I have a tub of Vaseline and have hardly scratched the surface. I’m curious whether anyone uses it for anything other than their lips.
- ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ ( @luthis@lemmy.nz ) 51•2 years ago
YES. Tiny cuts.
You know when you get a paper cut or similar, (not a scratch, a clean cut) and it stings and is really irritating, but it’s not deep enough to bleed much if at all?
Whack some vaseline on it. You block the air from your nerves and get instant relief.
Also use it sometimes to prevent chafing, like before a long bike ride.
That’s exactly what it was originally meant for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly
Native Americans discovered the use of petroleum jelly for protecting and healing skin.[4] Sophisticated oil pits had been built as early as 1415–1450 in Western Pennsylvania.[5] In 1859, workers operating the United States’s first oil rigs noticed a paraffin-like material forming on rigs in the course of investigating malfunctions. Believing the substance hastened healing, the workers used the jelly on cuts and burns.
- ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ ( @luthis@lemmy.nz ) 8•2 years ago
Oh wow, I never knew!
I’m pretty sure that most of what Neosporin is is Vaseline… And it makes sense. It’s basically Vaseline with a mild antibiotic.
Vaseline is awesome for preventing scars too: when the wound is still open, use Neosporin, but after it closes up a bit and is just healing, switch to Vaseline and just keep it in Vaseline until it’s totally gone.
No need for the Neosporin at all, just use the vaseline
Carmex lip balm as well.
Yes. And I’ll take no further questions on the subject.
Mixing Vaseline with cotton and rolling it into small balls makes for surprisingly effective firestarter. Catches fire from almost everything (even flint and steel) and the burns with strong flame for like 2 minutes.
I play sports and always put it on my heels before switching into cleats. Prevents blisters. Works with new shoes too, while you break them in.
Good tip, will try that
When I get a cut on my hands and they are very dry my skin heals over the wound, but the wound still stays there. Callouses just kind of grow over it and it gets painful and shitty. I put a glob of Vaseline on it and cover it with a bandaid or something and I a few days it’s back to normal.
That’s a lot of the reason why Neosporin or any other antibiotic ointments help you heal faster. There’s petrolatum in all those products.
My great aunt used to cook with it. By far the weirdest spaghetti Ive ever eaten. 0/10 do not recommend.
I use medical petroleum jelly on my carbon steel stuffs to prevent them from rust. I think it works better than WD40, and I don’t have to protect my hands while applying it.
And sometimes I mix it with bee wax as wood oil. I think it works.
Vaseline is just a petrolatum jelly and a lot of creams and moisturisers have this as a component. The problem with Vaseline is that it’s basically pure petrolatum and so blocks the skin completely.
You rarely want to block the skin completely. The uses some other people noted, like stopping bleeding, is one of those uses.
The truth is that I rarely recommend Vaseline because of how limited it is on skin use.
I recommend people look into Aquaphor by Eucerin, which is only about 40% petrolatum and moisturises a bit better. I always travel with a very small container (just a tiny bit) of the stuff. It’s useful if you have any skin conditions (flaked skin, rashes, etc) that you might want to deal with pronto.
Aveeno (a very good brand for skincare) also make very similar heavy creams.
Long story short, no, Vaseline is pretty bad choice for skincare because it just blocks all air exchange. There are better choices. You often do want petrolatum…just not 100%.
Source: lifelong eczema issues
This might sound like an ad, but I always keep Aquaphor in my bag. I go rock climbing which gives me really dry hands and Aquaphor helps with that so much
I have a bizarre sensitivity to shea butter and beeswax, so am heavily limited in the chapstick department. Aquaphor is absolutely the best!
Aquaphor is sold in the Baby Supplies aisle of drug stores and bigger grocery stores. It’s been great for alleviating diaper rash with my kids.
That Eucerin makes really good stuff. They have a thick healing cream that’s amazing, like supercharged moisturizer. I use it on my feet once in a while to avoid skin problems.
