Perhaps, looking like a snail is not a traditional indicator of beauty; however, in today’s skincare obsession, going to bed with skin as shiny as a slimy shellfish is a testament to the attention many people are paying to skin health and hydration. your skin.
“Slugging” is a term from “K-Beauty”, the abbreviation for Korean beauty in English, to liberally smear the face every night with Vaseline or other gel-based product oil, such as Aquaphor. It’s the nighttime skincare step that ideally leads to another K-Beauty term, “porcelain skin,” where skin is so luminous and clear, it looks like porcelain.
Despite its confusing terminology, experts say that “slugging” can be a great way to end your nightly skincare regimen. And while you may not end up with skin that looks like a freshly cleaned china cup with Windex, it has many other benefits.
A Very Brief History of Slugging
Vaseline and other petroleum gel products (also called “petrolates”) have been used in skin care for more than a century. “In dermatology we’ve been recommending it for a long time, but recently it’s really caught on, I’d say thanks to TikTok,” says Christina Boull, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. When an American chemist named Robert Augustus Chesebrough saw how oil workers covered their burns and other injuries with the neutral colored gel, he took advantage of his ingenuity and created Vaseline in 90. Vaseline and other petroleum gel products became popular in the following decades because they were cheap, easy to make, and easy to use.
Why should you use it?
Stacey Sheridan, a reporter in Chicago, says she has used Vaseline (available at Walgreens) on her face since she was in high school. “She was watching ‘America’s Next Top Model’ and Tyra Banks said her mom applied it every night and she had no wrinkles,” she said. “But now that I live in Chicago, with its unforgiving winters, I’ve found that it works to keep my poor face hydrated, battered by low humidity and cold winds.”
Petrolatum is what is known as an “occlusive”. This means that it sits on top of the skin and doesn’t allow anything to get in or out. So if you have very dry skin, or live in a dry environment, Vaseline or another petroleum gel product like Aquaphor (available at Amazon) or Cerave Healing Ointment (available at Walmart) can help with moisturizing your skin. and protect it from environmental dryness.
“Petrolatum helps to restore the barrier function of the skin, and also helps with dry skin, mostly by preventing the loss of water that evaporates through the epidermis” says Boull . In other words, it acts a bit like a layer on the skin, preventing the moisture inside it from evaporating, and all the bad stuff in the air from getting in and doing damage. “It is not that Vaseline serves as a moisturizer by penetrating the layers of the skin; rather it prevents the skin from losing its natural moisture.” And Tyra Banks was right about Vaseline for wrinkles: It’s also great for aging skin, says Boull. Keeping your face well hydrated can make fine lines and wrinkles less visible, as they are more noticeable on dry skin than on hydrated skin.
Petrolatum can also be very healing, these oil workers clearly knew this when they applied it to injured skin. Rebecca Rosenberg, director of content strategy in Washington, DC, says her mother always kept it on hand to treat chapped lips. But, it wasn’t until her teens that she became a true devotee. “As I got into my teens and started treating my acne, my skin became horribly dry, red and irritated,” she says. When she complained to her mother about the state of her skin, she “drew the Vaseline.” “It didn’t cure the redness, but it always helped with the dryness.”
Dry, damaged, irritated, aging skin: all excellent cases to use the magical treatment that is that bottle of petroleum gel, applied generously to the face day and night.
Will petroleum jelly clog pores?
I grew up convinced that any moisturizer that wasn’t labeled “oil-free” would clog my pores; Fortunately, if the Slugging trend on TikTok is any indicator, youngsters these days aren’t afraid of a little moisture in their skincare routine.
And they shouldn’t! “For a long time, petroleum jelly was thought to be comedogenic, meaning it causes the skin to clog,” says Michelle Wong, a cosmetic chemist and science educator based in Sydney, Australia. “This was based on some studies on rabbit ears, where scientists applied petrolatum to them and counted the clogged pores.” But, the study was flawed, she says: Rabbits’ ears are more sensitive than human skin, and they have larger pores that seemed clogged to the researchers. But the damage was done. “This was finally corrected in the mid-years 90, when petrolatum was tested on human skin and found not to clog pores. But by then, the reputation that petrolatum clogs pores was already established.”
There are particular situations in which the strong occlusion of petroleum gel products can do more harm than good. If you’re using other especially strong “active” skincare products before your moisturizer (for example, a retinoid), the petrolatum can “seal” it in, which sounds like a good idea in theory, but for people with sensitive skin, increased contact between the skin and the active ingredient may cause irritation. This irritation, says Wong, can cause pimples or blemishes to break out. “So indirectly, petroleum jelly can end up clogging pores sometimes, even if it’s not comedogenic on its own,” she says.
