Vegan tallow is a plant-butter balm made to feel like a tallow balm, with no tallow in it. Tallow itself is rendered animal fat, so it isn't vegan. The plant-based versions usually blend shea or cocoa butter with coconut or another plant oil, and if you don't use animal products, they're a good buy.
Our balms are all built on suet tallow, so none is vegan. If you do use animal fat, I'd start you on Bare Silk ($34 as of October 5, 2026).
What does vegan mean for a balm?
The Vegan Society defines veganism as a way of living that seeks to exclude, "as far as is possible and practicable," the exploitation of animals. Its definition page notes that animal products turn up in makeup and bathroom items. So skincare's inside that line. A jar of rendered beef fat sits outside it, however carefully the cattle were raised. Vegan versions borrow the name and aim for the feel.
How do the fats differ?
A plant blend can match tallow's feel while the fats underneath differ. USDA's FoodData Central puts beef tallow at about 36 g of oleic acid per 100 g, with roughly half the fat saturated, led by palmitic and stearic acid. Coconut oil runs on lauric acid instead. It carries about 42 g per 100 g, where tallow's under 1 g. Shea butter holds oleic and stearic acid with linoleic and palmitic beside them, a 2018 review by Lin and colleagues notes.
Our post comparing tallow with three plant fats lays all four side by side. There's a full post on tallow's own fats too.
What does vegan settle?
Vegan settles one question, whether an animal product goes on your skin, and that call's yours. Plant fats do real work. Lin and colleagues report coconut oil worked as well as mineral oil as a moisturizer for mild to moderate dry skin. Either fat is cosmetic care, not a treatment, and your provider's plan comes first.
Our case for suet is the whole animal. Suet's a by-product of beef, and in most supply chains it's rendered for industry or thrown out. We source 100% suet, the dense fat from around the kidneys, from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle on Montana family ranches, bought direct. That's an argument for using an animal fully once it's been raised. Whether to raise one is another question.
If you use animal fat, Bare Silk Unscented is the jar I'd hand you, and it smells like nothing. If you don't, buy a plant-butter balm with a short label.
If you'd rather not read five product pages, Find my balm asks two minutes of questions and hands you the jar.
Questions we hear
Is tallow vegan?
No. Tallow is rendered animal fat, so it isn't vegan. The Vegan Society defines veganism as a way of living that seeks to exclude animal exploitation as far as is possible and practicable. A balm sold as vegan tallow uses plant butters and oils instead.
What is vegan tallow made of?
It's usually shea or cocoa butter blended with coconut or another plant oil to feel like a tallow balm. The fats differ. USDA's FoodData Central lists coconut oil at about 42 g of lauric acid per 100 g, and beef tallow at under 1 g.
Is vegan tallow as good as beef tallow?
They're different fats. Plant fats can do the main job, though. A 2018 review by Lin and colleagues reports coconut oil worked as well as mineral oil as a moisturizer for mild to moderate dry skin. For anyone who doesn't use animal products, that makes a plant balm a sound pick.
Does Craft Tallow make a vegan balm?
No. Every Craft Tallow balm is built on suet tallow from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle, so none is vegan. If you don't use animal products, we'd rather point you to a good plant-butter balm with a short label than sell you the wrong jar.
Go deeper
The beef tallow for skin guide covers what the fat does once it's on, and one fat, five thousand years traces it from Babylonian soap to a Roman face cream. How to read a tallow label starts with ingredient order, a check that works on any balm.
Sources
- The Vegan Society (2026). Definition of veganism, an undated page read October 6, 2026. vegansociety.com.
- United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2019). Fat, beef tallow. FoodData Central database, SR Legacy release, FDC ID 171400.
- USDA (2019). Oil, coconut, with lauric acid at 41.8 g per 100 g. FoodData Central, FDC ID 171412.
- Lin TK, Zhong L, Santiago JL (2018). Anti-inflammatory and skin barrier repair effects of topical application of some plant oils. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 19(1):70.
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.