He Said Vaseline is Gasoline?

So for the first Ingredients discussion –

I recently was with a family with young children who had chapped lips. The mom encouraged the kids to apply Vaseline. The Dad said no! Put on Chapstick…

I found this interesting, since both of these products are essentially the same – paraffin in different forms– The Vaseline a semi-solid or jelly and the chapstick - solid. Both will shield or protect the lips from wind, moisture, (licking the lips), etc. However, for healing, and the general health (prevention of chapped lips) of the tissues, maybe these aren’t the best of choices. I didn’t say much – I didn’t know what the deal was, I just said – hey- I will pick something up for the kids on my next trip to the natural foods store. (Another discussion, but I wanted to get them something with sunscreen, something for them individually that they would not share ….good luck with that).

So later on the Dad said he hated them to use Vaseline because petroleum jelly was “…like putting gasoline on their skin…”

OK….Petroleum Jelly sounds like petrol from the gas station, but actually, Vaseline is made from white petrolatum – notice the spelling? This stuff is in everything. Any ointment that you use from the pharmacy, most cosmetics, oils, makeup, you name it, it will probably have paraffin or petrolatum in it.

Why? It is abundant, it is cheap and it works like a charm. And yes it is derived from the petroleum you are thinking of. And it is refined and refined and refined…… and steamed and bleached and pressured and cleaned and goodness knows what else to make it “safe” for us to use…(there have been no studies showing a direct link to cancer or any illness from petrolatum or paraffin, or studies have shown no link…blah blah blah). Just don’t eat it.

You see, petroleum products – jelly, baby oil, and petrolatum -- are mineral-based and that makes them inert – meaning that organic matter cannot grow in them. So, bacteria, molds, etc don’t thrive in your Vaseline. Add some preservatives and you have a product that you can mass-produce and sell cheaply.

Petroleum products are also occlusive, making them perfect additives to “seal-in” water or moisturizing ingredients or the active ingredient in the pharmaceutical ointment. It is hard to argue with this logic!

All in all there are only a few real dangers from petroleum jelly that I have come across in my research -- from inhaling it into the lungs – as in when people use it to soothe the nostrils (Vick’s, Vaseline). Apparently, it can cause a type of pneumonia. Also, as it is occlusive, wounds that are not properly looked after can take longer to heal, but that is up for debate. The JAMA is studying whether Rx ointments are any better than plain white petrolatum ointment (Conclusion: probably not).

SO….would I use petroleum jelly on my lips? Or face? Or skin? No. Unless I was going out into a wind storm (the Santa Ana’s do not count) in the Himalayas, or in a ice storm…but I would use a nice organic moisturizer first….

In real life, say I went, Heaven help me, skiing…..maybe , I might if I had to, put some chapstick on my lips. But seriously, Vaseline is not water soluble! You can’t get it off of your skin without stripping it, there is no point to using it other than extreme measures of defense.
There you have it.

Below are some links and interesting stuff. Feel free to comment and add things to the discussion!!

Love and happy to ya!
Regine



Vaseline® Petroleum Jelly is a mixture of mineral oils, paraffin and microcrystalline waxes that, when blended together, create something remarkable - a smooth jelly that has a melting point just above body temperature. The result - it literally melts into skin, flowing into the spaces between cells and the gaps in our lipid barrier. Once there, it re-solidifies, locking itself in place.
Vaseline® Petroleum Jelly serves two functions: First it helps keep the outside world out - it protects skin from the effects of weather and exposure. Second, it acts like a sealant to help keep the inside world in - it forms an occlusive barrier to the natural water loss of our skin. So skin that is dry and chapped is protected from drying elements, enabling skin-softening moisture to build up naturally from inside the skin itself.
(Defined by Vaseline) PETROLATUM

Pure Vaseline Petroleum Jelly has been caring for skin over 130 years. It is an occlusive emollient that seals water within your skin and its cells. Petrolatum fills in for lost lipids to help restore skin's all-important barrier function - keeping the outside world out, and the moisture in.

http://www.vaseline.com/Product.aspx?Path=Consumer/OurProducts/PetroleumJelly

Active Ingredients: Petrolatum. Other Ingredients: Water, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Myreth-3 Myristate, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Microcrystalline Wax, Tocopheryl Acetate Ceteareth-20, Carbomer, Tea, Ethylene Brassylate, Methylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Disodium EDTA, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate.

http://www.industrialnetworking.co.uk/mag/v8-1/med2.html
http://www.fao.org/docrep/W6355E/w6355e0p.htm