Slugging is the idea of putting on a petroleum mask before you go to bed at night. It’s meant to soothe, hydrate, and lock moisture into your skin. When you wake up, you’re supposed to have really smooth skin. Vaseline slugging is becoming a popular skincare hack even though it’s gotten a bad reputation since it has to compete with high-end and possibly pretentious skincare products. More expensive products make vaseline look like a sticky, unglamourous by-product of the oil industry. Ew, right? But when we actually look at medical data, petroleum is shown to have amazing benefits. 

Solimo Potroleum Jelly -$3.07

#1 It’s an amazing occlusive.

An occlusive is an agent that protects the skin. It stops the skin from losing too much water, and there are actually many medical studies done with petroleum jelly that demonstrate how it improves eczema in babies and young children. On top of that, there are other benefits to it. For people who have wounds or irritation of the skin, petroleum has been shown to decrease irritation in certain circumstances. Likewise, people who have a damaged skin barrier can also benefit from products like this. Because our skin naturally is meant to keep in the good stuff for our bodies and meant to keep out bad stuff like bacteria and pathogens, we have a very specialized skin barrier that helps us do that.

#2 It helps repair damaged skin.

Having a damaged skin barrier is like having a damaged fence where things can permeate. When this happens, the person might have dryness and irritation that causes them to be more susceptible to problems with their skin. In this case, if your skin can’t repair itself quickly, you can give it something like petroleum. It will act as a protectant. It moisturizes and it locks in any hydrators that you have already applied. Could it be greasy? Yes, absolutely. But according to the medical research, it’s actually shown to be really helpful, and plus it’s environmentally sustainable. 

#3 It’s environmentally sustainable skincare.

It’s perfectly understandable not to like the idea of supporting petroleum, but if you buy Vaseline, you’re actually not were not paying the industry to extract these things. You’re buying a by-product from the industry that would have been wasted. Vaseline is a skincare product that actually helps reduce waste from the industry. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find vegan and cruelty free alternatives, but there are definitely vegan forms of petroleum that are not tested on animals. 

While this may not change your perspective on vaseline or petroleum, it’s important to understand what products really do for skin. And if this has changed your perspective on vaseline, hopefully you’ll save some dollars and do the environment some good the next time you go shopping for a good humectant!

Photocover cred: 

Healthline/stock photos