There’s no denying, when the temperature drops and the cooler months arrive, we have to adjust our skincare routine to protect our skin.
Remember this fun fact from science class: your skin is the biggest organ of your body! It covers a lot of ground, has its own thriving microbiome, and definitely needs your support through seasonal shifts when you go from afternoons at the beach to pumpkin patches and sweater weather.
That big, beautiful organ of yours needs all the support it can get when lower humidity and the thermostat in your home are hard at work stripping your skin of moisture, compromising your protective barrier; all the while building an unquenchable thirst and a desperate need for moisturization.
So, do you actually need a different skincare routine throughout the fall and winter months? Kind of. But your skincare routine does not have to be overly complicated, include products filled with chemicals, or follow 15 steps.
Below, we’re diving into tallow skincare, an easy, minimalist skincare routine for the cold months, the steps you can take to protect your skin, and our favorite skin hydrating heroes!
Time Honored Tallow Skincare
As the seasons change, so do the needs of your skin. One time-honored ingredient we love embracing as your freshly dubbed ancestral wellness-loving best friends is tallow skincare.
Rendered from grass-fed cows, suet tallow is incredibly nourishing and has been used in skin care for centuries. Beef tallow closely mimics the oils found in our skin, making it bioavailable and easy to adapt to, yes – even if you have oily or sensitive skin!
It’s also rich in vitamins, essential fatty acids, and offers hydration and skin repair, which is vital to your skin’s protective barrier during seasonal shifts.
Similar to an emollient, tallow skincare helps to soften and smooth the skin, providing protection without clogging your pores. It supports your skin barrier when the dry, frigid, cold air hits, allowing you to skip over the part of winter when your skin becomes dry and flaky.
When you transition your skincare routine for seasonal shifts, it’s not just about the steps you take to nourish your skin, but also the ingredients you select to combat dry skin and restore your skin’s natural glow.
If you’re hesitant to switch up your skincare routine to embrace seasonal shifts, whether you have sensitive skin or are prone to irritation and breakouts, tallow skincare offers sustainable, nourishing relief at a time you’ll need it the most.
Soothing Flare Ups with Tallow
When the cold air rolls in, it loves to do one thing: wreak havoc on our skin. If you’re prone to flare-ups or bouts of eczema during seasonal shifts, you know how frustrating it can be to get your skin back on track.
Tallow skincare gets to work repairing your skin, soothing flare-ups, and eczema. That way, you can actually enjoy getting out of doors during the colder months without the worry of the shift in weather damaging your skin barrier, causing discomfort, and an itchy rash.
Our Healing Honey Whip was made in collaboration with the dedicated eczema specialists at Optimal You Wellness. Each ingredient was carefully selected with the purpose of soothing and repairing skin that experiences eczema flare-ups.
Read More: The Benefits of Using Beef Tallow for Skin & Embracing Ancestral Wellness
Castor Oil, Your Occlusive Hydration Hero
While we’re on the subject of protecting your skin through seasonal shifts and embracing the dry to deep skincare routine, we have to give it up to castor oil. Castor oil is the hydrating MVP for dry skin in the colder months.
Here’s what we love about castor oil:
- Moisturizing Occlusive – Castor oil creates a protective barrier on your skin’s surface, preventing loss of moisture, keeping your skin smooth and soft during the colder months.
- Anti‑inflammatory – Helps to alleviate redness, irritation, and discomfort caused by dry skin.
- Antimicrobial – Contains properties that target bacteria and bad microbes on the skin’s surface, helping you avoid clogged pores.
- Battles Free Radicals – Castor oil contains Vitamin C and other antioxidant properties that fight free radicals, which can damage the skin and potentially cause cancer.
- Rich in Fatty Acids – Including Omega 6, Omega 9, and Ricinoleic acid, contributing to its anti-aging properties, supporting hydration, and soothing dry or flaky skin.
Needless to say, castor oil isn’t afraid to do some heavy lifting when it comes to caring for your skin.
If you’re curious about incorporating castor oil into your seasonal skincare routine, it’s important to know that using it as a stand-alone product can be tricky and sometimes requires an experienced hand.
Our Primal Radiance Serum contains the perfect blend of castor oil for your skin and is formulated for all skin types, allowing you to easily embrace ancestral skin care products throughout the fall and winter months.
The Dry Skin to Deeply Nourished Skincare Routine for Fall & Winter
The dry-to-deep skincare routine, have you heard of it? It’s a skincare routine focused on layering products to keep your skin hydrated and nourished while forming a protective barrier that wards off dry skin, flakiness, redness, and irritation.
In other words, it’s the perfect routine to nourish your skin during seasonal shifts that bring on cold temperatures, whipping wind, and hidden UV rays.
Here’s an easy 4-step dry-to-deep skincare routine that incorporates tallow skin care for you to embrace during fall and winter.
1. Switch to an Oil-Based Cleanser
Throughout seasonal changes, there’s always one thing we can count on: the temperatures drop. This usually equates to dry skin. During colder months, you may find that your usual cleanser is stripping away the natural oils in your skin, which are needed to protect you from the elements.
