Beef Tallow for Hair: An Honest Guide for Dry Ends

Search beef tallow for hair and you get a lot of big promises. Shinier, thicker, longer, stronger. We make a tallow balm, so you might expect us to cheer all of that on. We are not going to. Tallow can be a genuinely nice thing to smooth onto dry, frizzy ends. It is also heavy, it is easy to overdo, and there is very little research on tallow and hair at all. This guide is the honest version: who it suits, exactly how much to use, how to get it back out, and when a plain hair oil is the smarter buy.

Written by Jamie, co founder of Wild Gold Tallow. Jamie left Los Angeles for a farm outside Asheville, North Carolina to raise the family's own food, and obsesses over where every ingredient in the jar comes from.

Is beef tallow good for hair? The short, honest answer

For the ends of dry hair, it can be. For your scalp, or for fine hair that gets oily fast, it is usually a mistake.

Here is why. The oil your scalp makes travels down the hair shaft over time. On short hair it gets most of the way. On long hair, the ends are the oldest, most weathered part of every strand, and they are the furthest from that oil supply. That is why so many people have a greasy part and straw at the bottom. A small amount of fat pressed into those ends can make them feel softer, look smoother, and frizz less. That is the realistic job for tallow in hair.

What tallow will not do is change how your hair grows, how thick it is, or what is happening on your scalp. If a page promises that, it is selling you something it cannot back up.

What beef tallow actually is, and why it behaves the way it does on hair

Tallow is rendered beef fat. Its fats are mostly oleic, palmitic and stearic fatty acids, and that mix is why it is firm in the jar and softens with the warmth of your hands. On skin, that firmness is part of the appeal. On hair, it is the thing you have to manage.

A liquid hair oil spreads thin and drops out of the way. Tallow sits on the surface of the strand as a coating. A little gives dry ends a soft, smoothed over feel. Too much leaves them limp, waxy and stuck together. The whole skill of using beef tallow for hair is staying on the right side of that line.

It is also worth being clear about the evidence. The oil with the most lab research behind it for hair is coconut oil. There is no comparable body of research for tallow and hair. What you will read online is mostly people's own experience, and that is what this guide is built on too: how the fat behaves, and practical common sense.

Who should try beef tallow for hair, and who should skip it

• Good fit: thick, coarse, curly or very dry hair, especially long hair with dry, frizzy ends. Hair that drinks up oil and still looks thirsty.
• Maybe: medium hair with dry ends only. Use the smallest amount below and keep it well away from your roots.
• Probably skip: fine, thin or straight hair that gets oily by day two. Tallow is heavy, and on fine hair the line between smooth and flat is very thin.
• Skip the scalp, full stop. We would not put tallow balm on your scalp at all. If your scalp is giving you any trouble, that is a conversation for a dermatologist, not a jar of balm.

How to use beef tallow on dry hair ends, step by step

This is the method we would suggest if you want to try it.

• Start smaller than you think. For shoulder length hair, begin with an amount about the size of a grain of rice. For long or very thick hair, start with half a pea. You can always add more. Taking it out means washing your hair again.
• Melt it completely. Rub it between your palms until it turns from a firm scoop into a clear, thin oil with no lumps. This matters more for hair than for skin, because any unmelted bits will sit in your hair as little waxy spots.
• Work from the bottom up. Press your palms around the last few inches of your hair and slide down to the tips. Rub whatever is left on your hands over the ends again. Do not go anywhere near the roots.
• Use it on hair that is almost dry. Slightly damp or fully dry ends both work. On soaking wet hair, the balm tends to bead up and spread unevenly.
• Check in the mirror before you add more. If the ends look smooth and touchable, stop. If they look separated or wet, you have used too much, and the fix is a lighter hand next time.

A couple of times a week is plenty for most people. On days in between, the ends usually still feel softer from the last application.

"A little goes a long way, and your skin feels hydrated and healthy all day long."

That is from a verified customer review, and it was about skin, not hair. We are including it because the first half of that sentence is the single most useful rule for hair. With beef tallow for hair, a little really does go a long way, and a lot goes badly.

Beef tallow as a pre wash hair mask

The other common way people use tallow on hair is before washing. Apply a little more than the amounts above to the lengths and ends, leave it for 20 minutes or so, then shampoo as usual. Because it all gets washed out, you can be a bit more generous, and some people with very dry hair like how soft it leaves the ends.

Two honest notes on this one. First, it uses a lot more balm than leaving a dab on your ends, and a 1.3 oz jar of face and body balm is an expensive way to do a hair mask every week. Second, if you use it on your lengths, keep it off your roots and scalp just the same.

How to wash beef tallow out of your hair

This is the part most guides leave out. Tallow is solid at room temperature, so a quick rinse will not move it.

