Vaseline Beauty Tips

Vaseline Beauty Tips

For skin care routine, Vaseline is one of the best ever additions to your makeup bag. It does everything, but you will never see it in the glossy magazines…

Petroleum Jelly was first discovered in its raw form in the 19th Century when it collected on early US oil rigs and caused them to malfunction. The workers hated this, but found that it helped heal their cuts and burns quicker than usual. Robert Chesebrough then went along and bought back a stick of the black “rod wax” to examine its potential uses, before patenting a refined form and branding it “Vaseline” in the 1870s. It was endorsed as a “miracle healing product” (although scientists now know it has no medicinal properties, and that it’s healing powers came from the fact it effectively sealed off the wounds so germs could not get in), and thus became a staple in the medicine cabinets of families everywhere.

But Vaseline is not only good for medicinal purposes. It can be used for health and beauty in a variety of ways…

Vaseline as a moisturiser

The one everyone knows is putting Vaseline on chapped lips, or around your nose during winter when you’ve been hit with the deadly plague a cold. But it’s also great on other parts of your body. Dry hands? Cover your hands with Vaseline before you go to bed (and put on some plastic gloves, though this is not necessary) and wake up with baby soft skin. Crocodile elbows/knees? Vaseline does the trick. Same with dry skin on your feet/legs/arms/neck/anywhere. Just rub the stuff in before you go to bed and you’ll wake up feeling soft all over. It’s also good for in the day, obviously, for a quick touch up (though, as it’s heavy stuff, you may want to leave slapping your face in copious amounts of it until you’re in the safety of your own bedroom), and after you’ve come out of the shower.

Vaseline as a soother

Maybe not for everyone, but if your skin starts stinging then Vaseline is really good to soothe and calm the skin. This is especially good after using things like hair removal cream, which contain chemicals that can irritate the skin and leave it red, and after shaving.

Vaseline as an aid to makeup / hair beauty

Sticking a bit of Vaseline on your upper eyelid can act like a primer, and underneath eye shadow can make the colour more vibrant, and help it last longer. Mixing it with eye shadow/powder can also be good for making your own lip colours (providing the colour powder is safe on all skin/won’t cause harmful side effects if eaten), and as a nice blush if mixing it with a pink or red colour. It’s also good for giving days-old nail polish a little shine, by rubbing a bit onto your nails. Some people also swear by it being able to increase the thickness/length of your eyelashes if used long enough, but results tend to vary. It’s good as a replacement for mascara otherwise (or a base for it), and for tidying up eyebrows, and apparently good if you’ve run out of hair wax. It also protects your skin when you’re dyeing your hair. You can also use it for makeup removal, if you use a cotton bud to swipe away that bit of eyeliner that you drew across your face.

Vaseline as a body scrub or skin treatment for wrinkles

If you have lines that connect your nose to the sides of your mouth, lubricating them with Vaseline and then using your forefingers to rub up and down vigorously is supposed to help reduce the lines and smooth skin.

Mixing vaseline with rock salt makes a good body scrub.

Vaseline as a perfume saver

Vaseline is supposed to hold the smell of perfume for longer if you spray some where you’ve put a dab of Vaseline.

Vaseline as your personal Jeeves

Vaseline can make your shoes shiny if you rub a bit into the leather.

Vaseline for beautiful hair

Vaseline is good to use as a pre-conditioner on your hair, or for hiding split-ends temporarily. It can also help remove chewing gum from your hair.

Vaseline as a stain remover

If you have make up stains, that is – it can help remove them for your clothes.

I’m sure there are tonnes of other uses not listed here (apparently it’s good for lubricating Rubik’s cubes so the cubes don’t stick when you’re trying to solve it.. yeah, I’m not convinced either, and can’t help feeling someone must have entered a realm of Rubik’s related madness to have even considered trying it). A quick search around the internet will bring up thousands more uses (did you know beauty pageant entrants smear it on their teeth to ensure they can smile easily all day even when their lips are dry and cracked with nerves?) but hopefully this tiny list will be useful for everyday application.

So go out and buy a big ol’ tub of Petroleum Jelly right now. Hark on about all its uses to all of your friends. And remember, less is more; it’s better not to go wandering around in public with the goop in your hair making you look like an extra from an old B movie horror…

 


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