Beef fat in soap?
Yep.
If you've never heard of tallow soap before, we know it might sound a little unusual. But tallow is actually one of the more traditional ingredients used in soapmaking, and there's a good reason it has stuck around.
It makes a really good bar of soap.
So what exactly is tallow soap, why would you want to wash with it, and does it smell like beef? Let's talk about it.
First, what is tallow?
Tallow is a traditional cooking and soapmaking fat made by slowly rendering the fatty tissue of animals, most commonly cattle or sheep. The tallow we use at Del Toro Ranch is beef tallow from grass-fed and finished cattle.
Rendering gently heats the fat so it can be separated from water and other solids, leaving behind the purified fat used in our soapmaking.
We combine our beef tallow with a thoughtfully selected blend of organic oils. When those fats and oils go through the soapmaking process known as saponification, they are transformed into soap.
So while beef tallow is where our recipe starts, what you end up washing with is a finished bar of soap.
Tallow soap isn't new
Long before grocery-store aisles were filled with bottles of body wash and brightly colored bars, people made soap using the fats and materials they had available.
Animal fats were a traditional choice.
Historical accounts of American soapmaking describe families collecting animal fats and combining them with lye and water to make soap. It was practical, useful and made use of a resource that might otherwise have been wasted.
So although tallow has received a lot of attention recently, tallow soap itself isn't a new trend.
It's a return to a very old soapmaking ingredient.
Why use tallow in soap?
Here's the simple answer:
Tallow makes a firm, long-lasting bar with a rich, traditional lather.
The reason comes down to its natural fatty-acid composition. Tallow contains fatty acids including oleic, palmitic and stearic acids. Those characteristics make it particularly useful to soapmakers when creating the kind of solid bar we want.
We combine our beef tallow with organic oils rather than relying on tallow alone. Each fat and oil brings something different to the recipe, and together they create the finished bar.
There's plenty of chemistry behind it.
But you don't need a chemistry degree to appreciate the result.
What about tallow and your skin?
This is where you'll find some pretty big claims online, so we prefer to keep things simple.
Tallow naturally contains fatty acids including oleic, palmitic and stearic acids. Interestingly, several of these fatty acids are also naturally present in human skin and sebum, the oily substance produced by our skin.
That doesn't mean tallow is identical to human sebum. It isn't. Human sebum contains a much more complex mixture of lipids, including wax esters and squalene.
Tallow can also naturally contain fat-soluble vitamins including vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as vitamin B12. You'll sometimes see those facts used to make some impressive claims about tallow skincare. Research into tallow used directly on human skin, however, is still limited.
And there's another important distinction:
We're making soap.
Our tallow goes through saponification with the other fats and oils in our recipe. The result is a rinse-off product, not raw tallow being applied to the skin as a moisturizer.
For us, the best reason to use tallow isn't a list of miracle claims.
It simply makes an excellent bar of soap.
Does tallow soap smell like beef?
This might be the question everyone is thinking but nobody wants to ask.
No, our Tallow Bars don't smell like beef.
Our tallow is rendered before it ever becomes part of a soap recipe, and then it goes through the soapmaking process with the other ingredients in the bar.
We don't add fragrance to cover anything up, either.
Like every Del Toro Ranch soap, our Tallow Bars are made without added fragrance or dyes.
They don't smell like beef, but fragrance-free doesn't mean completely odorless. Like our other fragrance-free bars, Tallow Bars have a subtle, natural earthy scent from the ingredients themselves. No added fragrance. Just the natural character of a handmade bar.
Does tallow soap leave your skin greasy?
No.
It helps to remember that washing with tallow soap isn't the same thing as rubbing rendered beef tallow onto your skin.
During saponification, the fats and lye in the recipe react to form soap. The finished Tallow Bar lathers and rinses away like soap should.
No greasy coating. No steak-scented shower. Just soap.
Is tallow soap better than plant-based soap?
We don't think it's that simple.
That's why we make both.
Our Tallow Bars begin with grass-fed and finished beef tallow combined with organic oils.
Our Signature Bars are plant-based and made with a thoughtful blend of organic oils, including organic shea butter.
They're different formulations that create different bars, and choosing between them often comes down to personal preference.
If you like the idea of a traditional soapmaking ingredient and a firm, long-lasting bar with a rich lather, Tallow might be your pick.
Prefer a plant-based base? That's exactly why we make Signature Bars.
Why do we make tallow soap?
Because sometimes an old-fashioned ingredient still makes sense.
Tallow has been used in soapmaking for generations. It creates the kind of firm, long-lasting bar we want, works beautifully alongside the organic oils in our recipe, and gives us another way to make simple soap without relying on added fragrance or dyes.
No miracle promises required.
Just a traditional ingredient, a carefully formulated recipe and a really good bar of soap.
Ready to try tallow soap?
Explore our handmade Tallow Bars, made with grass-fed and finished beef tallow and a blend of organic oils. Choose from Original, Oats & Honey, Cacao or Matcha.
Shop Del Toro Ranch Tallow Soap
Real Ingredients. Clean. Simple.
Sources & Further Reading
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Suds Up: How to Make Soap, 19th-Century Style
Smithsonian source
Russell MF, Sandhu M, Vail M, et al.
Tallow, Rendered Animal Fat, and Its Biocompatibility With Skin: A Scoping Review. Cureus. 2024.
PubMed source
