Steroid Dependency & Sensitive Skin – Why Tallow Made Sense to Me

 

Topical steroids are prescribed for good reason. For eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis, they reduce inflammation and give skin the chance to settle. Used appropriately, for short periods, they do their job. The difficulty arises when short-term use becomes long-term dependency — and that cycle is more common than many people realise.

In New Zealand, eczema affects up to 25% of children and 7% of adults. It often appears early, with over 60% of cases developing in the first year of life alone. Most are treated with topical steroid creams as a first response. For many that’s appropriate and effective. But for some — myself included — it becomes a longer story.

My own skin story started early. As a baby I had the kind of scalp sensitivity that many parents recognise. By my teens it had developed into eczema – managed wtih steroid creams, which helped in the short term but never quite resolved things. The flares would settle, then return — a familiar cycle that many people with eczema will recognise. What I now understand is that prolonged steroid use can suppress the skin’s own ability to regulate inflammation. When steroid creams are applied regularly, the body’s natural production of cortisol reduces over time. When the creams stop, inflammation increases as the body’s natural defences are low. 

That cycle has a name — Topical Steroid Withdrawal, or TSW. It’s a rebound reaction reported after extended topical steroid use, when the creams are stopped or reduced – characterised by redness, burning, itching and peeling. It’s not the same as eczema returning — it’s the skin struggling to function without something it has come to rely on. Recent statistics suggest up to 12% of long-term steroid users may experience TSW although some researchers say the number is a lot higher – due to being mistaken for the original eczema.

For me, things gradually resolved when I simplified everything – what I ate, what touched my skin. I chose things I could understand and trust. Making my skincare and soap was the natural next step. What I do know is what compromised, reactive skin needs — and it isn’t complexity. It needs gentleness. Purity. Simple, oil-based care with nothing added that could trigger or aggravate skin that’s already struggling. Just what skin recognises – by working in harmony with your skin’s own repair cycle.

Grass-fed tallow fits that description. Its fatty acid profile closely mirrors the natural composition of human skin — it works with the barrier rather than disrupting it. Paired with carefully chosen botanicals and nothing unnecessary, it’s the kind of formulation that compromised skin can often tolerate when nothing else feels right.

Tallow is rich in oleic, palmitic and stearic acids – the same fatty acids found naturally in healthy human skin. Oleic acid works with the skin’s lipid barrier rather than sitting on top of it, filling in the gaps and helping to retain moisture. Palmitic and stearic acids strengthen and protect. Grass-fed tallow also contains conjugated linoleic acid, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, which can help calm redness, swelling and discomfort in reactive skin.

Before synthetic skincare existed, tallow was what people used. It absorbed well, protected and nourished without complication. For skin going through withdrawal, that biocompatibility makes all the difference. A damaged barrier needs support that doesn’t add to its burden. Tallow doesn’t ask skin to work harder than it already is. It simply provides what skin already knows – fatty acids, vitamins A.D, E and K. Protection without heaviness.

Pine tar, used in my Eczema Relief soap, has its own long history with sensitive skin — valued for centuries for its ability to calm itching and reduce inflammation. Colloidal oats add a further layer of gentleness. Together with tallow, they form a considered combination for skin that needs simplicity above everything else.

At Fatglow, every product is made with that in mind. Simple. Considered. Nothing that doesn’t earn its place.

Where tallow becomes botanical luxury.