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Generic

Petroleum jelly.

Generic Petroleum jelly

About this product

A petroleum-based occlusive balm that forms a moisture-sealing barrier on skin to prevent water loss and protect against irritants.

Best for

Dry skinSensitive skin

The Guru Index verdict

83%

Approved

✓Approved · 83%
2Reviewers
2Approved
0Mixed
0Skip

What the gurus are saying

Dermatologists consistently praise petroleum jelly as one of the safest, most affordable skincare staples with minimal allergy risk and versatile uses from lip care to wound healing. The main drawback is its occlusive nature in hot, humid conditions, which can trap sweat and trigger heat rash or intensify eczema flare-ups. Overall the consensus is overwhelmingly positive for most uses, with the caveat that seasonal and condition-specific factors matter.
Synthesized from 2 expert reviews

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Every take, in full

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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Dr. Aanchal MD
Dr. Aanchal MD
3.45M subs · 26k devotees
✓Approved
"You can use a petroleum jelly, a little bit of petroleum jelly over the eye area and around the nose and around the mouth can be really helpful in preventing the dryness in these areas. What happens with petroleum jelly is it forms an occlusive layer on the surface of the skin and reduces the water loss that can occur from your skin overnight. This helps in keeping your skin hydrated and supple for a long time. You can do your skincare routine as is and then just apply a layer of petroleum jelly just around the eyes, nose and mouth. This can help in reducing the dryness. Using a little bit of petroleum jelly can really help in kind of sealing that area, protecting it from the saliva and also from other irritants that could possibly accumulate in this area when you sleep."
Dr Dray
Dr Dray
2.66M subs · 34k devotees
✓Approved
"One skincare product you hear me recommend all of the time is petroleum jelly. That product is one of the safest things you can put on your skin and very low, almost no risk of allergic contact dermatitis developing to it. It can cause irritation for some people, especially in the heat and humidity, but it is a very safe thing to put on the skin, especially when you don't know if you have developed an allergy to something and you're having problems with the skincare products that you are using. I often will recommend that as a lip balm for people who are dealing with chronically dry, chapped lips because they may have developed an allergy to something that is commonly found in most lip balms. Petroleum jelly is like the ultimate free of product because it's free of the majority of allergens, potential allergens, and tends not to be irritating on the lips. It also protects the skin from another culprit that could make a particular ingredient even more problematic for you, and that is saliva. Petroleum jelly can act as a barrier to protect your skin from the saliva, which is irritating."
Top Pick: lip and nose care
All 6 takes from Dr Dray
Skincare Ingredients to Avoid: A Dermatologist's Perspective
"One skincare product you hear me recommend all of the time is petroleum jelly. That product is one of the safest things you can put on your skin and very low, almost no risk of allergic contact dermatitis developing to it. It can cause irritation for some people, especially in the heat and humidity, but it is a very safe thing to put on the skin, especially when you don't know if you have developed an allergy to something and you're having problems with the skincare products that you are using. I often will recommend that as a lip balm for people who are dealing with chronically dry, chapped lips because they may have developed an allergy to something that is commonly found in most lip balms. Petroleum jelly is like the ultimate free of product because it's free of the majority of allergens, potential allergens, and tends not to be irritating on the lips. It also protects the skin from another culprit that could make a particular ingredient even more problematic for you, and that is saliva. Petroleum jelly can act as a barrier to protect your skin from the saliva, which is irritating."
DERMATOLOGIST SKINCARE HACKS YOU NEED TO TRY
"An alternative, it's not going to physically glue it down but it can really help. Admittedly as you go throughout your day that's not necessarily going to stay on as well and so it may rub off and then you're left there with the sore spot. This all over body balm though is great as like a cuticle ointment protector, would be great in that situation as well."
Moisturizer Stacking, Estate Sale & Ollie's Shopping | Vlog
"I've been greasing up my feet like a Thanksgiving turkey every night with a little petroleum jelly and by a little I mean a lot because I don't shy away from a big glob."
5 Things You Should Never Do To Your Skin
"When it comes to wound healing whether it be a blister a cut, keeping the wound bed moist and hydrated is the name of the game so that those new skin cells can migrate in and fill in the defect. Plain petroleum jelly is your best bet for doing that. It's the most cost-effective thing."
Skincare I Am Using For Brighter Eyes | Skincare Vlog
"The great thing about petroleum jelly is that even when it's empty there's always there's always a little something you can pick at to put on your lips or you know here on your nose if your nose gets raw. I mean it's the gift that keeps giving. It's just so many uses."
How to Prevent Summer Dry Skin: Expert Tips
"Petroleum jelly is so versatile, so safe, so amazing. But in the summer months when you're hot, it's humid, and you're sweating a lot, it doesn't exactly allow for good evaporation of that sweat. It's occlusive, which is great for locking in hydration, but not so great for allowing for good evaporation of sweat to cool the body. So you get sweat trapped in the little sweat glands and you can develop heat rash, otherwise known as milliaria. Petroleum jelly is a mainstay staple in reducing flare-ups of dyshidrotic hand eczema. But when you are in the acute flare-up stage where those little itchy blisters are coming to the surface and you put Vaseline on, the itch gets so intense because sweat has these little compounds in it that actually trigger itch. And so you have the sweat in those little bubbles, which is a big trigger, and then you're trapping it there on the skin. That is a mistake I personally have made myself. If you deal with dyshidrotic eczema on your hands and feet, the petroleum jelly can really backfire."
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