Best Beef Tallow Soap

Tallow soap is bar soap made by saponifying rendered beef fat instead of the palm and seed oil blends most modern bars run on. Grass-fed beef tallow is the single largest ingredient in every Eat My Face bar, more than half of it by weight, saponified with coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter, then cut into 4.5 oz bars in Eugene, Oregon. Tallow's fatty-acid profile sits close to human sebum, so the bar cleans without the tight, squeaky, where-did-my-face-go feeling detergent bars leave behind. Three scents: Unscented, Mint (peppermint and spearmint), Citrus (bergamot and orange). Bars are $13.99, twin packs $22.98, the three-bar sampler $29.99. Every ingredient in every bar is listed below, sodium hydroxide included, because the rule here is simple: if you wouldn't eat it, don't wear it.

Not sure which bar? Start with Unscented if your skin reacts to things. Take Mint if you shower to wake up, Citrus if you want the bathroom to smell good. Can't decide? The three-bar sampler is all three, $29.99.

What is tallow soap, and why beef fat?

Tallow soap is what happens when rendered beef fat meets a lye solution. That reaction is saponification, and it is how soap got made for a few thousand years before the industry found cheaper fats and a fragrance budget. Bringing it back is not nostalgia. Beef tallow's fatty-acid profile is dominated by oleic and palmitic acid, the same two that dominate human sebum, which is why a tallow bar feels conditioning rather than stripping. Tallow also carries the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K that live in animal fat. The science of tallow soap goes deeper on the sebum match.

What is actually in each bar

Plenty of brands print an ingredient list. Almost nobody prints the lye. Here is every bar, in descending order by weight.

Unscented Beef Tallow Soap Bar, 4.5 oz, $13.99

Grass-Fed Beef Tallow, Distilled Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponified), Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter. Six ingredients, tallow first and by a wide margin. No essential oils, no fragrance, and nothing added to mask a smell, because there isn't one. Shop Unscented →

Citrus Beef Tallow Soap Bar, Bergamot + Orange, 4.5 oz, $13.99

Grass-Fed Beef Tallow, Distilled Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponified), Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Orange Essential Oil, Bergamot Essential Oil. Same base as the Unscented bar with two real citrus oils on top. Not a fragrance blend hiding behind the word "parfum," which is where the citrus smell in most soap comes from. Shop Citrus →

Mint Beef Tallow Soap Bar, Peppermint + Spearmint, 4.5 oz, $13.99

Grass-Fed Beef Tallow, Distilled Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponified), Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Peppermint Essential Oil, Spearmint Essential Oil. Real mint leaf oils, not synthetic menthol, so the tingle fades instead of hanging around. Shop Mint →

Multipacks and sets

A Mint twin pack or Citrus twin pack is two identical bars for $22.98. The Sensitive-Skin Starter Pack is $31.00 and pairs a Citrus bar with the Original tallow moisturizer, so you cleanse and re-moisturize with the same fat.

Is tallow soap good for dry or sensitive skin?

It is why most people try it. Detergent bars are excellent at lifting oil and not remotely fussy about whether that oil belonged to you. Tallow soap cleans through saponified fats instead, and the shea and cocoa butter stay behind as a light conditioning layer, so skin feels comfortable, not tight. If your skin runs dry, reactive, or annoyed by most things, start with the Unscented bar. No bar works for everyone, though, and this is a cosmetic cleanser, not a treatment for any skin condition. Patch test on a forearm first.

Can you use tallow soap on your face?

Yes, and these bars were designed around it. Every real soap sits at an alkaline pH, this one included, so follow it with a moisturizer instead of letting skin air-dry and tighten. Lather in your hands rather than dragging the bar across your face, wash a few seconds, rinse lukewarm, moisturize while damp. Fragrance-sensitive skin should keep Mint and Citrus below the neck. Why regular soap dries out your skin handles the pH part.

Tallow soap versus the bar in your shower right now

Flip over a supermarket bar and you will usually find sodium palmate or sodium palm kernelate near the top, a synthetic fragrance blend hiding behind one word, plus a chelator and a whitener. It is engineered to foam hard, smell loud and cost almost nothing. A tallow bar trades that for a shorter list: fat, water, lye, two butters and, if you want it, a real essential oil. The lather is creamier and quieter, and it costs more per ounce because grass-fed tallow costs more than palm oil. You get skin that feels supple instead of squeaky.

Who should skip tallow soap

Vegans and vegetarians, straightforwardly. There is no plant version of what tallow does here, and swapping in seed oils would make it a different product, so we won't pretend otherwise. Anyone chasing a big squeaky foaming lather will be disappointed, because that is a detergent effect and there are no detergents in these bars. If your skin is broken or actively irritated, let it settle first. If you are managing a diagnosed skin condition, talk to your dermatologist. Soap is soap.

Tallow soap FAQ

Does tallow soap smell like beef?

No. Rendered, filtered tallow is close to odorless, and saponification changes the fat completely. The Unscented bar smells faintly like clean soap and nothing else. A tallow bar that smells barnyard-y is badly rendered fat or a bar gone rancid, not a normal characteristic of tallow soap.

Is there lye in the finished bar?

No, and this is worth explaining rather than dodging. Sodium hydroxide is in the recipe for every real bar of soap on earth, ours included, and most brands simply never mention it. During saponification the lye reacts with the fats and stops existing as lye. Our bars are also superfatted, meaning the recipe carries slightly more fat than the lye can consume. What comes out of the mold is soap plus a little leftover fat, which is exactly why it feels conditioning.

Is tallow soap vegan?

No, and it never will be. The bar is mostly beef fat, which is the entire point, since tallow's fatty-acid profile is closer to human sebum than any plant butter gets. If you need a plant-only bar, this is not it. Better you hear that here than at checkout.

Does tallow soap clog pores?

Generally no. Saponified fats rinse away instead of sitting on skin, so a properly made tallow bar leaves no occlusive film. Skin still varies, and some people find any rich bar too much on the face. If that is you, lather in your hands rather than on your skin, or keep it to the body.

Can I use tallow soap on my face?

Yes. Lather in your hands, wash for a few seconds, rinse with lukewarm water, and moisturize while your skin is still damp. Skip the scented bars around your eyes. Fragrance-sensitive skin should use Unscented on the face and keep Mint or Citrus for the shower.

Can I use tallow soap on a baby?

Plenty of parents use the Unscented bar for exactly that: six ingredients, no essential oils, nothing added for scent. We would not put a scented bar on an infant. Newborn skin is its own situation, so ask your pediatrician first and patch test before a full bath.

How long does one bar last?

Four to six weeks for one person showering daily with a 4.5 oz bar, longer if it only sees your face and hands. Storage matters more than usage. A bar on a draining dish that dries fully between showers can last nearly twice as long as one sitting in a puddle.

Does tallow soap lather like regular soap?

Not identically, and anyone who says otherwise is selling. A tallow bar gives a dense, creamy, lower-volume lather instead of the tall foam a detergent body wash makes, because that foam comes from surfactants we do not use. The coconut oil gives it enough bubble to feel like real soap. If your idea of clean is a mountain of suds, give it two showers to adjust.

Grass-fed beef tallow, saponified and cut into bars in Eugene, Oregon. If you wouldn't eat it, don't wear it.