The Oldest Face Cream in the World and Going Natural
The 2000 year old face cream and simple tallow face care.
History
Cosmetics of various kinds have been around for a while. And by a while, I mean something in the range of 7000 years. That comes pretty close to the time span of wine-making. Beauty and wine.
Having been mentioned already in the Old Testament, where Jezebel painted her eyelids, Roman women invented a formula for w lead-based whitening cream and kohl eye liners.
Egyptians are quite known for having used cosmetics already 5000 years ago. They had a very wide range of cosmetics like eye liners, eye shadows in many colors, blushes, lipsticks and even white cream to protect their skin from the strong Egyptian sun.
They used oils and incense oils on the skin for softness and pleasant smell.
A 2,700-year-old pot of face cream has been found in an ancient Chinese nobleman's tomb. The cream was in an ornate bronze jar and was made of animal fat and a substance called "moonmilk".
The lid was sealed and when they opened it, a mixture of carbonates and lipids was found inside. Does not look too skin-friendly at the moment, does it?
The carbonate was tested and was found to be calcium carbonate, which is good at absorbing sweat and oil, and could have given the cream a mattifying effect. Skin whitening was culturally popular during this period of Chinese history.
The fat was analysed as well and was found to be from cows. This must make it one of the first beef tallow moisturisers found.
In 2003, this small pot of cream was found in a Roman complex of temples in Southwark, London.
A small box, no larger than 6cm in diameter was found, with a perfectly closed lid. Watertight and made of tin, which was an expensive metal at the time.
When opening it, the archaeologists found that amazingly, it still had the last owner’s finger prints inside. A remarkable find, considering it is close to 2000 year old.
It was later announced that the cream contained “animal fat, probably from cattle or sheep.” It also contained starch and a tin dioxide mineral called cassiterite with the chemical formula SnO2.
Then the team recreated the ointment. I don’t know who tried it first, but here is their opinion:
“This cream had a pleasant texture when rubbed into the skin. Although it felt greasy initially, owing to the fat melting as a result of body heat, this was quickly overtaken by the smooth, powdery texture created by the starch. Remarkably, starch is still used for this purpose in modern cosmetics.
Other ancient cultures like the Celts also used tallow in skincare. They believed that tallow had healing properties that could help soothe the skin. They used it to make salves, balms, and ointments, which were applied to the skin to treat a variety of skin conditions such as cuts, burns, and bruises.
Ancient Moisturiser
Which brings me to today’s topic: beef tallow.
In the beginning of last summer I was applying sun screen on our son’s face and it got me looking at the ingredient list. It must have had 50 ingredients! It got me to thinking: do we really need all that?
It also happened around the same time I saw a post on Twitter from a small company selling natural cosmetics from Ireland. So I tried one. It was a bit expensive, but it was so great on the skin!!
For reference, it is this one. I am not being paid for the link, I just think it’s a great product.
After I finished the jar, rather quickly, I found in a supermarket beef tallow in the butter section. So I bought a jar and made my first beef tallow moisturiser at home. It works wonders!
The beef tallow sold in shops is rendered and does not smell like beef any longer. It’s made for cooking, like olive oil or butter.
Frying your steaks in it is delicious too, by the way.
Beef tallow is loaded with vitamins and omega fatty acids. It is very compatible with the oil that the skin naturally produces, doesn’t clog pores and can be beneficial even on acne-prone skin. No surprise that humankind has been using it for millennia!
The Recipe
This is not really a recipe exactly. Because I just got out a jar of beef tallow (organic and grass-fed), put it in a box and let it sit at room temperatures for a couple of hours.
I added a few drops of essential oils. In my case, I used Geranium and Frankincense essential oils. Then I whipped it with the mixer until it became fluffy and soft looking a bit like whipped cream.
1-2% essential oils from your total weight is a good ratio for a face-friendly cream. That is about 30 drops of essential oils to 100g of tallow.
The result is a very fluffy and easy to apply cream, which I keep in the fridge. It’s a good moisturiser for the whole body: from nose to toe.
If you find beef tallow somewhere around you, give this a try.
