Using Lard As A Moisturizer

Using lard as a moisturizer? Really? Lard is a popular soapmaking ingredient. It was also used in the last century, and before that, by many women as a natural, cheap moisturizer. It refers to rendered pig fat. Therefore, being an animal product, is avoided by vegans and animal rights activists. It has a bad enough reputation in general as a cooking ingredient.

While there are definitely vegetable options for all your beauty products, lard still makes sense for two reasons: for some, it’s the only cheap available ingredient; for some, it’s the only product that was able to soothe the effects of life-lasting skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema.

In this post, you will find a very simple recipe that turns lard into a nice-smelling and skin caring cream. The recipe was thought as a face cream, but you can actually use it on hands, feet, or any dry zone of your body you may need special hydration.

using lard as a moisturizer

Using Lard As a Moisturizer

In this post I was able to find out that lard was used as a facial moisturizer centuries before the cosmetic industry arose. Probably because while working on pig fat to make lard, women found out that their hands were softer and more hydrated than usual. Who knows?

In this post you can find a journalist from the Daily Mail making an experience by using lard as a moisturizer, and the surprising results it had on her face. I wish to draw some attention to the last part where they speak about the journalist’s face redness condition, reduced by the application of lard, whether because lard was able to diminish the effects of a condition called rosacea, or because the usual cosmetics she used had chemicals that may be causing her redness condition.

More Testimonials

This post recommends lard as a moisturizer for people suffering from eczema. This post has a testimony about someone using lard to manage eczema effects, among a new dietary regime, with very good results. And this post from WebMD recommends shortening (another name for lard) as a treatment for psoriasis.

I could post more testimonies and recommendations about using lard for skin conditions, there are a lot when you search for skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and rosacea, even acne! Fact is lard is very similar to human sebum – our natural skin fat – so when you apply lard, you are practically moisturing your skin naturally, and also telling your body you don’t need more sebum production.

While I am not a huge fan myself of lard for my face, I strongly defend natural products for your skin treatment – and I like to provide alternatives to people desperate to treat their own skin conditions. From reading many cosmetic labels and having myself a very good experience with natural skin products, I can only tell that any natural product is better than most man-made.

Of course, what works for one person, might have the opposite effect for another person. So, be open to try new products and give lard a chance for a few weeks. Check your results and then decide if this is a good product for you.

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My Personal Experience

After reading all those posts, I had to try lard as a face moisturizer. After rendering my own lard at home, I came up with a very simple recipe, where I just add a small amount of the usual cooling phase ingredients (essential oils, preservative, anti-oxidant).

I already have been using a very good face lotion, so I can’t say I had notable-breakthrough results. I have the impression I had some pimples after using lard as a moisturizer, so I do need to use it sparingly as I might have put more than necessary. It’s better if I wait for winter and make a real test for a whole month. I’ll post the results here by then.  

Lard Moisturizer Recipe

This recipe is not a lotion or even a cream (I’ve just called it a face cream for simplicity) as it is not an emulsion. It’s not even a balm (there’s no wax in the recipe). It is supposed to be mainly natural handmade lard, so let’s call it an oil product.

I’ve rendered lard at home to have a pure lard that I wanted to use for soap, lip balm and a face cream – this one. To the lard, I’ve added lavender essential oil for a better scent, the ever-present vitamin E as my main anti-oxidant and a bit of pomegranate seed oil for my mature skin – and a preservative, as I really don’t trust handmade lard to last very long out of the fridge.

You can skip any of these addictives as you believe to be irritating for your skin – lavender is one of the most mild essential oils and appropriate for more sensitive skins, but it’s still an essential oil….

For this recipe, as with all natural products, you can enrich it by infusing your lard with herbs (you simply need to melt the lard under low heat before pouring it over the herbs), like calendula for example. It’s something I will try in the future as an enhancement to this cream.

Find Where To Buy Handmade Lard Face Cream

If you’re not yet ready to try to make this recipe at home, but you still wish to try a natural lard face cream, you can find some options in the following links, including handmade natural lard:

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Homemade Lard Moisturizer

After reading about using lard as an ancient face moisturizer, I came up with this face cream made with lard. Some reports on the net state that lard was the only product able to soothe and hydrate skin with conditions like eczema or psoriasis.
Especially indicated for dry skin, as it is a potent moisturizer, this cream is adequate for most types of skin, even sensitive, except oily or acne-prone.
Made with handmade lard, and enriched with promegranate seed oil, vitamin E oil and soothing lavender essential oil, this cream comes as a radical alternative, when anything else as failed to soothe and hydrate your skin.
Difficulty: Easy
Weight: 40g
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Lotion
Servings: 1 pot of 40 ml
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $0,95 / 0,8€ (price without pot)

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like plastic cups, pipettes or the cream containers)
    Disinfect-equipment

Making Cream

  • Measure all the ingredients into a bowl, finish with the essential oil.
    measuring lard
  • For each ingredient you measure, mix the cream with a spoon.
    mixing-ingredients
  • Pour your cream into a tin container. A pump bottle protects more your cream against oxidation, dirt contamination or getting in contact with your fingers. However, it has a thick consistency, and it might clog your lotion pump bottle.
    homemade-lard-cream

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

2 thoughts on “Using Lard As A Moisturizer”

  1. Wow, I would never have considered using lard as a facial moisturizing product. I have had issues with oiliness and breakouts throughout my teenage and adult life, and it’s very challenging to find products that don’t make me look “greasy” and don’t make me break out. I do appreciate the information, but since you also thought you may have noticed pimples with this recipe, I don’t think it will be the right one for me to try. 

    • Hello Aly and thank for your comment.

      No, if you have an oily skin and prone to acne, you should avoid this moisturizer. Rosehip seed oil, aloe vera, green tea, lemon juice, tea tree essential oil, or lavender essential oil are among the natural ingredients that will help you with your skin.

      You could try one of these 4 Face Lotion Recipes and use rosehip seed oil instead of pomegranate seed oil. Then I’d switch the other ingredients to include the ones from the list above (but switch one at a time, so you know what is helping and what is not helping). You can replace rose water with aloe vera juice or gel, or green tea water infusion. Or just use plain distilled water. And you can replace any of the essential oils with no issues.

      Also, have you tried rose water to tone your skin (check out this Natural Face Toner with Rose Petals or just purchase rose water)? It helps me controlling oil skin.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

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