I get one question more than any other: 'How on earth did you dare to put beef tallow in a face cream?' And it's a good question, and I admit, at first it sounds strange.
But when you start to find out what beef tallow really is and what it contains, the idea can change quite a bit!
The outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, consists of remnants of fat cells and lipids. This layer is called the protective barrier, and it does exactly what it sounds like: it protects. It keeps moisture in and irritants out. When this layer weakens, the skin reacts with dryness, itching, tightness, and sensitivity. This means the protective barrier is damaged in some way.
The fatty acid composition of beef tallow is biologically astonishingly close to the skin's own lipids. It contains stearic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid in the same proportion as human skin. Practically, this means that the skin recognizes tallow as its own and can utilize it directly in the skin's repair processes!
Compare this to mineral oil or silicone, which are found in most commercial face creams. They do not absorb but remain on the surface of the skin. The skin does not recognize them, so they cannot strengthen the barrier, let alone help the skin in its own repair processes. They often only temporarily mask the symptoms, but I dare say that in some cases, silicones and mineral oils even interfere with the skin's own reparative processes. The moisturizer you apply in the morning is a "coating," not nutrition for the skin.
Beef tallow absorbs in seconds. It doesn't leave a film or clog pores – in fact, it can help balance sebum production, because when the skin receives nourishment from the outside, it doesn't need to produce as much of its own sebum compared to when unsuitable oils and chemicals are applied to the skin.
Silky Sage has six ingredients: grass-fed beef tallow, calendula, sage, cold-pressed olive oil, beeswax, and tea tree oil. Each of them helps the skin in some way, and nothing has been chosen to keep the product on the shelf for years, which would require preservatives.
If your skin has been dry for as long as you can remember – or if caring for it takes too much time, money, and steps – this might be the simple solution you've been looking for!