Tallow Sunscreen Ingredients: What's Inside Our Whipped Tallow Sun Balm
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If you've been researching tallow sunscreen, you've probably noticed that most brands make you dig for the actual ingredient list. We'd rather hand it to you. Our Whipped Tallow Sun Balm contains exactly six ingredients:
| Ingredient | % by weight | Why it's there |
|---|---|---|
| US grass-fed beef tallow | 64.7% | The moisturizing base, closest match to skin's own oils |
| Organic jojoba oil | 17.2% | Lightens the texture, absorbs without grease |
| Non-nano zinc oxide | 16.3% | The mineral sun protection |
| Organic vitamin E oil | 1.0% | Natural antioxidant, keeps the oils fresh |
| Organic rosehip oil | 0.5% | Skin tone and texture support, part of the scent |
| Organic lavender oil | 0.3% | The entire scent, no synthetic fragrance |
That's the whole label. No preservatives, no emulsifiers, no fillers. Below is why each ingredient earned its spot and what each percentage means for how the balm feels and works.
(New to tallow for sun care? Start with our full guide: Tallow Sunscreen: What It Is, Why It's Trending, and How It Works.)
When Gabrielle started making this balm in our kitchen on the North Shore, the whole point was knowing exactly what was going on our skin. That hasn't changed.
Grass-fed beef tallow (64.7%)
Tallow is the backbone of this balm, not a sprinkle added for the label. Almost two thirds of the jar by weight is tallow rendered from US grass-fed, grass-finished beef.
Why tallow? Its fatty acid profile is remarkably close to the oils your skin already produces. That's why it absorbs so well instead of sitting on top of your skin, and it's a big part of why people with sensitive or easily irritated skin tend to love it. Our ancestors used it on their skin for generations before modern skincare talked them out of it. We think they were onto something.
Organic jojoba oil (17.2%)
Jojoba is technically a liquid wax, and its structure is closer to your skin's own oils than almost any other plant oil. In the balm, it does two jobs: it lightens the texture so the tallow whips up soft instead of dense, and it helps everything absorb clean. It's the reason the balm doesn't feel greasy.
Non-nano zinc oxide (16.3%)
This is where the mineral sun protection comes from. Zinc oxide is the same mineral most mineral SPF products use as their active ingredient, and our balm is 16.3% non-nano zinc oxide by weight.
Non-nano matters. It means the zinc particles are large enough that they stay on the surface of your skin where you want them, rather than being absorbed into it. And despite what you might expect from a zinc product, there's no white cast once you rub it in properly.
One thing we want to be upfront about: we sell this as a sun balm, not a sunscreen. We haven't completed FDA monograph SPF testing yet, so we don't put an SPF number on the jar, and we won't until it's properly verified. That testing is on our roadmap as we grow. Until then, you know exactly what's in the jar and exactly how much.
Organic vitamin E oil (1.0%)
Our vitamin E is natural, not synthetic, which matters more than most brands let on. It's an antioxidant, so it supports your skin while also keeping the oils in the jar fresh. It's a small percentage doing quiet, important work.
Organic rosehip oil (0.5%)
Rosehip is one of those oils that earned its reputation. It's loved for supporting skin tone and texture, and it brings a subtle softness to the finish of the balm. It also gives the first half of our rose-lavender scent.
Organic lavender oil (0.3%)
The entire scent of the balm comes from this one ingredient. There's no synthetic fragrance anywhere in the jar, no "parfum" hiding a few dozen undisclosed chemicals. Just a soft, natural lavender that pairs with the rosehip.
What's not in the jar
No synthetic fragrance. No parabens. No fillers. Nothing we can't explain in plain language, because everything in the jar is listed right here.
How it comes together
The balm is mixed and whipped by hand in small batches. The tallow is melted gently, never above 120 degrees, and the delicate oils are added only after things cool down, which protects the heat-sensitive ingredients. Then it's whipped overnight, and whipped again, until it hits that soft peak texture.
It ships in an amber glass jar with a metal lid, which protects the oils from light and oxidation. And when your order shows up, it's wrapped in recycled kraft paper inside a recycled padded mailer, because the packaging should hold the same standard as what's inside it.
Questions?
Our FAQ covers application, storage, kids, and shipping. For anything else, we read every email ourselves. Write us at info@ritualorganics.co and one of us will get back to you.
Jon and Gabrielle