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submitted 11 months ago by noob@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I have a tub of Vaseline and have hardly scratched the surface. I'm curious whether anyone uses it for anything other than their lips.

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[-] luthis@lemmy.nz 102 points 11 months ago

YES. Tiny cuts.

You know when you get a paper cut or similar, (not a scratch, a clean cut) and it stings and is really irritating, but it's not deep enough to bleed much if at all?

Whack some vaseline on it. You block the air from your nerves and get instant relief.

Also use it sometimes to prevent chafing, like before a long bike ride.

[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 54 points 11 months ago

That's exactly what it was originally meant for.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly

Native Americans discovered the use of petroleum jelly for protecting and healing skin.[4] Sophisticated oil pits had been built as early as 1415–1450 in Western Pennsylvania.[5] In 1859, workers operating the United States's first oil rigs noticed a paraffin-like material forming on rigs in the course of investigating malfunctions. Believing the substance hastened healing, the workers used the jelly on cuts and burns.

[-] luthis@lemmy.nz 12 points 11 months ago

Oh wow, I never knew!

[-] basketsandhoes@lemmy.ml 20 points 11 months ago

I'm pretty sure that most of what Neosporin is is Vaseline... And it makes sense. It's basically Vaseline with a mild antibiotic.

Vaseline is awesome for preventing scars too: when the wound is still open, use Neosporin, but after it closes up a bit and is just healing, switch to Vaseline and just keep it in Vaseline until it's totally gone.

[-] 200ok@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

This.

Wounds heal best when they're kept moist and have a barrier.

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[-] spread@programming.dev 73 points 11 months ago

Mixing Vaseline with cotton and rolling it into small balls makes for surprisingly effective firestarter. Catches fire from almost everything (even flint and steel) and the burns with strong flame for like 2 minutes.

[-] jws_shadotak@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

I used these a bunch in some jungle training. Any petroleum based jellies worked great, so we used bacitracin packets as our additive.

Fun fact: dead bamboo will always be dry in the middle between two joints. You can split it up into a couple thin pieces and it makes great kindling.

Live bamboo will create a small pressure bomb.

[-] iesou@lemm.ee 15 points 11 months ago

Another fun fact for if you're in a deciduous forest, beach tree bark will always light, even when wet. It contains a flammable oil.

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[-] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 57 points 11 months ago

Yes. And I'll take no further questions on the subject.

[-] Countess425@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I use it around my hairline before I color my hair so as not to stain my skin.

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[-] Offlein@lemmy.world 45 points 11 months ago

I know a girl who thinks of ghosts. She'll make you breakfast; she'll make you toast. But she don't use butter. And she don't use cheese. She don't use jelly, or any of these.

She uses Vaseline.

Vaseline.

Vaseline.

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[-] MadBabs@lemmy.world 34 points 11 months ago

I use it in my nose after a nosebleed and put it on popsicle sticks to put in houseplants to be a sticky trap for flying pests

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[-] iDunnoBro@sopuli.xyz 26 points 11 months ago
[-] Pepperette@lemmy.ml 25 points 11 months ago

When I get a cut on my hands and they are very dry my skin heals over the wound, but the wound still stays there. Callouses just kind of grow over it and it gets painful and shitty. I put a glob of Vaseline on it and cover it with a bandaid or something and I a few days it's back to normal.

[-] OwenEverbinde@reddthat.com 16 points 11 months ago

That's a lot of the reason why Neosporin or any other antibiotic ointments help you heal faster. There's petrolatum in all those products.

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[-] phario@lemmy.ca 22 points 11 months ago

Vaseline is just a petrolatum jelly and a lot of creams and moisturisers have this as a component. The problem with Vaseline is that it’s basically pure petrolatum and so blocks the skin completely.

You rarely want to block the skin completely. The uses some other people noted, like stopping bleeding, is one of those uses.

The truth is that I rarely recommend Vaseline because of how limited it is on skin use.

I recommend people look into Aquaphor by Eucerin, which is only about 40% petrolatum and moisturises a bit better. I always travel with a very small container (just a tiny bit) of the stuff. It’s useful if you have any skin conditions (flaked skin, rashes, etc) that you might want to deal with pronto.

Aveeno (a very good brand for skincare) also make very similar heavy creams.

Long story short, no, Vaseline is pretty bad choice for skincare because it just blocks all air exchange. There are better choices. You often do want petrolatum…just not 100%.

Source: lifelong eczema issues

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[-] Sharkapotamus@beehaw.org 19 points 11 months ago

I play sports and always put it on my heels before switching into cleats. Prevents blisters. Works with new shoes too, while you break them in.

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[-] xedrak@kbin.social 18 points 11 months ago

When my siblings and I were young we would occasionally get eczema flair ups on our hands. Whenever this happened my mom would fill a sock with Vaseline and have us wear it on our hands to bed. Kinda funny.

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[-] Pazintach@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I use medical petroleum jelly on my carbon steel stuffs to prevent them from rust. I think it works better than WD40, and I don't have to protect my hands while applying it.

And sometimes I mix it with bee wax as wood oil. I think it works.

