When it comes to skincare, understanding the ingredients you put on your skin is vital. Tallow has steadily been on the rise of popularity in the past few years albeit has been traditionally and safely used for centuries both in the household kitchen for cooking, candles, and even in skincare. Vaseline— the chemical component of refined crude oil, has been compared to tallow with tallow’s recent rise to fame. It appears that Dermatologists (and apparently plastic surgeons too) have been using demeaning and dehumanizing tactics and verbiage on their social media to discredit this all natural, sustainable and un-regulate-able constituent. This has stirred debate over their effectiveness and safety. Let’s deep dive and set this debate to rest. We’ll get into what sets these two apart, their impact on skin health, and why one (rightfully) outshines the other as a skincare staple.
A TikTok Plastic Surgeon by the name of Dr. Dhivya Srinivasa is confident in her “abilities” and paper-degree privileges to tell others why tallow is a silly, "unscientific" fantasy essentially made-up by “trad-wives” on the internet, that has no place in the skincare world. But how much of what she is saying is actually true?
Glazing over the fact that these two “moisturizers” are vastly different is a bit irresponsible and ignorant. While both are occlusive, one is found in nature, breathable and beneficial with vitamins and nutrients while the other is a bleached, deodorized and refined crude oil with residual contaminants like carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and paraffins. Lets get into it.
The Origins of Tallow and Vaseline
What Is Tallow?
Tallow is a natural, rendered fat derived from animals, most commonly cows or sheep. Historically, it has been used for centuries in skincare, soap-making, cooking, and even candle production. Its composition closely resembles human sebum, the skin’s natural oil, making it biocompatible with our own skins chemical makeup. It’s also rich in lipids and ceramides. Tallow is low in Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA’s) making it exceptional for cooking and food consumption due to it’s low inflammatory response in the bodies metabolization.
What Is Vaseline?
Vaseline, also known as petroleum jelly, was discovered in the mid-19th century as a byproduct of crude oil refining. It’s processed through bleaching and deodorizing to make it cosmetically acceptable. While widely used as a moisture barrier, its synthetic origins and lack of nutrients spark concerns among natural skincare enthusiasts. It also can contain residual contaminants like PAH’s which are known carcinogens. According to Petro-ACC, a petrochemical company, “Vaseline is a heavy chain of carbon, hydrogen, and Nitrogen that is mainly produced from heavy oils and solid paraffin (microcrystalline wax). Vaseline mainly contains 60% white mineral oil (a by-product of refining crude oil), 20% microcrystalline wax, and 20% paraffin wax.”
How Do They React with the Skin?
Tallow: A Skin-Friendly Superfood
Tallow boasts an impressive profile of skin-beneficial nutrients:
- Vitamins A, D, E, and K: Essential for skin repair, elasticity, and hydration.
- Lipids and Ceramides: Help restore the skin barrier and lock in moisture while maintaining breathability.
- Anti-Inflammatory Properties: Soothe irritated skin and promote healing and encourage skin cell regeneration.
- Deep Penetration: Thanks to its similarity to our sebum, tallow absorbs easily, nourishing the skin without inherent need of other products.
Tallow’s natural composition makes it particularly suitable for dry, sensitive, or aging skin. It’s also non-comedogenic making it an excellent option for various skin types. In rare cases there are however few individuals who do not mediate tallow well on the delicate areas of their skin (like face and decollate) due to it’s richness in saturated fat content. This is different than the non-breathable, impenetrable occlusion Vaseline creates and that can cause acne due to heat and trapped bacteria. Tallow is generally well appreciated by all skin types.
Vaseline: An Occlusive Moisture Barrier
Vaseline works by forming an impermeable layer on the skin’s surface. While this has been proclaimed to be beneficial for “preventing water loss”, it also:
- Traps Heat and Bacteria: since it’s a non-breathable occlusion, unlike tallow or beeswax, it can exacerbate acne and irritation.
- Lacks Nutritional Value: Vaseline contains no vitamins, lipids, or healing compounds due to it being an inorganic and man-made chemical compound.
- Potential for Skin Dependency: Overuse may hinder the skin’s natural ability to regulate moisture. Instead of aiding and working with the body to promote our own regulation of moisture, using an occlusive like vaseline can create a co-dependency and dis-regulation of natural oil production and moisture preservation.
According to this study, on the skin occlusion performance of a cream made of solid lipid nanoparticles and Vaseline, the suitability of formulations containing SLNs (solid lipid nanoparticles) as an efficient occlusive product was evaluated in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo. A comparison of the occlusion factor deemed the superiority of the SLN formulation to Vaseline as a positive reference was confirmed by the in vivo studies. “SLNs probably penetrate into skin pores and by blocking them prevents the SC water evaporation.[…] The formulation containing just 10% lipid resulted in better occlusion properties than the gold standard, Vaseline, which is a greasy vehicle.” In conclusion, a product with Lipids permeates better and prevents higher water-loss than vaseline. “The superiority of SLN formulation to Vaseline as a positive reference was confirmed by the in vivo study. SLN formulation resulted in much thicker stratum corneum than Vaseline.[…] It was concluded that formulations containing SLNs can be used as efficient skin moisturizer products.”.
