Is Vaseline Good For Your Skin?

Vaseline

Is Vaseline Good For Your Skin?

YES!!!!!!  Yes it is!!!!!  Here's why:

What Is Vaseline?

Vaseline is mostly petroleum jelly, petrolatum and paraffin.  All these ingredients are related and derived from crude oil extraction.  This may sound carcinogenic and scary, but actually petroleum, petrolatum and paraffin are some of the safest and least allergenic skincare ingredients in existence.  Let's go into further detail why:

How does Vaseline work in the skin?  How is it safe?

Petroleum, petrolatum and paraffin all have a very large molecule structure.  This means that the product does not absorb into the skin, and does not clog the pores, but rather sits on top.  It creates a perfect moisture holding shield that prevents water in the skin from escaping out, also known as Transepidermal l Water Loss or TEWL for short. 

 It also acts like a temporary natural skin barrier by protecting compromised and sensitive skin from the elements and environmental pollutants while allowing them to heal and function naturally underneath.

Vaseline prevents 90% TEWL!!!!  Thats massive!  In comparison, Vaseline/petroleum jelly alternatives like mineral oil and lanolin only reduce TEWL by 20-30%.

How do you use Vaseline?

There's soooo many uses for Vaseline, but the main ones I recommend at the studio and to my clients are

  • as a non pore clogging lip balm.  It will trap in water, not cause breakouts around the lips and wont cause barrier dependency the way beeswax does.  
  • As a sensitized/chapped skin barrier balm. Chapped, skin from winter or wind?  Use Vaseline before exposure or on top of your moisturizer at bed in wintertime.  Over exfoliated or chapped skin from acne treatments like benzoyl peroxide?  Use Vaseline.  Cuts and scrapes?  On cleansed skin use Vaseline.
  • As a barrier between pool water and acneic or sensitive skin.  Chlorine is an acne aggravator, and can irritate sensitized skin.  Applying a layer on top of sunblock before swimming will provide a protective barrier keeping the chlorine from penetrating into the skin.
  • As an "Oh crap i forgot my face moisturizer on my trip" moisturizer alternative: If you're ever in a predicament where you forgot to bring your expensive moisturizer on a trip, but don't want to buy some crap at the store to hold you over that could mess up or skin or potentially cause a breakout, applying Vaseline over damp skin will hold the moisture in and provide a temporary moisturizing barrier.

Let us know if you have any questions about the uses of Vaseline by emailing us!


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