• Shampoo on dry hair first. Work shampoo into the oily sections before you wet your hair. It grabs the fat better that way.
• Use warm water, not cool. Warmth keeps the fat soft enough to rinse away.
• Plan on two washes. If you used a lot, the first shampoo lifts most of it and the second gets the rest.
• Condition the ends only afterward, if you need it at all.

If your hair still feels coated after two washes, that is your hair telling you to use less next time. It is not a sign that anything has gone wrong.

Can beef tallow fix split ends?

No, and nothing you put on your hair can. A split end is a strand that has frayed apart, and it does not knit back together. A little fat can make split ends lie flatter and look smoother for a while, which is nice. But the only real fix is a trim. Anyone telling you a balm makes split ends go away is describing the smoothing, not the hair.

Our balm on hair: what to know about colostrum, emu oil and scent

Our Colostrum Tallow Balm is three ingredients: 100% grass fed suet tallow, USA emu oil and first colostrum, whipped so it softens quickly in your hands. The emu oil makes it a touch softer and easier to spread than plain rendered tallow, which helps on hair.

Two honest caveats. Colostrum is a dried powder blended through the balm. On skin, any slight graininess melts in. On hair, an unmelted speck can show, which is one more reason to melt the balm completely before it touches your ends. We also make no claims about colostrum and hair. We put it in the balm for skin.

Scent is the other thing to think about, because hair holds scent near your face all day. The unscented jar has a faint, clean natural smell that most people stop noticing within minutes, and we wrote about exactly what to expect in does tallow balm smell like beef. If you would rather your ends smell like something, the Lavender Mist version is gently floral.

Colostrum is dairy derived, so if you react to dairy, patch test on the inside of your arm first, as you would with anything new.

Beef tallow for hair vs a regular hair oil

If your only goal is softer ends, a plain hair oil is lighter, cheaper per use, and easier to wash out. We would rather tell you that than have you resent a jar of balm.

Where tallow earns a place is if you already keep a jar for your skin and want one product that also handles the dry ends of your hair now and then. That is how most people come to it. One jar on the bathroom shelf, used on hands, elbows, face, and occasionally the bottom inch of a ponytail. We broke down the real cost per use of a jar like ours in is tallow balm worth it, and the same logic applies here: tiny amounts make a jar last, big amounts do not.

Why we are careful about what we say on hair

We made this balm for ourselves long before it had a name. When we moved from Los Angeles to rural North Carolina, it was to raise our own food, raw milk and raw colostrum. Jackie, my co founder, had spent about 15 years on the petroleum creams a dermatologist recommended, and the relief never lasted. A friend of ours, Rachel, who makes tallow skincare, suggested blending our own first colostrum into a tallow balm. That is how this jar came to be, and our whole family uses it on our skin every day, kids included.

Hair was never the point of it, and none of us has some long hair ritual built around tallow that I am going to invent for this article. What we do know, very well, is how this balm behaves: how fast it melts, how far a tiny amount spreads, and how heavy it gets when you use too much. That is what this guide is built on. If you are mostly using tallow on your skin, our guide to tallow balm for body covers the dosing in much more detail.

Beef tallow for hair FAQ

Is beef tallow good for your hair?

It can be a nice option for the dry, frizzy ends of thick, coarse, curly or long hair, where a small amount helps them feel softer and look smoother. It is usually too heavy for fine or oily hair, and we would keep it off the scalp entirely. There is very little research on tallow and hair, so be cautious about any bigger promises.

How do you use beef tallow on dry hair ends?

Start with an amount about the size of a grain of rice, melt it completely between your palms, then press and slide it over the last few inches of your hair, staying well away from the roots. Use it on slightly damp or dry hair, and only add more if your ends still look dry.

Will beef tallow make my hair greasy?

It will if you use too much or put it near your roots. Tallow is a heavy fat, so the amount matters more than with a light hair oil. If your ends look wet or stuck together, use about half as much next time and keep it to the very tips.

Can beef tallow fix split ends?

No. A split end cannot be joined back together by any product. A small amount of tallow can make split ends lie flatter and look smoother for a while, but the only real fix for a split end is a trim.

How do you wash beef tallow out of your hair?

Apply shampoo to the oily sections before you wet your hair, rinse with warm water rather than cool, and plan on two washes if you used a lot. If it still feels coated after that, use less next time.

The bottom line on beef tallow for hair

Beef tallow for hair works best as a tiny, fully melted amount on dry ends, used a couple of times a week, kept off the scalp, and washed out with shampoo on dry hair and warm water. It suits thick, coarse, curly and long hair far better than fine hair. It will not change how your hair grows and it will not undo split ends. If you already love a tallow balm for your skin, it is worth trying on your ends. If you only want softer hair, a light hair oil may suit you better, and that is fine too.

If you want to try it, our Colostrum Tallow Balm is the one most people start with, and you can see the full tallow balm for dry skin range here.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.