How Did I Not Know About This: A Love Letter to Vaseline
I’ve been on cruise control with my lack of deliberate skincare. Now that I’m settling into my thirties, I figured it was time to brush up on what the rest of the female populace has been slathering on their faces in pursuit of perpetual youth. My rabbit hole search started yesterday when I came upon a blog post discussing the oldest beauty brands on the market and how they became staples.
While I knew that Vaseline could be used around your nails to prevent nail polish from getting on your fingers and preventing hair dye from staining your skin (someone tell Giuliani), I didn’t necessarily understand how its chemical properties come into play. Vaseline is an occlusive moisturizer meaning that it acts as a barrier to hold moisture in. It’s right up there with superglue in the old-timey tried-and-true first aid in the trenches department as it was used to help cuts heal by preventing them from bleeding all over the place. As with most old-timey curealls, it was touted as having health benefits if ingested, which is alarming but it helped Wayne Coyne make sense! Upon receiving said information, I marveled at human discovery and happy accidents. While the information itself was inconsequential at that moment, my world became a little brighter having learned something new.
Fast forward to later that evening when I was shaving my legs and carelessly cut a centimeter off my thigh. My shaving injuries are few and far between, save for that damn spot on my ankle that I’m sure every woman can bemoan. And while I contemplated the possibility of nicking my femoral artery with my Billie razor (I know that’s nigh impossible but anxiety makes fools of us all), I was reminded of my recently acquired tidbit of information. When I got out of the shower, I reached for the ever present tube of Neosporin in the cabinet. Since it uses Vaseline as a carrier for the anti-bacterial ingredients, I figured it would be a safe bet to experiment on myself. I applied one little dot on my cut and stared at it, waiting for blood to surface and spill as it always does when I’ve cut myself shaving in the past. Much to my surprise, nothing was coming out. The Vaseline worked as a barrier on my skin to essentially aid the blood in clotting around the wound as intended. Not only that, I didn’t have to use a band-aid or a hastily grabbed wad of toilet paper to apply pressure. It was brilliant!
You never know where your internet journey will take you. I’m absolutely thrilled that I can just apply a little bit of Vaseline to a shaving nick and go about my day. I ain’t an esthetician so if you know Vaseline bothers your skin, I wouldn’t recommend doing this obviously.
What other little things do y’all use that are often overlooked? Bonus points if your suggestion can also lubricate zippers, condition bike saddles, and build explosives like Vaseline.