Interesting. So lipids and ceramides are more effective than Vaseline in preserving hydration and moisturization of the skin? This contradicts what our TikTok Derm had to say. They’re also safer too, read on.
The Hidden Dangers of Petroleum Jelly
While Vaseline is often marketed as “pure,” studies have uncovered concerns about its true safety:
- Residual Contaminants: Even after refining, petroleum jelly can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are linked to cancer. A study published in Environmental Science & Technology found measurable levels of PAHs in petroleum-based products. Vaseline also includes paraffin wax, a known carcinogen and another gasoline by-product.
- Skin Barrier Disruption: Research suggests that prolonged use of occlusive substances like Vaseline can weaken the skin’s natural barrier over time, leading to dependency.
- Environmental Impact: Derived from non-renewable crude oil, Vaseline’s production contributes to environmental degradation. The very use of Vaseline would not even be possible if not for the mandatory use of chemical processing to bleach, deodorize and refine the raw crude oil. Somethings that quality tallow doesn’t naturally even require but crude oil (petroleum jelly/vaseline) does.
According to A review on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Source, environmental impact, effect on human health and remediation; “Many PAHs have toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic properties. PAHs are highly lipid soluble […] [and] are rapidly distributed in a wide variety of tissues with a marked tendency for localization in body fat.” Interesting, considering our bodies naturally produce lipids and may be a means of vehicle to deliver these PHA’s into the skin and possibly even directly to the bloodstream.
“It has been proven that PAHs can cause carcinogenic and mutagenic effects and are potent immune-suppressants. […] There are a few commercial uses for many PAHs. They are mostly used as intermediaries in pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, photographic products, thermosetting plastics, lubricating materials, and other chemical industries [13]. However, the general uses of some PAHs are:
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Acenaphthene: manufacture of pigments, dyes, plastics, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
- Anthracene: diluent for wood preservatives and manufacture of dyes and pigments.
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Fluoranthene: manufacture of agrochemicals, dyes and pharmaceuticals.
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Fluorene: manufacture of pharmaceuticals, pigments, dyes, pesticides and thermoset plastic.
- Phenanthrene: manufacture of resins and pesticides.
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Pyrene: manufacture of pigments.
“PAHs are also found in petroleum products. […] The health effects of individual PAHs are not exactly alike. In fact, the International Agency for Research on Cancer [8] classifies some PAHs as known, possibly, or probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 1, 2A or 2B). Among these are benzo[a]pyrene (Group 1), naphthalene, chrysene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[k]fluoranthene and benzo[b]fluoranthene (Group 2B) [8]. Some PAHs are well known as carcinogens, mutagens, and teratogens and therefore pose a serious threat to the health and the well-being of humans” it’s also worthy to note that the European Union classifies petroleum as a carcinogen and restricts its use in cosmetics.
How Tallow's Vitamins Are Absorbed into the Skin
Our Tik Tok Surgeon seems to be under the impression that “nothing gets absorbed” from tallow when applied topically. Let’s talk about it.
Tallow’s fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) are absorbed into the skin thanks to its lipid-rich composition, which closely resembles human sebum like we mentioned earlier.
- Fat-Soluble Nature: These vitamins reside in tallow’s lipids, allowing them to penetrate the skin’s outer layers (stratum corneum) effectively as we discussed earlier.
- Skin Barrier Permeability: The lipid matrix of tallow integrates into the skin, seamlessly facilitating deeper absorption into the epidermis and dermis.
- Role of Lipids and Ceramides: Tallow’s ceramides repair the skin barrier, enhancing the delivery of vitamins and moisture.
Supporting Studies:
- A study in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (2004) emphasized that lipid-soluble vitamins penetrate the skin more effectively when delivered in a lipid matrix.
- Research in Dermato-Endocrinology (2012) highlighted the benefits of vitamin A for improving skin cell turnover and collagen production. -Hence the common comparison of tallow and it’s high vitamin A content to “retinol” in the natural skincare world.
- A study in Clinical Pharmacokinetics (1991) showed that the skin absorbs lipid-based compounds better than water-based ones due to the stratum corneum’s lipid-rich nature.
How Much Topical Application Gets Absorbed?
Let’s revisit what our TikTok Surgeon stated, that “nothing actually gets absorbed” since tallow isn’t a “small enough molecule” then the benefits that reside in tallow don’t get absorbed by the skin and body. According to her logic, anything applied to the skin would have to be a specific molecule to be absorbed. Which isn’t inherently true.
It’s a known fact that approximately 60% of topically applied substances can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream.
