Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Table of Contents
My Cracked Lip Confession (And How Tallow Changed Everything)
I used to be that person who'd wake up with lips so cracked they'd literally bleed when I smiled. Every winter was the same story – cycling through tubes of chapstick like they were candy, reapplying every 30 minutes, and still ending up with lips that felt like sandpaper by noon.
Shortly after we discovered that tallow did wonders for my son's eczema, I figured I had nothing to lose and gave the tallow a try on my lips.
Turns out, grass-fed tallow provides much better hydration than petroleum jelly (there's actual science behind grandma's remedies, who knew?). Now I make and sell peppermint tallow chapsticks, but here's the thing – if you've got the time and interest, you should totally make your own.
Ready to kiss those cracked lips goodbye? Let's do this.
The Three-Ingredient Tallow Chapstick That Actually Works
After years of testing, I've learned something important: tallow + beeswax + peppermint is literally all you need. No carrier oils, no complicated ratios. Just these two powerhouses doing what they do best.
Simple Tallow Peppermint Chapstick Recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 6 standard chapstick tubes
⚠️ Quick heads up about tallow consistency:
Not all tallow is created equal! Depending on how it was rendered and what part of the cow it came from, your tallow might be harder or softer than mine. This recipe is my starting point, but you might need to tweak it:
- First batch too hard? Drop the beeswax to 1.5 teaspoons
- Too soft? Bump it up to 2.5 or even 3 teaspoons
- Kidney suet tallow tends to be harder (use less beeswax)
- Regular fat tallow is usually softer (use more beeswax)
Don't stress if your first batch isn't perfect. That's totally normal!
Ingredients
Yep, just three things:
-
3 teaspoons grass-fed tallow (15g)
Your moisturizing superstar -
2 teaspoons beeswax pellets (10g)
The "make it stick around" ingredient -
6-8 drops peppermint essential oil
Just enough tingle without the burn
About that peppermint: We're aiming for 0.5% concentration here. That's 6-8 drops for this batch size. Under 4 drops? You won't taste it. Over 10? Your lips will hate you. Been there, done that, learned my lesson.
Instructions
- Set up your double boiler. Just a glass measuring cup in a pot with 2 inches of water. Medium heat. Nothing fancy.
- Add your tallow and beeswax. They'll melt into each other like old friends reuniting.
- Stir every couple minutes until it's completely clear. No chunks, no cloudy bits. Takes about 8-10 minutes. Perfect time to load the dishwasher.
- Take it off the heat and let it cool. Too hot and your peppermint oil just evaporates.
- Add exactly 6-8 drops of peppermint. Count 'em! Stir quick but gentle.
- Pour into your tubes NOW. You've got about 60 seconds before this starts setting up. Fill 'em 90% full.
- Let them set up. 20 minutes on the counter.
The "Did I Nail It?" Test
Your chapstick is perfect when it:
- Glides on smooth (no dragging)
- Feels moisturizing but not goopy
- Gives a light peppermint tingle
- Stays solid in your pocket
Fixing Common Issues
| Problem | Fix for Next Batch |
|---|---|
| Too soft/melty | Add 1/2 teaspoon more beeswax |
| Too hard/draggy | Reduce beeswax by 1/2 teaspoon |
| Can't taste peppermint | Add 2 more drops |
| Burns your lips | Too much peppermint – start over (sorry!) |
This recipe is basically what we use for our peppermint chapsticks – just scaled way up and made somewhere clean and food safe. If you nail this recipe, amazing!
Based on the outline and flow so far, the next section should be:
Why Tallow + Beeswax Is the Ultimate Power Couple
The Science (But Make It Make Sense)
You know how your lips always feel dry again 10 minutes after using regular chapstick? There's a reason for that – and understanding it will change how you think about lip care forever.
Here's the deal: Your lips don't have oil glands like the rest of your skin. They're basically on their own, which is why they dry out so fast. That's where tallow comes in – it's literally the closest thing to human sebum (fun fact: sebum means "tallow" in Latin). Your lips recognize it like, "Oh hey, I know you!"
But here's where most DIY recipes mess up. Tallow alone? Amazing for moisture, but it absorbs too fast. You'd be reapplying every hour. Enter beeswax – the unsung hero of lip care.
What Beeswax Actually Does (It's Not Just About Hardness)
I used to think beeswax was just there to make the balm solid. Boy, was I wrong. Here's what it's actually doing:
- Creates a breathable barrier – locks in the tallow's goodness without suffocating your lips
- Time-release effect – makes that moisture last 4-6 hours instead of 30 minutes
- Natural SPF – only about SPF 3, but hey, every bit helps
- Anti-inflammatory properties – helps heal those painful cracks faster
- Anti-bacterial action – keeps the nasties away from vulnerable lips
The magic ratio? Around 60% tallow to 40% beeswax gives you that perfect balance. Too much tallow and it's gone in minutes. Too much beeswax and you're basically wearing lip wax.
What Happens Week by Week
Week 1: You'll notice you're not reaching for your chapstick every 20 minutes. Maybe every 3-4 hours. Your lips feel... different. Softer.
Week 2: Those little vertical lines? Starting to smooth out. You might forget to apply it before bed and wake up with lips that aren't destroyed. Wild.
Week 3: This is when people start asking what you're using. Your lips actually look healthy. Not just "not chapped" but legitimately healthy.
Month 2: You realize you've broken the chapstick addiction cycle. Your lips have learned to be lips again, if that makes sense. You use it because you want to, not because you'll die without it.
The Benefits of DIY Tallow Lip Balm
So here we are. You now know more about tallow lip balm than 99% of people buying $20 "luxury" chapsticks at Sephora.
Look, I'm not gonna lie – when I first started making tallow chapstick, I felt a bit weird telling people what was in it. "Oh, this? It's beef fat for my lips." Not exactly a conversation starter. But you know what? My chronically destroyed winter lips were finally healing, and that mattered more than sounding fancy.
Here's what I want you to remember:
If you make your own: Amazing! Seriously. There's something deeply satisfying about solving your own problems with your own hands. Your first batch might be wonky – too hard, too soft, whatever. That's normal. My first batch was basically lip concrete. But batch #2? Chef's kiss. Write down what you did, tweak it, and you'll nail it.
If you buy ours: Also amazing! Look, I make and sell these tallow chapsticks because I genuinely believe in them. Sometimes life's too busy to melt things in your kitchen, and that's totally fine. We've done the tweaking, the testing, and the "why does this smell weird?" experiments so you don't have to.
Either way: You're choosing something that actually works with your body instead of against it. No petroleum. No mystery chemicals. Just simple ingredients that have worked for thousands of years.
Your lips deserve better than the constant cycle of apply-dry out-reapply. They deserve to actually heal. Whether that healing comes from your kitchen or from our little workshop doesn't matter – what matters is that you're done settling for lips that hurt when you smile.
So go ahead. Make a batch this weekend. Or order some of ours. Just do something different, because clearly what you've been doing isn't working (or you wouldn't have read this far, right?).
Your future self – the one with soft, healthy lips that don't need constant attention – will thank you.
Welcome to the tallow side. We have happy lips here. 💋