I feel like sometimes you want a complete block to lock in moisture. I put vaseline on over my moisturiser every night and wash off the remainder in the morning.
Also to answer OP’s question I also use it to take my makeup off.
Lubricating the cork in a saxophone neck or a clarinet tenon. It turned out to be not a good idea at all, since the Vaseline speaks into the cork and dissolves the glue holding the cork to the instrument. But until then it does a great job.
speaks into the cork
Soon, Cork could no longer ignore those dark whispers, those awful voices. Cork knew what needed to be done, and that only they could do it.
Cork let go. Cork was… Free.
And then came an explosion of sound.
When my siblings and I were young we would occasionally get eczema flair ups on our hands. Whenever this happened my mom would fill a sock with Vaseline and have us wear it on our hands to bed. Kinda funny.
It’s good to put around your eyebrows when you’re tinting them, so you don’t stain the skin or any invisible hair.
Also good for putting on nail polish, for similar reasons.
I use it kind of like WD-40 in a farm setting. It’s messy, but not as messy as grease. It’s effective to coat things that constantly wear and have started to rust. I also rub it on my leather boots to waterproof it for cheap.
Oh… You know. Hehehe
Lubricating the O ring that sits inside the watch case of vintage divers watches to keep them waterproof.
I slather it on my face before bed as a mask. Works great to fight acne imo
This is surprising advice. I would have assumed it would make people break out.
Vaseline is a poor choice of moisturiser because it does not moisturise. It blocks air from entering your pores and I would have assumed this leads to clogged pores and hence acne.
It also forms a protective barrier for your skin, so nothing can contaminate it or grow on it and you don’t lose moisture to evaporation.
Also, pores don’t actually clog from stuff getting into them. That’s a common misconception that mostly comes from advertisements. What actually happens is your skin becomes inflamed (due to contaminants or bacterial growth or diet or hormones) and squeezes the pores shut. Blackheads aren’t dirt but are actually oxidized sebum, which is the oil your skin secretes.
EDIT Oh! Speaking of protective barriers, I also put it on my hands and forearms before work because I handle a lot of machine oil and that irritates my skin, causing rashes and itchiness.
Interesting. Maybe I don’t know as much as I thought. Let me do some more reading…
A lot of this is stuff I picked up over a decade of dealing with chronic and painful acne, so I’d probably have to spend an evening finding different articles lol
But, yeah, acne comes from inside. It’s a more like an allergic reaction, where a normally helpful part of the immune system freaks the f out and causes harm. The bacteria that sometimes causes acne also comes from the body and normally lives harmlessly in our skin oil. And it’s not even always the cause! Sometimes bacteria doesn’t grow inside the zit at all, though it usually does and when it does it usually makes it a lot worse.
Gosh there’s just so much stuff. Scrubbing with a cloth or using overly hot water actually make acne worse because they cause irritation, which triggers a stress response. Overly drying soaps can cause acne by drying out the skin, which can trigger a stress response. Sunlight is necessary for human life, but lots of exposure causes inflammation and stress.
Acne.org has a lot of good info, highly recommend.
Ah man, this actually explains one of the reasons my body sucks at skin cycles and seems to produce too much skin. Thanks for the info, pity I can’t get rid of the systemic inflammation completely.
Incidentally and a bit off topic, what’s your take on salicylic acid, if you have one?
I react badly to it! I’ve only had luck with low% benzoyl peroxide cream, with retinol to help with hyperpigmentation.
I do have to try some retinol. And that makes sense on the peroxide, that was not so helpful to me but the doctor did bill it as being better for whiteheads and other infected types, which I’m guessing is what your Vaseline mask helps with most.
Thanks! It’s nice to see someone not just buying into the expensive cosmetics but going for the actual chemistry.
It is also great to take makeup off or products that build up (like sunscreen).
Oh yeah! I use it to touch up eyeliner - a teeny amount on a q-tip and I can pretend I don’t keep over applying makeup lol