About Us

Trail Saint Tallow didn’t start in a lab or a boardroom—it started in my backyard smoking a brisket.

I’ve always loved cooking, especially smoking meat for family and friends. One day while learning how to make a better brisket, I came across a tip about rendering the fat trimmings into cooking tallow. It made sense to me: don’t waste good resources, and make the most of what you already have. So I rendered my brisket trimmings, saved the tallow, and used it for cooking. It worked great—rich flavor, a little beefy, exactly what you’d expect.

While researching tallow for cooking, I stumbled across something unexpected: tallow has a long history of being incredibly beneficial for skin. That caught my attention for a very personal reason. My son had struggled with eczema and diaper rashes for years. We’d spent hundreds of dollars on dermatologist visits and store-bought creams with limited success. At that point, I figured I had nothing to lose.

I mixed a small batch using the tallow I had on hand, added some extra virgin olive oil from our kitchen, and applied it to my son’s skin. I also made a small jar for my wife and me with a bit of lavender essential oil—thinking we could use it as part of our nighttime routine instead of diffuser oils.

To my surprise, it worked incredibly well. My son’s diaper rash and eczema cleared up within a night or two. My wife and I noticed our skin looked and felt better almost immediately. That was the moment curiosity turned into obsession.

I dove headfirst into research—studying purification methods, ingredient compatibility, skin science, and learning from estheticians. I began sourcing high-quality suet from a local Kansas butcher and meat packing plant and refined my process until the tallow was as pure as possible and essentially odorless. Every oil I chose was intentional, focused on being non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores) and actually working with your skin—not against it.

That’s where Trail Saint Tallow separates itself from the crowd. I didn’t follow a generic whipped-tallow blueprint. I built something from the ground up that did exactly what I wanted it to do—and more.

Where the Name Comes From

I grew up—and still live—in Kansas, where old covered wagon trails run through the land. As a kid, I remember playing outside at a friend’s house and literally running through wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail in their front yard. I grew up in a very small town where the Santa Fe Trail passed through, and my high school was even named after that route.

Tallow isn’t a new substance. In fact, it was something people relied on to survive those long journeys across the United States. It was an essential item—used for candlelight, treating cuts and burns, starting fires, cooking food, and even greasing wagon axles. It was dependable, versatile, and always pulled its weight.

If you think about it, tallow was the saint of the trails.

That history, combined with where I come from and how this product came to be, is where the name Trail Saint Tallow was born.

Once the formula was right, I started sharing it with friends and family. Their response honestly caught me off guard. I didn’t set out to start a skincare company in the summer of 2025, but the results spoke louder than any plan ever could.

Today, Trail Saint Tallow is still made in small batches with simple, purposeful ingredients. No fillers. No fluff. Just honest skincare that works.

As long as it’s helping people, I’ll keep making it—one small batch at a time.