Yes!

Tallow is made up of a bunch of beautiful fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Some of the fatty acids are identical to the ones propping up the fatty lipid matrix in your own skin. It's a magical relationship - beef tallow will make love to your skin.

There is no good direct scientific evidence that beef tallow has beneficial effects, but there are a bunch of studies that show that the individual components of beef tallow have a range of fabulous actions, including maintaining hydration and barrier function, reducing inflammation, smoothing the skin, and assisting healing. The best evidence thus far is probably anecdotal - just ask someone who has used it. Chances are they will rave about it!

Read more about the science behind tallow here.

Tallow is made with suet (kidney fat) or other types of beef fat. The fat is rendered to remove water and proteins, leaving a stable mixture of fatty acids (mostly in the form of triglycerides) that have a range of potential skin benefits.

If the fat is sufficiently high quality, the result is a lush liquid gold (the image below is Kacow! beef tallow rendered from Juniper Hill Farm organic beef fat) with almost no odour.

Read more about beef tallow and skin here.

Beef tallow has been used in skincare for thousands of years. In 2021 researchers found China’s oldest known face cream sealed in a bronze cosmetic jar. The jar was dated to approximately 675 BC (~2,700 years ago). Analysis showed that it contained beef tallow (we can safely assume it was organic beef tallow!) and ‘moonmilk’ (calcium carbonate from a cave).

About 650 years later (in the AD 70s) Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder completed the final book in his ‘Natural History’ encyclopaedia series which aimed to collate all knowledge about the natural world, in which he offered the following skincare advice:

“Fat from a sow that has not littered is used with very great advantage by women as a cosmetic, but for itch any kind is good, mixed with a third part of beef suet and pitch, all being warmed together.”

Pliny also recommended curing flatulence by mixing calf dung with wine. Some of his ideas stood the test of time, some not so much.

So many good things.

Kacow! is lovingly handmade in small batches in Westmere, Auckland.

Kacow! is almost all organic.

The two non-organic ingredients (OliveM, from olive oil fatty acids; and Brassicas Alcohols, from cabbage family plants) are both certified by COSMOS, the globally recognised standard for natural and organic cosmetics.

Most of the main players in Kacow! are from fabulous NZ farms. Find out all the details on the Ingredients page.

• Organic Juniper Hill Farm (Hawke's Bay, NZ) Beef Tallow
• Organic Woodland's Honey Beeswax (Coromandel, NZ)
• Organic Fair Trade Cacao Butter
• Organic Green Ridge Estate (Malborough, NZ) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Organic Waihi Bush (Canterbury, NZ) Hemp Seed Oil
• Organic Fractionated Coconut Oil
• Organic Castor Oil
• Organic Tapioca Starch
• OliveM
• Brassicas Alcohols
• Organic Vitamin E
• Organic Essential Oils (Orange, Ylang Ylang)

When I was developing Kacow!, I had both my teenage daughter and myself in mind. She was developing an interest in skincare. I tried to find her brands that didn't sound like they were a shopping list for a chemistry laboratory. It was harder than I thought. So I made Kacow! to protect her perfect, smooth, glowing skin without adding to the inevitable onslaught of chemical exposure that she faces in our modern world. And I made it to safely fill the cracks in my crepey, old, sun-damaged skin.

Kacow! uses the BEST tallow

My background in species-appropriate veterinary pet nutrition led me to a deep appreciation of ruminants as a food source, and an understanding of the enormous impact that farming techniques and philosophies have on the quality of the animal products that go on to become our food or cosmetics.

Fat-soluble contaminants like heavy metals, antibiotics, herbicides, and pesticides just love to make their home in a nice bit of beef fat. In New Zealand, MPI sets Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) for contaminants. Beef fat is allowed to contain very small amounts of a long list of synthetic chemicals. These levels are judged to be well below the NOEL (No Observed Effect Level) and are therefore considered safe for human consumption. The MRLs apply to both non-organic and organic production animals; however, the latter are expected to have lower residue levels because of restrictions on inputs (pesticides, antibiotics, etc.) in organic farming. There are still many chemical and synthetic inputs that are allowable, within certain parameters, on organic farms.

Tallow is my hero ingredient. I didn't want to rely solely on an industry definition of "safe for human consumption" (or, in this case, “safe for absorption through the skin”). I wanted to know that the cattle were raised to the highest welfare standards. I wanted the purest farmed beef fat on the planet. And I found it.

Juniper Hill is New Zealand's first BioGro-certified organic on-farm micro-abattoir and butchery. They are not just tick-box organic —they embody the very best farming principles in every possible way:

"Nothing that is detrimental to animal health, and your health, is ever used on the farm. This means that the beef that arrives at your door from Juniper Hill has had no antibiotics, no vaccines, no synthetic pharmaceutical animal products, and has never been exposed to synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides."

The other ingredients are pretty great too

Several other wonderful New Zealand farms feature in Kacow!. I am so excited about using beautiful, clean, organic and biodynamic ingredients from Woodland's Honey, Green Ridge Estate, and Waihi Bush.

It works

Kacow! is a heavy-lifting product. If you are after something to hydrate, soothe, and protect the skin barrier, and you want a product free from dubious ingredients, Kacow! is worth a go.

Science stuff

I care deeply about understanding what is scientifically known, what isn't yet known, and where the evidence actually leads. Realistically, beef tallow moisturisers are unlikely ever to undergo large, rigorous, randomised controlled trials. But I make it my business to stay on top of the indirect and supportive evidence (read a summary of evidence here).

And then there is anecdotal evidence - a tricky area and often misunderstood. On one hand, humans run on stories. We always have. Stories affect us more strongly than data because they appeal to our imagination and personal experience. So it is very easy to place too much weight on anecdotes.

On the other hand, science communicators often look down on anecdotes as somehow being beneath science—something to be sneered at. They are wrong to dismiss them. Anecdotes—stories and observations—are the beginning of science.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle collected anecdotes in the form of observations from fishermen who noticed interesting and unusual things as they worked. He recorded and analysed these observations, looking for patterns and developing hypotheses. When enough observations are collected, analysed, and tested systematically, they become data.

Isaac Asimov is often credited with saying:

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

I will collect and share anecdotes (in the form of reviews) about Kacow!. I won't be collecting them as part of a formal clinical trial, so - much like an axolotl - they are unlikely to complete their final stage of metamorphosis and emerge as data. But stories are important, and they're fun to share.

Anhydrous cosmetics such as Kacow! are made without adding any water at all. They are much less susceptible to microbial contamination and growth, and therefore need little or no preservation. The high saturated fat content (and resulting solid form at room temperature) indicates greater stability of the fats. Some plant oils, such as hemp seed oil, are largely unsaturated though, and benefit from the addition of vitamin E to prevent them from oxidising.

Read more about preservatives in cosmetics here.

Kacow! is for everyone who wants to be more moist!

It is very moisturising, and it functions as a protective barrier to reduce moisture loss.

It is not a lightweight product. Some people like to use it everyday. Some people use it as a night cream. Some people use it on specific problem areas. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much men seem to like wearing it. It can be used anywhere on your skin.

The whole point of Kacow! is that it is safe, and intensely moisturising, and you decide where and when you need it.

Personally, I use it on my face and body every day and every night. I use it as a hand cream and a lip balm too.

I didn't want to load Kacow! up with all sorts of stabilisers - so the texture will change with the conditions. On a cold day, rub it a little between your hands to warm it up and help it glide onto your skin.

Please hit me up!