I've always applied it mostly to the outside, and only when the drum is really dry and/or has a particularly thick goatskin applied it to the inner surface of the head. The logic to putting lotion only on the outer head was two-fold, as I was taught, first, because your tone hand is in contact with the inner head, you're already rubbing natural oil from your hand on the drum, and second, on a non-tunable drum, you'd be moistening the inside head to loosen it, and a lot of conditioning creams have beeswax which slows down the absorption of water. I've mostly used the McNeela bodhran conditioner in recent years, which is made with lanolin and beeswax, and Padraic McNeela specifically recommends applying to the outside of the head. I did look up the Waltons cream and the directions do say to put it on the inside head, but to make it more confusing, I watched the drum care video on Waltons official KZfaq and they tell you to put it on BOTH sides of the head! I know that Waltons sells a lot of drums with painted images on the head, it's possible that they recommend conditioning the inside head to avoid damaging the artwork? I know this is a bit of a rambling answer, I've been doing it the way I have for decades, but am always willing to admit I might be missing something, so I've got a whole bunch of other tabs open and am trying to read up as I go. As far as I can tell most makers and players primarily recommend treating the outer surface of the head. Waltons apparently says one thing on the bottle but their how-to videos say another, so I'd feel free to treat both sides of the head if the outside also seems dry. I'm also going to email Walton's and check with them about it, and I'll give an update if I get a response, because now you've got me overthinking the whole thing.

Update: I haven’t heard back from Walton’s yet, but one of the other manufacturers I emailed mentioned that the Walton’s conditioner may have some UV-sensitive ingredient, which would mean it’s better on the less-exposed side of the head

@@mattdeblassmusic I have a painted Bodhran from Waltons, so far I’ve only used the cream on the inside. McNeela is out of stock on the cream they sell. Thank you so much for your great answer and detail to my question!

The only real difference in using conditioner on a taped head is that you want to be extra careful to clean up any excess near the edges of the tape. Because the conditioner is basically a lotion, it can mess up the adhesive on the tape, so you don't want it to work its way under the edge. Usually, it's not too big a worry, electrical tape creates a pretty good seal. But if you ever have to re-tape the head because the tape comes loose or gets too old, Matt Bell has a great video on his channel on how to do it. I'm not sure how long the tape will last, but my drum's a bit more than a year old with no sign of a problem yet.

My Brendan White is a single skin, but yes, I understand you need to be careful about separation in the double-skinned drums. I don't think you have to keep it cranked down too hard, but don't leave it floppy-loose for extended periods.

Sure! There are a lot of different options out there, and some very different price ranges! MacNeela Music in Dublin has a good variety for reasonable prices here mcneelamusic.com/bodhran-beaters-tippers/ The bundled rod tipper I use in a lot of my videos is from Hedwithschak. They're very well made but can get expensive for some of them www.bodhranmaker.de/seite/471807/hedrods.html and if you want the swishy "Jazz Brush" sound I recommend the Vic Firth Jazz Rake, which is made of plastic instead of metal, so is far less likely to damage a natural skin head vicfirth.zildjian.com/jazz-rake-red-plastic.html

That should be fine. It's an ingredient in some of the bodhran care creams on the market, and generally anything that's safe for human skin is going to be safe for your drum head.