We haven't tested Vintage Tradition's balms against ours in a lab, and every fact about them here came off their live pages on October 8, 2026. Their pages call theirs "the first and original tallow balm," sold since 2010 in many scents. They sell it by the fluid ounce. We pour five dense balms, one job to a jar, and sell them by weight.
If you're holding their Totally Unscented jar, the closest Craft jar is Bare Silk ($34), our everyday balm with no essential oils. Both jars start from suet, and I read our own prices on the same day.
What does Vintage Tradition sell?
Vintage Tradition's a family business in Colorado Springs, and their why page says they make everything right on site in small batches. Their regular Tallow Balm comes in 15 varieties by their count, from Pretty Girly to Totally Unscented. On October 8, 2026, the editions I read came in 2 fl oz (59 ml) or 9 fl oz (266 ml) jars, at $22.95 or $80.35.
Our five balms are poured dense into 2 oz (56 g) jars and sold by weight, each with one job. Bare Silk is the everyday jar, and Honey Glow ($42) takes dry skin. Moonlight Calm ($69) is the evening jar for redness-prone skin, and Velvet Face Renewal ($89) goes after the look of fine lines and uneven tone. Recovery Balm ($74) is for the look of scars and stretch marks. The Craft Tallow Kit ($110, on pre-order with about a three-week ship window) is for anyone who'd rather blend our recipes.
What does Vintage Tradition do well?
Two things stand out, and the first is how cheaply you can find out whether their balm suits you. A Totally Unscented sample cost $3.45 on October 8, 2026. Their ordering page suggests a sample or a small jar before the 9 oz, which is advice I'd give about any balm.
The second is how much of the making stays in their hands. They render their tallow themselves from suet, "with the lowest heat possible and no water," their why page says. The same page reports a lab test of their balm for 4 common heavy metals and 33 residual solvents and volatile organic compounds, with none found. That's a lot of the making laid out on one page, and it's written in plain words.
Totally Unscented vs Bare Silk Unscented: what do the labels say?
| Read Oct 8, 2026 | Vintage Tradition Totally Unscented | Craft Bare Silk Unscented |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 2 fl oz (59 ml) or 9 fl oz (266 ml) | 2 oz (56 g) |
| Measured by | Volume | Weight |
| Price | $22.95 or $80.35 | $34 |
| Per ounce | $11.48 or $8.93 per fl oz | $17.00 per oz by weight |
| Ingredients | 2 | 5 |
| Essential oils | None | None |
| Fat | Suet, 100% grass-fed, rendered in house | Suet, grass-fed and grass-finished, Montana ranches |
| Texture | Soft, not whipped | Poured dense |
| Guarantee | One month from delivery | 60-Day Skin Test |
| Free US shipping | Over $75 | From $35 |
Totally Unscented lists two ingredients: tallow from 100% grass-fed cows and certified organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. Bare Silk Unscented runs to five: grass-fed suet tallow, meadowfoam seed oil, organic jojoba oil, vitamin E, organic arrowroot. There's no water in either jar. Their page says you'll notice the smell of tallow at first, and that it goes soon after the balm's rubbed in. Bare Silk Unscented smells like nothing, since the suet we start from is nearly scentless.
Fluid ounces or weight: what does each label measure?
Their jar is sold by the fluid ounce, which measures the space a balm fills, and ours by the ounce of weight, which measures the balm. The federal labeling rule for cosmetics, 21 CFR 701.13, uses the ounce for weight and the fluid ounce for volume. So $11.48 a fluid ounce and $17.00 an ounce aren't measuring the same thing. Their 2 fl oz jar costs $11.05 less than Bare Silk, and I won't call either one cheaper by the gram until theirs is weighed.
Neither of us whips. Their why page says they reach a soft balm "without whipping air into it," and we pour Bare Silk dense. So the open question is what the fats weigh. Their jar is one of the eight on our bench, and its weight lands on tallow balms bought and weighed in part two. Until then I'm claiming no number for their jar, in grams or in ounces.
Where do we differ?
We agree on the cut, so the first difference is who does the rendering. They render theirs in house, and we don't. We source 100% suet, the dense fat from around the kidneys, from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle on Montana family ranches, bought direct. We buy the fat. We do not run the ranch. Our Montana render partner renders it, and the balms are blended in small batches in the Mountain West.