[-] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

I know what your great great grandma used it for

[-] jo3shmoo@sh.itjust.works 16 points 11 months ago

I use it when casting my patients who have a partial hand amputation. It works great as a separator for casting agents and allows me to easily easily slip a cast off of them. It also helps prevent ripping out too too many hairs during the process.

[-] moogable@beehaw.org 15 points 11 months ago

My great aunt used to cook with it. By far the weirdest spaghetti Ive ever eaten. 0/10 do not recommend.

[-] Usernameblankface@kbin.social 15 points 11 months ago

I use it kind of like WD-40 in a farm setting. It's messy, but not as messy as grease. It's effective to coat things that constantly wear and have started to rust. I also rub it on my leather boots to waterproof it for cheap.

[-] BrainisfineIthink@lemmy.one 15 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I use it to wipe on my nose when I'm sick or my allergies are bad. It helps prevent it from getting all dried out from the tissues! I also rib a little on my hands sometime#, it goes a long way as a moisturizer. In summer I rub some between my toes if they get dried out.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 15 points 11 months ago

I slather it on my face before bed as a mask. Works great to fight acne imo

[-] phario@lemmy.ca 16 points 11 months ago

This is surprising advice. I would have assumed it would make people break out.

Vaseline is a poor choice of moisturiser because it does not moisturise. It blocks air from entering your pores and I would have assumed this leads to clogged pores and hence acne.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It also forms a protective barrier for your skin, so nothing can contaminate it or grow on it and you don't lose moisture to evaporation.

Also, pores don't actually clog from stuff getting into them. That's a common misconception that mostly comes from advertisements. What actually happens is your skin becomes inflamed (due to contaminants or bacterial growth or diet or hormones) and squeezes the pores shut. Blackheads aren't dirt but are actually oxidized sebum, which is the oil your skin secretes.

EDIT Oh! Speaking of protective barriers, I also put it on my hands and forearms before work because I handle a lot of machine oil and that irritates my skin, causing rashes and itchiness.

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[-] Candelestine@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

It's good for knuckles that crack and bleed in the winter. Lotion isn't really good enough unless you're applying it multiple times a day.

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[-] H3wastooshort@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 11 months ago
  1. Heat vaseline in a small container or on a spoon
  2. Suck up into syringe
  3. Inject liberally into ~~veins~~ switches, connectors, and other electronic moving parts that I'd like to be waterproof. (0. Cover PCB in nail polish or specially-made products)
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[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

I’ve seen it used on Cinema Camera filters to make funky reflections in the lens.

We were filming a dream sequence and to make the edges of the image soft and blurry, we used an optical flat (a clear filters basically a piece of clear glass that slides in front of the camera’s lens) and the DP (director of Photography, aka the Cinematographer) smeared some Vaseline over the edges of the flat, painting the blurry edges with his finger. It worked really nicely, unfortunately I can’t find the final video online to show the result.

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[-] guleblanc@beehaw.org 13 points 11 months ago

Lubricating the cork in a saxophone neck or a clarinet tenon. It turned out to be not a good idea at all, since the Vaseline speaks into the cork and dissolves the glue holding the cork to the instrument. But until then it does a great job.

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 18 points 11 months ago

speaks into the cork

Soon, Cork could no longer ignore those dark whispers, those awful voices. Cork knew what needed to be done, and that only they could do it.

[-] VerdantSporeSeasoning@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago

Cork let go. Cork was... Free.

And then came an explosion of sound.

[-] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 11 points 11 months ago

If you are wounded it's great to apply on your skin

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[-] BloodSlut@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago
  • Nipple fissures

  • Dry nipples

  • Runner's rash

I'm beginning to think I have fragile nipples...

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[-] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago

I use it to lubricate machine parts at times. Also good coating for rust protection like the sockets of outdoor bulbs or tools in storage. There's better products for skin protection. Years ago it was commonly used for infant diaper rash, but again there's better products for that now. I don't think I've ever used it on my body, it's made from petroleum so it's really just highly refined axle grease.

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[-] ReiRose@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

I use it on my baby's chin to prevent dribble rash.

[-] Selmafudd@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Wtf I'm 4 kids deep and (thankfully) never come across dripple rash

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[-] CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 10 points 11 months ago

When i see to much i put it in my eyes

[-] smstnitc@lemmy2.addictmud.org 10 points 11 months ago

I haven't used it since I was a teenager 😂

[-] newpuritan@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 months ago

Lubricating the O ring that sits inside the watch case of vintage divers watches to keep them waterproof.

[-] makanimike@feddit.de 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)
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[-] Crankpork@beehaw.org 9 points 11 months ago

It’s good to put around your eyebrows when you’re tinting them, so you don’t stain the skin or any invisible hair.

Also good for putting on nail polish, for similar reasons.

[-] vaseline@lemmy.fmhy.ml 9 points 11 months ago
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[-] QuantumQuack@feddit.nl 9 points 11 months ago

I get super dry skin in winter, especially on my hands where my skin can even start to crack and bleed. Vaseline works wonders.

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[-] MelancholikhPatata@kbin.social 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I like putting vaseline on my lips overnight (it's best to apply it on damp lips)

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this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
193 points (100.0% liked)

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