Factors Influencing Absorption:
- Molecular Size: Smaller molecules like vitamins A and E penetrate more easily. We know tallow contains both of these vitamins.
- Lipid Solubility: Fat-soluble compounds are better absorbed than water-soluble ones. We know tallow is rich in lipids and ceramides. We also reviewed the studies which proclaimed that lipids permeate the skin better and deeper.
- Skin Integrity: Damaged or inflamed skin absorbs compounds more readily. Therefor, this further suggests that using tallow as an occlusion to help repair a compromised skin barrier can actually be more beneficial than Vaseline because of the many healing constituents found in tallow.
Another study in Nutrients (2015) demonstrated that vitamin D can be effectively absorbed through the skin when delivered in a lipid base, enhancing its bioavailability.
Tallow is remarkably effective at being absorbed into the skin, largely due to its unique composition. Its structure mimics sebum, the skin’s natural oil, allowing it to integrate seamlessly into the skin’s lipid barrier. This similarity ensures that the skin readily accepts tallows biocompatibility, promoting deeper penetration of its nutrients and even furthermore when the skin may be slightly compromised.
The fat-soluble vitamins in tallow—A, D, E, and K—are delivered directly into the skin’s layers where they can be utilized for cellular repair and nourishment. And what exactly do these vitamins do? -Vitamin A supports skin cell turnover and promotes collagen production, essential for maintaining elasticity and reducing signs of aging. Vitamin D helps regulate skin function and can soothe inflammation, while vitamins E and K provide antioxidant protection and improve skin resilience. Ceramides and fatty acids in tallow reinforce the skin’s natural barrier, preventing moisture loss and restoring its protective functions. Best of all, none of these components are synthetically added or produced. They’re all found directly from the nature of tallow itself.
Scientific studies underscore this absorption process. For example, research in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (2004) highlights that lipid-soluble nutrients penetrate the stratum corneum more effectively when delivered in a fat-based medium like tallow. Additionally, Dermato-Endocrinology (2012) emphasizes the role of vitamin A in improving skin health when applied topically in a lipid base. Tallow’s skin-friendly composition makes it impeccable for both vitamin and nutrient absorption and use in locking in moisture, preventing water-loss while also allowing the skin to breathe and not trap bacteria or foreign contaminates.
Why Tallow Is a Superior Alternative
Okay, we’ve discussed, we’ve debunked and unfortunately for our TikTok Surgeon, things aren’t looking so bright, factually. Now let’s gather what we’ve learned and weigh which component deserves a higher place in the skincare hierarchy.
Nutrient-Rich and Natural
Unlike Vaseline, tallow is packed with skin-healing components that work in harmony with the body. Its vitamins, ceramides, and fatty acids support the skin’s natural health and repair functions, promoting long-term health of the complexion rather than providing a quick fix.
Breathable and Non-Toxic
Tallow allows the skin to breathe, ensuring moisture retention without clogging pores. Its natural origin also eliminates concerns about harmful contaminants or synthetic additives.
Sustainable and Ethical
When sourced responsibly, tallow is a byproduct of farming, making it a sustainable and eco-friendly choice for skincare enthusiasts seeking to reduce waste.
Closing Thoughts
Tallow and Vaseline both have occlusive effects, but their similarities end there. Tallow offers a holistic approach to skincare, delivering nutrients that heal and nourish the skin found directly in nature with minimal and chemical-free processing, while Vaseline acts merely as a temporary moisture seal and is made by chemically refined, bleached and deodorized crude oil and paraffin wax. For healthier, more radiant skin, tallow reigns supreme and with good reason.
Next time a “health professional” tries to demean or dismantle an ingredient that has been used and loved by the masses for centuries, just for the fun of it, let’s pause and question their actual motives. Is what they’re saying helpful? Is it beneficial to me, or is it beneficial to them to do so? And lastly and most importantly, is it profitable -for them- to oppose or promote xyz?
By opting for tallow over petroleum jelly, you’re not just choosing healthier care for your skin—you’re embracing a natural, sustainable, and effective solution that’s been around longer than you and I have, and you’re choosing one that truly supports your skin’s overall well-being.
What are your thoughts? Was this helpful? Do you agree with our Tik Tok Surgeon? Share what’s on your mind below.
xx
estele | @ehstele
References
- Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (2004) - Highlights lipid-soluble nutrient penetration through the stratum corneum in a fat-based medium. Link
- Dermato-Endocrinology (2012) - Emphasizes the benefits of vitamin A for skin health. Link
- A comparative histological study on the skin occlusion performance of a cream made of solid lipid nanoparticles and Vaseline https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4691958/
- Environmental Science & Technology - Study on residual PAHs in petroleum-based products. Link
- Nutrients (2015) - Discusses vitamin D absorption through the skin via lipid bases. Link
- Clinical Pharmacokinetics (1991) - Explains lipid-based compound absorption through the skin. Link