Animal fats are everywhere right now – but not in the way you might expect.
Beef tallow has exploded across TikTok, filling feeds with whipped balms, glowing testimonials and bold claims about “ancestral skincare”. Yet just as the beauty world starts to wrap its head around tallow, another ingredient is quietly stepping into the spotlight and challenging even more deeply held beliefs: pig fat. Yes, pig fat.
Long dismissed, culturally loaded, and often misunderstood, lard is now being re-examined as a serious cosmetic ingredient – and it is sparking some of the most provocative conversations the beauty industry has heard in years.
In this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier sits down with Charles Mayfield, founder of Farrow, to explore why pig fat is making a comeback in modern skincare and why it is causing so much debate.
Drawing on his background in regenerative farming, health and wellness coaching and the culinary world, Charles explains how lard behaves on the skin, why its biology matters, and how his SmartLard technology is designed to protect both skin health and ingredient integrity.
If you want to understand where the animal fat trend is really heading – and whether pig fat has a place in beauty’s future – this is an episode you won’t want to skip.
“We abandoned animal fats long before we understood what we were replacing them with, and now our skin is paying the price.” — Charles Mayfield
In this episode with Charles Mayfield, you will hear:
- How animal fats made their way back into beauty: Charles explains why animal fats such as tallow and lard are resurging after decades of being pushed aside by plant oils and synthetics. He explores how social media, curiosity-driven DIY culture and a broader return to ancestral health practices have reignited interest.
- The difference between tallow and lard in skincare: This episode breaks down the biological and functional differences between fats derived from ruminant animals and pigs. Charles explains where these fats come from in the animal, how they behave on the skin and why they are not interchangeable.
- Why pig fat surprised everyone – including its founder: Charles shares the personal story that sparked Farrow Skincare, beginning with a severe sunburn and an unexpected experiment with rendered pig fat. What followed challenged everything he thought he knew about topical skin support. This experience ultimately laid the groundwork for his brand, Farrow Skincare.
- Regenerative agriculture and uncomfortable conversations: The episode explores the sustainability claims behind animal-derived ingredients and the ethical discomfort they raise. Charles explains how regenerative farming, by-product use and thoughtful sourcing fit into his brand philosophy.
Key takeaways include:
- Pig fat is not a novelty ingredient & is biologically compatible: Lard shares a lipid profile that closely mirrors human sebum, which helps explain its skin affinity and performance. Charles highlights how pig fat helped his own skin, and how it led him to create his lard-inspired skincare brand.
- Not all animal fats are created equal: The episode makes clear distinctions between different types of fats and why sourcing matters far more for some fats than others. Charles explains that subcutaneous pig fat reflects the animal’s environment and diet, making regenerative practices essential.
- Formulating with lard demands restraint, not excess: Early mistakes with water-based formulations and overuse of essential oils demonstrate why simplicity is critical when working with animal fats. Charles explains how removing water and respecting fat chemistry improved the stability and safety of his lard-based skincare products.
- Sustainability is complex, not binary: This conversation challenges the idea that plant-based automatically equals sustainable and animal-based automatically does not. By framing lard as an upcycled by-product of food systems, this sometimes controversial episode introduces a more layered sustainability discussion.
Meet our guest: Charles Mayfield, Founder of Farrow Skincare
Charles Mayfield is the founder of Farrow Skincare and brings together experience in regenerative farming, health and wellness coaching, and the culinary world.
Based in Tennessee, Charles spent years raising beef, pork and chicken using regenerative practices before translating his understanding of whole-fat nutrition into skincare.
His work champions animal fat as a modern cosmetic ingredient, refined through what he calls SmartLard technology, with a focus on simplicity, thoughtful sourcing and skin health that mirrors how we nourish our bodies and the land.
Find out more about Charles Mayfield and Farrow Skincare:
- Website: Farrow Skin
- Social media: @farrowskin (Instagram and X)
Special offer for listeners: Get 25% off your first order from Farrow Skincare using the code BOTANICA.
Related episodes:
- Episode 47: Should vegan beauty brands be run by vegans?
- Episode 214: What is regenerative beauty?
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please share, subscribe and review this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Youtube so that more people can enjoy the show. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.
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Lorraine Dallmeier is a Biologist, Chartered Environmentalist and the CEO of Formula Botanica, the award-winning online organic cosmetic science school. Read more about Lorraine and the Formula Botanica Team.
