- Store finished bars in a cool, dry place. The bars make great gifts, and are great to keep on hand for convenience when you run out too.
Notes: I like using calendula or St. Johns wort infused olive oil for this project. The extra anti-inflammatory and alterative properties of the herbs increase the skin healing qualities of this anti-inflammatory and vulnerary lotion bar. If you don’t have any infused oil, you can make a warm infusion using this method, or use regular olive oil.
Making your own lotion bars helps avoid artificial fragrances, and the various extra costs included when finished products in quantities are shipped for miles. Tallow bars are great for using local ingredients for skin care, and as a long-lasting moisture bar.
Swaps and Recipe Adjustments:
You can feel free to tweak and adjust the recipe as you need, for the ingredients or herbs you have on hand.
For example, you can use peppermint instead of lavender for the essential oils. Just remember that peppermint is strong, so you may want to use less of it.
Fractionated coconut oil can be substituted for the olive oil. You want a liquid at room temperature oil though, so that the lotion bar doesn’t end up too hard. Keep the liquid oil, firm fat, and wax ratios the same to keep a firm lotion bar.
For preservation and longevity of your finished lotion bars, add 1/4 teaspoon of vitamin e oil. If the lotion bars will be used up within 6 months it doesn’t make much difference, but for gifting, it can be nice to add the preservative oil. Just use caution as some vitamin E oils are made from wheat, and can be a topical allergen to those sensitive to it. This is why we don’t include vitamin E oil in the recipe.
Enjoying Your Lotion Bar:
Once you’ve made and cooled your tallow lotion bars, you can use them as needed on dry skin, dry hands, on your knees, elbows, face, and anywhere and however you want to use them.
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