A home batch of tallow balm takes about 1% arrowroot to cut the slick and about 1% vitamin E as the antioxidant. Raw honey runs 2 to 3% if you'd like it, and beeswax stays out of a jar, though a stick takes about a fifth of the batch. Our recipe calculator does the grams.
They're ranges for a home batch, and none of them shows what's in our jars. If you'd rather skip the scale, the Craft Tallow Kit ($110, on pre-order with about a three-week ship window) sends rendered suet bases and botanical vials, so you blend all five of our recipes yourself. That price is as of October 5, 2026, so check the page before you buy.
How much beeswax goes in a tallow balm?
For a balm that lives in a jar, you don't need any beeswax at all. Beef tallow is about half saturated fat by USDA's count, so a suet balm sets firm on its own, and fatty acids in tallow has the breakdown.
Federal food rules call beeswax a secretory product of honey bees, used as a structural material in honeycombs. A stick needs that structure. It's got to stand up in a tube and survive a warm pocket, so stick recipes run about a fifth wax. Tallow stick vs jar cites a lipstick study at that share.
A jar with no wax softens in heat, and we've had one melt in an August mailbox. The calculator's travel fix is more tallow, 85:15 to the carrier oil. Beeswax in a balm covers the wax.
Arrowroot powder and vitamin E: how much goes in a tallow balm?
Arrowroot is a fine starch made from the root of a tropical plant, and it won't dissolve in fat. It rides through the balm as a powder. That takes some of the slick off, and the calculator runs it at 1 to 2% for a matte look under makeup. Bare Silk carries organic arrowroot for the same finish. No study I've found measures arrowroot in a balm, so what it does to the finish is bench knowledge.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant. The NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements says it stops the production of reactive oxygen species formed when fat undergoes oxidation. In a jar, that slows the oils going stale. The calculator runs it at 1%, about 0.6 g in a 56 g jar. It won't stop microbes, though. A 2018 review by Halla and colleagues splits preservatives into antimicrobials, which act on microbes, and antioxidants, which suppress oxidation. So vitamin E can't make a balm with water in it safe.
How much honey can you add to a tallow balm, and should you?
Home recipes usually stir in raw honey at 2 to 3% of the batch, about 1.1 to 1.7 g in a 56 g jar. Our calculator doesn't include it. USDA lists honey at 17.1 g of water and 82.1 g of sugars per 100 g. Mandal and Mandal's 2011 review credits part of honey's action against bacteria to the osmotic effect of that high sugar and low moisture content.
In a balm, honey can't dissolve. Neither its sugar nor its water dissolves in fat, so it rides through the tallow as droplets that can settle or weep. The same review calls honey hygroscopic: it can draw moisture out of its surroundings. At 3%, that's about half a gram of water in every 100 g of balm, which is why our how-to leaves raw honey out. A jar that beads or weeps is past saving. Honey Glow uses an oil-soluble manuka honey extract instead, and tallow and honey balm explains why.
What should you leave out of a tallow balm?
Anything with free water in it stays out: plain water, aloe gel, a hydrosol, a splash of brewed tea. Tallow brings none of its own. USDA lists 0.00 g of water per 100 g of beef tallow, so a balm needs no preservative system. Halla and colleagues call water an ideal growth factor for microorganisms. Once it's in, the jar needs an emulsifier and a preservative system, and our lotion post covers why.
Magnesium and other salts hit the same wall. They dissolve in water and won't dissolve in fat, so dry crystals sit in the balm as grit, and dissolving them first means adding water. Magnesium in a balm has the rest.
Tallow balm add-ins by the gram, and the order they go in
| Add-in | Home range | In 56 g of balm |
|---|---|---|
| Beeswax, jar | None | 0 g |
| Beeswax, stick | About a fifth | About 11 g |
| Arrowroot powder | 1 to 2% | 0.6 to 1.1 g |
| Vitamin E | About 1% | About 0.6 g |
| Raw honey | 2 to 3% | 1.1 to 1.7 g |
Weigh everything first. Melt the tallow and the carrier oil together on low, about 60 °C (140 °F), and never above 65 °C. For a stick, melt the wax into the oil first. Off the heat, let it fall to about 45 °C (113 °F), then stir in the vitamin E and the sifted arrowroot. Any honey goes in last, once the balm's starting to cloud. Pour, then chill the closed jars about 20 minutes so the fat sets fine and even. Rest them an hour before the first swipe.
Patch test a new batch on the inside of your forearm for three days before it goes near your face. It's cosmetic care, not a treatment, and your provider's plan comes first.
If the scale's half the fun, the calculator's yours, and it'll work out any batch from a single jar up. If it isn't, our tallow balm kit does the measuring. For a finished jar with arrowroot and vitamin E already in it, there's Bare Silk.
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
How much beeswax do you add to tallow balm?
None, for a jar. Beef tallow is about half saturated fat, so a suet balm sets firm without any wax. A stick is different. It's got to stand up in a tube and survive a warm pocket, so stick recipes run about a fifth wax.
How much honey do you add to tallow balm?
Home recipes usually run raw honey at 2 to 3% of the batch, about 1.1 to 1.7 g in a 2 oz (56 g) jar. Honey won't dissolve in fat. It sits in the balm as droplets that can settle or weep. Keep batches small if you add it, or use an oil-soluble honey extract, which dissolves fully in the fat.
What does arrowroot powder do in tallow balm?
Arrowroot is a starch that takes some of the slick off a tallow balm's finish, for a more matte look. It won't dissolve in fat. Sift it and stir it in as the melted balm cools, at 1 to 2%, or about 0.6 to 1.1 g in a 2 oz (56 g) jar.
How much vitamin E do you add to tallow balm?
About 1% of the batch is the common home amount, roughly 0.6 g in a 2 oz (56 g) jar. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant. It slows the oils in the balm going stale, but it won't stop microbes or make a balm with water in it safe.
Go deeper
The beef tallow for skin guide is the long read on the fat itself. How long tallow balm lasts covers the shelf, and if a batch sets grainy, melted, grainy or different explains what's normal. What is tallow balm is the plain definition of the base you are adding to, and essential oils for tallow balm sets the dose ceiling for scent, and says who gets none. Herb-infused tallow balm covers five herbs and why we use extracts instead of steeping. Tinted tallow balm covers what a tint does and why we leave color out. Tallow vs shea, coconut and cocoa butter covers the plant butters the same way.
Sources
- USDA Agricultural Research Service (2019). Honey. FoodData Central, SR Legacy release, published April 1, 2019.
- Halla N, Fernandes IP, Heleno SA, Costa P, Boucherit-Otmani Z, Boucherit K, Rodrigues AE, Ferreira ICFR and Barreiro MF (2018). Cosmetics preservation: a review on present strategies. Molecules 23(7):1571.
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2019). Fat, beef tallow. FoodData Central, SR Legacy release, FDC ID 171400, published April 1, 2019.
- US Food and Drug Administration (2026). 21 CFR 184.1973, beeswax (yellow and white), up to date as of October 1, 2026. eCFR.
- Mandal MD and Mandal S (2011). Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, volume 1, issue 2, pages 154 to 160.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (2021). Vitamin E: fact sheet for health professionals, updated March 26, 2021. National Institutes of Health.
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.