The recipes come second. Totally Unscented is tallow and olive oil, and the scented editions I read add essential oils to that pair. Bare Silk's plain, and the research set the doses in our other four. Velvet Face Renewal carries a true 1% bakuchiol, twice the 0.5% in the published head-to-head trial against retinol, with 1.5% oil-soluble vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate).
Third, their ordering page offers a satisfaction guarantee on the balm for one month from the day your order arrives. Ours runs sixty days. The 60-Day Skin Test covers any jar, and if your skin disagrees, we refund it. They'll ship free in the US over $75. We ship free from $35, and anyone on a subscription always ships free.
Which jar fits which reader?
Buy theirs if you'd like a soft balm at a lower price per jar. If you love a scent, their menu runs long, and a $3.45 sample lets you test one before you commit to a jar. Totally Unscented is the edition their page made for the most sensitive skin. Bare Silk is the third jar to weigh. It suits a reader who wants a dense balm sold by weight, with sixty days to decide. If the look of fine lines is the job, the jar we built for it is Velvet Face Renewal ($89), our morning and night face jar. It's cosmetic care, not a treatment. Your provider's plan comes first.
Start with Bare Silk ($34), five ingredients and sixty days to disagree.
Questions we hear
Is Vintage Tradition good?
I can't grade it on your skin, since we haven't tested their balm against ours in a lab. Their pages, read October 8, 2026, say they've been in business since 2010. They render their own suet in Colorado, and their guarantee runs one month from the day your order arrives. Totally Unscented lists two ingredients. If a short list and a soft balm suit you, it's a fair jar to try.
Is Vintage Tradition tallow balm worth it?
That depends on whether you're paying for the jar or for the grams inside it. On October 8, 2026, Totally Unscented was $22.95 for 2 fl oz and $80.35 for 9 fl oz, about $11.48 and $8.93 a fluid ounce. Bare Silk is $34 for 2 oz (56 g) by weight. Price per gram is the fair test, and our bench will post their grams once a jar's been on the scale.
Vintage Tradition vs Craft Tallow, which is better for the face?
Their pages pitch Totally Unscented for the face and the whole body, and for the most sensitive skin. We've run no side-by-side test on faces. Bare Silk ($34) is the jar I'd put on a face every day, with no essential oils in the Unscented. Velvet Face Renewal ($89) is for the look of fine lines. Your skin gets the last word.
How much does a 2 fl oz jar of Vintage Tradition weigh?
Their page doesn't say. Totally Unscented is sold as 2 fl oz (59 ml), a volume, and the page gives no weight in grams or ounces. Their why page says the soft feel comes without whipping air in. Our bench will weigh one for part two of tallow balms bought and weighed, with no guess before then.
Does Vintage Tradition use essential oils?
Totally Unscented doesn't, and its page says so in plain words: it contains no essential oils. On October 8, 2026, it listed two ingredients: tallow from 100% grass-fed cows and certified organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. The scented editions I read do carry them. Almost Unscented lists cedarwood and lavender essential oils on top of the same two. Bare Silk Unscented has none, and no fragrance either.
Go deeper
Hearth and Homestead vs Vintage Tradition sets their balm beside a second brand's and says which suits whom. Best tallow balm lines brands up on price per ounce and guarantees. The tallow balm comparison page puts more of them in one table, and suet vs trim explains why we're particular about the cut. If tallow on skin is new to you, the beef tallow for skin guide is where I'd start.
Sources
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Home page, on balms handcrafted in Colorado Springs, read on October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Tallow Balm, the listing of editions with sizes and prices, read October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Totally Unscented Tallow Balm, 2 fl oz, with its two ingredients, read October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Almost Unscented Tallow Balm, 2 fl oz, with its essential oils, read October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Their why page, on their history since 2010 and their suet, read October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- Vintage Tradition, the brand's own website (2026). Ordering FAQ, with shipping terms and a one-month guarantee, read October 8, 2026. vintagetradition.com.
- US Food and Drug Administration (2026). Code of Federal Regulations, title 21, section 701.13: declaration of net quantity of contents. eCFR.
- Craft Tallow, our own Journal (2026). Tallow balms bought and weighed: eight jars on the bench, part one. crafttallow.com.
Brian is the founder of Craft Tallow, a small-batch tallow skincare line shipped from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, built on 100% grass-fed suet. Questions? Reply to any email from us; it lands with him.