Tallow vs. coconut oil for skin

Short answer: coconut oil is a light plant fat that's high in lauric acid, melts near room temperature, and rates higher on the pore-clogging scale for facial use. Tallow is closer in composition to human sebum, stays semi-solid at room temperature, and is generally better tolerated on faces. We use both — coconut oil in the deodorant, tallow throughout the line.

Composition

• Coconut oil: dominated by shorter saturated fats, especially lauric acid. Very stable, very light.
• Tallow: stearic, palmitic, and oleic acids — the same families that make up much of human sebum, plus naturally occurring fat-soluble vitamins in grass-finished fat.

Melt point and texture

Coconut oil turns liquid in the mid-70s °F, so it's oil in summer and a hard block in winter. Tallow holds a semi-solid, whippable texture across a much wider range and softens on contact with skin instead of in the jar.

Pore-clogging risk

The classic cosmetic-ingredient literature rates coconut oil higher on the comedogenic scale than tallow, which sits low. That's a general rating, not a prediction about your face — plenty of people use coconut oil happily, and plenty break out from things that shouldn't clog anything. Patch test either one.

Where each fits

• Coconut oil: body, hands, hair ends, and as a softener in a whipped formula — which is exactly why it's in our deodorant.
• Tallow: face and body moisturizing, dry patches, and anywhere you want a sebum-similar fat.

Keep reading

Read beef tallow for skin, compare it with a plant butter on tallow vs. shea butter, or see every ingredient we use and why.