Petrolatum, Petroleum jelly, vaseline, or smooth paraffin is a semi-strong mixture of hydrocarbons that is used as a topical ointment for its pores and skin healing properties.

Petrolatum is recognized by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) as an accredited Over-The-Counter (OTC) skin protectant and is broadly utilized in beauty pores and skin care.

It is usually referred to as Vaseline as a genericised trademark.

Petrolatum is a flammable, semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons, having a melting-level normally ranging from somewhat beneath to a few degrees above 100F (37 C). It’s colorless, or of a pale yellow coloration (when not extremely distilled), translucent, and devoid of taste and odor when pure. It does not oxidize on exposure to the air, and is not readily acted on by chemical reagents. It’s insoluble in water. It is soluble in chloroform, benzene, carbon disulfide and oil of turpentine.

There’s a common false impression (ensuing from the similar really feel they produce when applied to human skin) that petroleum jelly and glycerol (glycerine) are bodily comparable. While petroleum is a non-polar hydrocarbon hydrophobic (water-repelling), insoluble in water, glycerol (not a hydrocarbon however an alcohol) is the opposite: it’s so strongly hydrophilic (water-attracting) that by steady absorption of moisture from the air, it produces the feeling of wetness on the pores and skin, similar to the greasiness produced by petroleum jelly. The feeling is analogous, but petroleum jelly repels water, and glycerine attracts it.

Petrolatum was primarily used as an ointment for scrapes, burns, and cuts, however physicians have proven that Vaseline has no medicinal effect or any effect on the blistering process, nor is it absorbed by the skin. Petrolatum’s effectiveness in accelerating wound healing stems from its sealing effect on cuts and burns, which inhibits germs from stepping into the wound and keeps the injured area supple by preventing the skin’s moisture from evaporating.

Nonetheless, after changing into a medication chest staple, customers began to make use of Petrolatum for a myriad of ailments and beauty makes use of together with chapped arms or lips, toenail fungus, nosebleeds, diaper rash, chest colds, and even to remove makeup or stains from furnishings. It is even used as trout bait. There are makes use of for it for pets including stopping fungi from growing on aquatic turtles’ shells and to maintain cats from making messes after they cough up furballs. In the first a part of the twentieth century, petrolatum, either pure or as an ingredient, was additionally fashionable as a hair pomade. When used in a 50/50 mixture with pure beeswax, it makes an efficient moustache wax.

Most petroleum jelly as we speak is consumed as an ingredient in pores and skin lotions and cosmetics. Although petrolatum is inexpensive than glycerol, the most common active lubricating ingredient in skin lotion, it’s not utilized in expensive lotions because it’s not absorbed into the skin, resulting in a greasy feel.

Petroleum jelly is used to moisten plasticine, as a part of a mix of hydrocarbons together with higher (paraffin wax) and lesser (mineral oil) molecular weights.

It can be used as tinder when coated on cotton balls. The mix can easily be ignited by a fireplace starter, burning hot and long, and the petroleum retains the cotton from getting wet.