20 Beautiful Uses for Petroleum Jelly

Since we recently posted about using Vaseline as a mascara alternative, I’ve thought of a few more ways (twenty, to be exact) to work Vaseline (petroleum jelly, to be non-brand specific) into your beauty routine. You’ll be surprised at how many different way you can use something so simple – and so inexpensive!

A word about Vaseline before you read on: petroleum jelly’s thick nature makes it a great protectant. Its ingredients are less about infusing moisture deeply into the skin and more about protecting what’s there. For the winter, protecting your skin’s existing moisture is an absolute must. Don’t pass on this versatile product just because of its texture or the fact that it’s petroleum-based. Many wonderful skincare products in this world are derived from other substances that wouldn’t be great on our skin themselves. So don’t judge!

1. Keep your hands clean. Rub some petroleum jelly onto your hands before doing any type of messy work. It’ll keep things like paint from absorbing into your skin, making it easy to just wipe them off later.
2. Protect skin from hair color. Apply around your hair line to ensure no hair color absorbs into your skin. Just wipe off later and you’ll be ready to go!
3. Moisturize chapped lips. Apply and go – it’s basically the same thing as Carmex.
4. In fact, moisturize your whole body. You can use it on your hands, elbows, knees, wherever!
5. Protect your nails when painting them. Apply around the edge of your nail. It’ll make sure no polish gets on your skin while softening your cuticles.
6. Get soft feet! Apply to rough feet 3 minutes after bath or shower to moisturize them. Applying it right out of the shower helps absorption. You can also put it on your feet before bed and wear socks and you’ll wake up with soft, smooth, lovely feet.
7. Use as a make-up remover. Petroleum jelly safely removes your make up while softening your skin as well.
8. Create a smoky eye shadow look. Apply black eyeliner, and then use a small amount of petroleum jelly over the top. Slightly smear it for a messy, smoky look.
9. Skip your mascara.
10. Make your eyelashes grow. Many people swear by this trick. Apply every night before bed and over time you will have longer, stronger, thicker lashes.
11. Soften hands. Apply a generous amount to your hands, then wear gloves to bed. You will wake up with the softest hands ever.
12. Shine your bald beau’s head. Rub into his scalp and he’ll be so shiny, you’ll be able to predict the future with his head.
13. Gloss your lips. Vaseline works great as a sheer, shiny gloss. ( You can also add Kool-Aid mix to the Vaseline to make your favorite lip gloss color. Yummy!)
14. Look dewy. Apply to your cheeks for a radiant dewy glow.
15. Tame your brows. Apply a tiny bit of petroleum jelly to your brows for a fabulous finished look.
16. Remove false eyelash glue. Rub a little on your eyelashes to remove frustrating leftover glue from fake eyelashes.
17. Smooth your lips. Apply to your lips after exfoliating with a toothbrush to ensure the smoothest lips you’ve ever had.
18. Hide split ends. Dab a bit onto the ends of your hair to hide your dry, split ends.
19. Prevent razor burn. Apply a little to your legs after shaving. It will both soothe them and smooth them!
20. Homebrew an exfoliating scrub. Add sea salt, and it become the perfect bath time exfoliant.