Rendered cow fat is showing up in celebrity skincare routines, viral TikToks and dermatology offices alike — and the question of whether beef tallow for skin actually works is now impossible to scroll past.
Khloé Kardashian is the latest big name to endorse it, joining a growing list of influencers who swear by the old-school ingredient. But experts say the science has not caught up to the hype.
Here is what to know before you smear cow fat on your face.
What Khloé Kardashian said about beef tallow for skin
During an “Ask Me Anything” episode of her Khloé In Wonderland podcast, the 41-year-old Good American cofounder was asked about her skincare routine.
Her tips started predictably — facials, washing your face daily, never sleeping in makeup. Then came the curveball.
“I believe in hydration for your skin — moisturizers at night,” Kardashian said. “I love beef tallow that I put specifically around my eyes.”
“Something that makes your eyes — it could be an oil, Vitamin E oil — anything that makes your eyes really lubricated, so when you sleep you don’t get wrinkles around your eyes,” she explained.
Other celebrities that use beef tallow for skin
Kardashian is far from the first famous face to endorse the ingredient. Beef tallow has been circulating on social media for years, propelled largely by influencers and celebrities.
Wellness influencer Hannah Bronfman has used it since at least 2021 and publicly backed it in a March 2023 Instagram post.
“Guys, I literally slather this all over my face every single night,” she said, calling it a “game-changer” for her skin. Bronfman pointed to its lipids and fat-soluble vitamins — A, D, E, K and B12 — as reasons it works for her.
Pop singer Jack Gilinsky, one-half of the duo Jack & Jack, confirmed his use during a February 2024 appearance on the Zach Sang Show.
“Beef tallow is just beef fat,” Gilinsky said. “I rub it all over my face.”
“Go look at your moisturizer. It probably has like 50 ingredients and you might know what two of them are,” he added. “Beef tallow is just beef tallow — it’s just beef fat.”
TikTok influencer Nara Smith pushed the trend further in May 2024 when she shared a video of her husband, Lucky Blue Smith, making a homemade beef-tallow moisturizer from scratch.
“My husband’s usual moisturizer ran out, so he decided to whip up a batch from scratch!” she wrote in the caption.
What experts say about beef tallow for skin
Dermatologists understand the appeal, but most are not convinced.
“It gets promoted a lot on social media because it’s natural,” dermatology resident Angela Wei, MD, told the Cleveland Clinic. “People seem to like it because it’s something that’s been around for a long time and marketed as ‘chemical-free.’”
Beef tallow does contain fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. But Wei warned that it could clog pores and trigger irritation, allergic reactions or sunburn — and that the research backing the trend is thin.
“There’s no evidence that shows beef tallow has any additional benefits for your skin beyond being a natural moisturizer,” Wei said. “There are other moisturizers out there with more consistent formulations that are better and safer for use on the skin.”
In other words: the celebrity endorsements are everywhere, but the clinical case is not.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.