You definitely don’t want to apply it if you have any skin infections skin, says Boull. “If you have impetigo, other bacterial or fungal skin infections, those would be times you’d want to avoid petroleum jelly, just until that infection is treated,” she says. I asked her if that meant I shouldn’t apply it on the poison ivy rash that, for some reason, I get every summer. “It certainly wouldn’t do much good, but it wouldn’t hurt either,” she says, provided you’ve thoroughly cleansed your skin before application. In that situation, he says, you should probably use a topical steroid for best results.
Other uses for petroleum gel
People with eczema they may find particular relief if they add petroleum jelly to their regimen. “Eczema is the main skin disease that we usually treat with Vaseline,” says Boull. Parents commonly use it on their babies to treat dry skin and eczema. “Babies are applied from head to toe, twice a day. And that’s the best routine,” she says. “So, I think it’s a bit ironic that adult women are just discovering this now, when we’ve been applying it to babies forever.”
As evidenced by its original use among oil workers in the 19th century, petroleum jelly is excellent for healing wounds and broken skin. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends applying petroleum gel to minor wounds such as cuts and scrapes to promote healing and prevent marks.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends it for diaper rash, if that is a problem that afflicts you (or your baby); to prevent chafing, a sadly common summer ailment for those who like to be active in summer; and to rehydrate nails between manicures, a tip I desperately wish I had known after 6 months of dip powder manicures that left my nails so thin and brittle they might as well not have existed at all.
Is petroleum gel toxic?
Some influencers and brands of “clean beauty” or “Clean Beauty” as it is known in English, consider that a category to avoid is petroleum products. This fear arose because petrolatum is derived from crude oil, which to be fair, sounds scary. But in most of the world, including the United States, petrolatum goes through a very thorough refining process that actually makes it one of the safest products you can use on your skin. “Cosmetic-based petrolatum is highly refined and non-carcinogenic. The skin doesn’t actually absorb it,” says Boull. “It is just a type of large molecule that is placed on the surface, the use of which is not dangerous.” The downside of petroleum gel simply being applied to the skin is of course the stickiness factor: using it can make it look a bit greasy, especially if you put on a thick layer. And because it doesn’t penetrate the skin like other products do, it doesn’t add anything to the skin that isn’t already there. It just seals in the good stuff and keeps the bad stuff out.
Its large molecular size is one of the reasons it’s great for people with sensitive skin (as long as they don’t use active ingredients for potentially irritating skin care products such as retinoids). “Petrolatum is non-allergenic and is generally well tolerated (if a bit off-putting),” says Adelaide Hebert, a professor of dermatology at the McGovern School of Medicine at UTHealth Houston. However, if you have rosacea, petroleum jelly can cause temporary redness in your skin because it traps heat, says Boull. The redness will fade when the petrolatum is washed off, but for this reason, people with rosacea should avoid using it during the day.
How to apply?
It’s easy! Wash your face with a gentle, deep cleanser (Hebert recommends one that doesn’t foam, as it will be less drying than one that goes super foamy) and pat dry, leaving a little moisture on your face. Then apply petroleum jelly or a petroleum jelly-based product like Aquaphor or Cerave Healing Ointment. it is necessary. She says, “Less is more.” “You don’t need a thick layer for petroleum jelly to do its job.”
Will Slugging ruin your sheets?
Well, maybe. Some people I talked to for this article, who have practiced this technique for years, have never noticed any stains on their sheets, but other people have mentioned that this can be a problem. “In fact, Vaseline can leave greasy stains on bedding (or any article of clothing),” says Hebert.
Richard Handel, Test Project Leader at Consumer Reports, who oversees our wash tests, says greasy products like Vaseline can definitely cause temporary damage to bedding. He recommends placing a perishable towel over the pillow to prevent the cover from getting completely stained. But if you do end up with a stain, he has a few methods you can use to remove it. “First, he blots the stain with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Then he uses baking soda or cornstarch to cover the stain,” he says, and let it sit for an hour. This will remove the stain from the fabric. After an hour, he scrubs the area with a toothbrush, repeating the process if necessary. “If there’s still a stain, you can use dish soap and warm water to remove it.” Don’t just put it in the wash, he says: Spot cleaning is key to removing the mark, plus the grease could transfer to other clothes in the washer load. Make absolutely sure that The stain has disappeared from the fabric before placing it in the washer or dryer.
Disclaimer: This article, originally published on February 9, 2022, updated to remove advice on using petroleum jelly in the nose, as some experts say this practice is unsafe.
Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2022, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works with consumers to create a fair, safe, and healthy world. CR does not endorse products or services and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2022, Consumer Reports, Inc.