On making lard lotion
I really cannot express the depths of my love of pig fat. I eat enormous quantities of crackling and would eat more if only I could get more of it. If you can sell me some pasture raised pig skin, please do get in touch. Weirdly, I do not like to eat pork itself, aside from some bacon with my liver and caramelised onions.
Anyway, lard. Yum. Delicious and (if you buy pasture raised pig fat which I do) nutritious, as it’s also chock full of vitamins D, E, and A, and omega 3 fatty acids.
Despite loving crackling (aka pork rinds) more than even lamb fat (*gasp*), it never occurred to me to do anything with it other than eat it. I use the rendered lard from my crackling to fry just about everything bar beef and venison steaks, as I think they taste better with butter. However, this left me with a fair amount of unused lard as I am but one woman. Incidentally, if you know how to make more fat stay on the crackling when you air fry it, then please do also get in touch.
However, a few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast about lard skincare. I was intrigued as I have very sensitive skin (eczema prone) and am generally in favour of natural approaches to health. This might be incredibly slow of me, but I didn’t realise that what we put on our skin ends up in our bodies. For some reason, I thought it just kind of hung out on the surface of our bodies. Previously, I was using Aloe Vera Vaseline which did actually work really well, but I don’t want petrochemicals inside of me, so I immediately slung it in the bin.
The guy being interviewed in the podcast was from Farrow Skincare which is a) American and b) generally too expensive for me. So I did some searching and found this recipe to make my own lard lotion. I skipped the beeswax as I didn’t have any, and only used Frankincense essential oil, but I am SOLD. This is the nicest lotion I have ever used. My skin is so soft, the lotion isn’t greasy at all, and it smells good (no porko). I have used it on my face and my body and I am very happy with how my skin feels after it. I have used Aveda’s Hydrating Lotion for my face for about 28 years, but it’s about to get ditched for the lard when the current bottle is empty.
As lovely as this batch is, next time I make the lard lotion, I think I will buy some beeswax as this batch is very runny at room temperature. It’s annoying to keep it in the fridge and the beeswax will firm it up some. Although, winter approacheth, so maybe I don’t need to…
In that podcast, the Farrow Skincare guy says he discovered how good lard was for the skin after getting sunburnt and putting some on out of desperation. I accidentally got sunburnt on Sunday during a walk over the South Downs. I was knackered by the time I got home and didn’t notice, but the next morning, I discovered that my calves, arms, and face were red as fuck. So I smothered my painful skin in my lard lotion and, ladies and gents, I am pleased to say that THE LARD HEALED ME! It is only 24 hours later and I am now a delightful brown as opposed to letterbox red.
I invite you to ditch your chemicals and step into the wonder of lard. You can even make soap with it as well. So many uses for one product!
Update (28/01/24):
I have made a second batch of lard lotion using that same Creswick farms recipe and this time I used unrefined beeswax pellets like the recipe calls for. Don’t skip the beeswax! It makes for a much better lotion. I also used the lavender essential oil as well as the frankincense and lemon(grass), but I prefer the fragrance with just frankincense and lemongrass.