Natural Skincare, Rooted In Science.
Three weeks into using something I never thought I'd try, someone complimented my skin over lunch. They had no idea I was coming here to do this story.
I'll be honest — I've never been a skincare guy. Never had a routine. Never thought twice about it. But you get a little older, you smile with your eyes, and those lines start to show. So when Melissa started working on this "side hustle" making handcrafted tallow skincare, I figured I'd be a good sport. After all, she's the woman I've spent the last eight years of my life with. Nothing to lose but some dead skin cells.
That lunch compliment? The person had no idea about Lone Tree Tallow. No idea I was filming an episode that week. Now they're a regular — joining a groundswell of people across the country singing praises online about what Melissa has built.
Melissa Goodwin
Her great-great-grandparents homesteaded in Tripp County. Her cousins — fifth generation — still run that ranch. The tallow in these products comes from the same family, the same land. She built Lone Tree because she couldn't find skincare that worked for her changing skin without irritating it or costing a fortune. So she went back to what her family has always known.
The name comes from Melissa's family history. Her grandmother, third generation on that Tripp County land, used to write a social column for the local newspaper called "Lone Tree" — after Lone Tree Township.
"My grandmother's column was kind of like Facebook before Facebook. She'd write about who went where and what they ate. Bob and Cindy went down to Omaha and had roast beef and some jello salad. I loved it."
Melissa Goodwin, Founder, Lone Tree Tallow
Today, Melissa's daughters are sixth-generation South Dakota natives. And the tallow that goes into these products? It comes from the same family that homesteaded that land over a century ago.
That's not marketing. That's legacy.
I had the same question you probably have: Why would you put rendered animal fat on your face?
Tallow is rendered fat — specifically from the suet, which is the fat around the kidneys of a cow. You boil it down, strain it, and what you're left with is a saturated fat remarkably similar to the sebum your own skin produces. Melissa renders hers four times — three wet renders and one dry — to get out all the impurities. Each batch takes up to seven hours of boiling.
It's slow. It's intentional. It's the opposite of everything mass-produced.
"When you render it the right way, you get this beautiful, snow-white fat that's incredibly nourishing for your skin. Tallow balm does what we call barrier repair — it keeps moisture in and protects your skin."
Melissa Goodwin
But here's where Melissa's chemistry background kicks in. Pure tallow is great, but it can clog pores. So she formulates it with what she calls "high-performance oils" — rosehip, squalane, sea buckthorn, meadowfoam — creating products that absorb into your skin without the occlusive heaviness.
The result? True barrier repair that actually works.
Blue Hour Bakuchiol Balm
The Retinol Alternative
This is the one. I use it every day now. Ty, our camera guy, uses it. His mom uses it. Everyone Melissa gives samples to comes back asking where to buy more.
What makes it different? Bakuchiol — a natural, plant-based retinol alternative. Melissa developed this because she can't use traditional retinoids. She once bought a jar of La Mer for three or four hundred bucks, put it on her eyes, and woke up looking like she'd been in a boxing match.
$44
The Blue Hour also has blue tansy, sea buckthorn, squalane, and local beeswax sourced from a woman here in South Dakota who puts her dog on the front of every package. It smells incredible — not like animal fat, but like the prairie botanicals Melissa infuses into everything she makes.
Here's something Melissa doesn't always lead with, but it matters: this line was built with hormonal skin changes in mind.
Melissa is about to turn 50. She's living it. The dryness. The sensitivity. The sudden breakouts. She built Lone Tree Tallow because she couldn't find natural skincare that actually worked without irritating her skin or costing a fortune.
No harsh retinoids. No synthetic fragrances. Just barrier repair that works with your changing skin, not against it.
Field Glow Oil
6,000x More Effective Than Vitamin C
This is Melissa's face oil — and it doesn't even have tallow in it. The secret ingredient? Astaxanthin. It's what makes flamingos pink. And it's 6,000 times more effective than vitamin C as an antioxidant.
I watched Melissa put this together after finding a $150 oil online with similar ingredients. She looked at the label and said, "I can make this."
$48
My routine now: Field Glow after I wash my face, let it soak in, then the Blue Hour Bakuchiol Balm to seal everything. Morning and night if it's winter. Just the oil if it's summer.
That's it. That's the whole routine. And as Melissa says: "If you haven't taken care of your skin, be patient. Two to three months in, you'll really start to appreciate what good skincare can do." I'm on month three now. She's right.
One thing sets Lone Tree apart: how much Melissa sources locally and stays true to her family's homesteading roots.
She infuses yarrow — which grows wild all over the South Dakota prairie — in high-linoleic safflower oil for four to six weeks before straining it. Same with calendula for its healing and anti-inflammatory properties. The beeswax is local. The propolis is local. Even the design process is local — Melissa drops samples at salons and nail shops around Sioux Falls, gets feedback, iterates, and improves.
"I love the process of meeting local makers — people doing beeswax and propolis, people growing calendula and yarrow. My entire life has been experimenting and making things. This lets me create something people love."
Melissa Goodwin
Last thing I asked Melissa: How do you balance it all?
She's a mom. She works a demanding day job. And she's running this "side hustle" that's quickly becoming more than a side hustle.
Her answer was honest:
"I don't. You might see me crying in my car in the grocery store parking lot. But other than that, everything's fine."
Melissa Goodwin
That's the real story behind most small businesses, isn't it? It's not balanced. It's passion. It's making something you believe in, even when it's hard.
And when the product is this good — when people try it and immediately ask where to get more — you keep going.
Shop the full Lone Tree Tallow collection at lonetreetallow.com
Available locally at Pomegranate Market in Sioux Falls