Switching to an oil-based cleanser will help you gently remove the buildup on your skin without compromising your skin’s natural moisture. Oil-based cleansers also preserve hydration, leaving your skin prepped to moisturize.
What to look for in an oil-based cleanser:
- Non-comedogenic ingredients (ingredients that won’t clog your pores)
- Antioxidants to reduce inflammation and support skin health
- Cleansers with lightweight, natural botanical oils
What to avoid in oil-based cleansers:
- Mineral oil, which can trap buildup and cause breakouts
- Fragrance, a catch-all term in the skincare industry, it’s often used to sneak in unregulated, proprietary ingredients
- Isopropyl alcohol, which strips the skin of its natural moisture
During the colder months, our go-to is the Vitamin C Face Cleanser that gently washes away impurities while toning and brightening the skin.
2. Keep Exfoliating, But Make it Gentle
Believe it or not, exfoliating should still be part of your skincare routine, even during the colder months! In fact, dry weather only means that your skin barrier needs extra support.
At the same time, you don’t want to agitate your skin while it is working hard to adapt to seasonal shifts.
There are two ways to exfoliate:
- Physical Exfoliation – This includes scrubs, abrasives, and cleaning cloths. Part of your skincare routine throughout warmer months may include exfoliating 1-2x per week. However, during the cooler months, it’s best to scale back on physical exfoliation, which can be too harsh in the cold, dry weather.
- Chemical Exfoliation – Includes using acid or enzymes to remove dead skin cells. Using acid-based formulas or peels during the fall and winter can be gentler to your skin, allowing you to wipe away dead skin cells without over-scrubbing and causing excessive dry skin.
When transitioning your skincare routine to fall or winter, remember – when it comes to exfoliating, less is more. You still need to maintain your skin’s protective barrier and rid your skin of dead skin cells. But at the same time, you don’t want to cause redness, flaking, or discomfort.
3. Layer Moisturizer
Yep – we’re encouraging the use of extra moisturizer! In fact, we’re even going to tell you to layer it for maximum benefits.
Here’s our strategy for applying moisturizer during seasonal shifts:
Step 1 – Primal Radiance Serum
After proper cleansing and drying, gently pat the Primal Radiance Serum into the skin as your first layer of moisturizer. Serums should always be your first line of defense when it comes to moisturizing during the colder months because they have ingredients that target your specific concerns, which are delivered through a smaller molecular make up. This allows them to penetrate your skin on a deeper level.
Additionally, The Primal Radiance Serum contains castor oil, which helps soothe inflammation and redness (perfect for wind burn!), and Frankincense, which reduces the appearance of scarring.
Step 2 – Anti-Aging Balm with Hyaluronic Acid
Once the serum is fully absorbed, your second layer of moisturizer will be the Anti-Aging Balm with Hyaluronic Acid. This rich balm contains vitamins A, D, K, and E to deeply nourish while working to safeguard your skin against the shifting temperatures.
Additional ingredients include added Vitamin C, which brightens the skin, and hyaluronic acid that helps retain moisture when you need it the most. But, by far our favorite ingredient has to be CBD, which offers restorative antioxidant properties that swoop in to heal scarring. All of these ingredients come together to protect your skin from seasonal elements, while leaving you with a radiant complexion!
Step 3 – Healing Honey Whip
If you’re experiencing a particularly cold winter with severe temperature drops and dry skin that just won’t quit, you’ll want to add this step to your nighttime routine. You can repair your skin while you sleep with a layer of Healing Honey Whip.
Small batch raw wildflower honey is the primary ingredient, which serves as a natural added moisturizer. Raw wildflower honey also contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can help you soothe the redness caused by frigid winds and seasonal shifts
4. Sunscreen
You still need sunscreen, even in the winter! Protecting your skin from harmful UV rays may feel like it’s only a job for the summer months, but it’s truly something to be mindful of year-round.
UV rays are present regardless of the season. This is especially true if you live in a location that experiences snow. If snow piles early in the year are a common occurrence for you, then you know all too well that the sun reflects off the snow (and other bright surfaces), blinding you at the worst times.
In addition to making you pull out your sunglasses, it’s also secretly doing a number on your skin.
Grass Fed Skin’s UV Harmonizer allows you to gently embrace safe sun exposure (we still need to make that natural Vitamin D!) while offering your skin gentle, nourishing protection.
The UV Harmonizer can be applied daily (even on gloomy days!) as part of your dry to deeply nourished skin care routine, allowing you to protect your skin from the sun throughout winter and fall.
Finding the Balance in Safe Sun Exposure with Tallow Sunscreen – read more!
You can easily embrace ancestral skin care products throughout the fall and winter months.
Protecting Your Skin During Colder Weather
Adjusting your skincare routine throughout seasonal shifts is all about nourishing and moisturizing, before dry skin swoops in and makes you question whether or not it’s time to move to a warmer climate.
Tallow skincare, when combined with the dry to deep technique and a dash of castor oil, works magic during fall and winter to create glowing skin, the ancestral way.
Curious about getting started with the dry to damp skincare routine?
Shop the tallow skin care products below
