Vaseline

[Holla]

Lately, I've come across a few posts where people say they use vaseline (petroleum jelly) on their hair. Most use it to seal after using leave-in, light oil, then vassy. I just saw a thread where it was mentioned that Chicoro uses it.


Do you use it? What is your hair length?

I remember when people used it years ago and all it did was attract lint. I thought folks on here were going the natural route with haircare and swearing off mineral oil/petroleum products. I hesitate but if it'll help me to get to BSL, I'll buy a jar today!

 

[faithVA]

There are quite a few people that use Vaseline. There have been a number of threads. I will see if I can find a few. But here is a heavy sealing thread that may help.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=559813&highlight=heavy+sealing

I wouldn't say this board is for people going the natural route, it is typically those wanting long hair. And everyone is doing whatever it takes for their hair to get there. There are only certain people that don't use certain things. If you name it someone is doing it or using it.

 

[kxlot79]

I have used it. It is the cheapest super sealant. I only use(d) it on my ends.
There's this stuff by Softee called "100% Natural Beeswax" and it's pale yellow with a bee on it and smells waxy. I LOVE(D) doing braids/twists with this stuff. Seals my ends like nothing else. When I had my "natural awakening" I noticed that petrolatum was the first ingredient (beeswax was 2nd, followed by dye and fragrance).
My hair is BSL and I feel like I'm inching towards MBL (BUT WHIP length is my goal).
Like anything, I think users just need to be careful with how they use it. I've used vaseline on my ends before but won't do so now. Literally, the last 1-2 inches of my hair is where I use petroleum/mineral oil/paraffin based products, and that's on top of the yummy good stuff. There is a marked difference between when I do this and when I don't. More resealing or more dryness/more tangles/ more SSKs versus less.
I think people get into trouble when they put those products on their scalp and/or don't use a really good clarifying product regularly while using.

via LHCF App

 

[Funmiloves]

Yes, I've used it in the past on my dd's hair and it worked out just fine

 

[cynd]

If petroleum is an issue for you but you want to get the same benefits, try using un-petroleum jelly. It's easy to find but you can also get it from Amazon.com.

 

[Blessed&higlyflavoured]

As someone with eczema and severe allergies I'm super wary of the all natural route. Silicons petroleum and mineral oil have never given me any trouble but sweet almond oil and shea butter could have me in the pharmacists. Over liquid leaveins vaseline is amazing. If your hair or skin feels dry just wet it and seal with vaseline. I use it on my scalp as the eczema gives me grief there. Works fine. Also its fragrance free. By the time you shampoo condition and LOC there's just too much going on scent-wise

 

[kxlot79]

I'd like to add that sometimes vaseline (and similar super sealants) can mask hair problems which can worsen untreated because they take so long to become noticeable.
So while vaseline can seal in great moisture or beneficial products, if used improperly, it can give the APPEARANCE of healthier hair and the APPEARANCE of a smooth cuticle. Coatings get a bad rep not because they're bad necessarily for hair but because if the hair is damaged, coatings make it difficult, if not impossible, to correct or treat.
By the time you might realize you have split ends, using heavy coatings, they could already be mid-shaft or higher.
Just because the hair is long and shiny doesn't mean it's HEALTHY. And eventually, unhealthy hair will become brittle, weak, and uneven. It's only a matter of time.

via LHCF App

 

[prettybyrd]

While I don't use Vaseline (anymore, tried it in 2010), I do use Nature's Blessings grease. It has petroleum jelly in it and seals my hair just fine. I'm growing out a short cut from March, where my hair was 1/4 inch in the back, and it's now close to 3 inches in the back, so I'd say that it isn't hampering my hair growth at all.

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

I'd like to add that sometimes vaseline (and similar super sealants) can mask hair problems which can worsen untreated because they take so long to become noticeable.
So while vaseline can seal in great moisture or beneficial products, if used improperly, it can give the APPEARANCE of healthier hair and the APPEARANCE of a smooth cuticle. Coatings get a bad rep not because they're bad necessarily for hair but because if the hair is damaged, coatings make it difficult, if not impossible, to correct or treat.
By the time you might realize you have split ends, using heavy coatings, they could already be mid-shaft or higher.
Just because the hair is long and shiny doesn't mean it's HEALTHY. And eventually, unhealthy hair will become brittle, weak, and uneven. It's only a matter of time.

via LHCF App

the same thing can be said for castor oil, shea butter and and other heavy sealant. hair is dead. emollients and sealants, function the same way despite the source.

 

[Royalq]

i use vaseline. Im closing in on APL. I use it lightly over my moisturizer, keeps my hair nice and soft. Oils, aside from castor oil, always made my have feel dry. I guess my hair likes to be sealed with heavy things

 

[Fenaxa]

I use Vaseline for my scalp (mixed with my growth treatment) and hair, and I've had no problem retaining and growing hair.
My hair length is almost APL at nape, CBL on the sides and about jaw from the crown. It's also natural, multi-textured. I just started using it again because it continues to give me 100% retention even when I'm manipulating my hair. Plus, since I baggy all the time under my wig, I can be sure that my hair is well coated continuously. I've done this with my relaxed hair in the past and I loved it. It's what got me from an uneven MBL to an even WL quickly.
Btw, I do moisturize and treat (with ACV) my hair before I put it on after a thorough wash.
It is kinda hard washing it out but the benefits, to me, outweigh that. I'll continue to use it until I reach my ultimate goal.
Also my great grandmother used it on my grandmothers hair and it grew long enough to sit on.

 

[kxlot79]

No...
Castor oil and Shea butter can be rinsed off with warm water and have properties beyond sealing which are beneficial to hair.
Petroleum byproduct, mineral oil, silicones, and parabens REQUIRE surfactants to be completely removed. The molecular structures of these substances are completely different as well as the way they interact with hair and create a seal.

the same thing can be said for castor oil, shea butter and and other heavy sealant. hair is dead. emollients and sealants, function the same way despite the source.

via LHCF App

 

[DarkJoy]

i use vaseline. Im closing in on APL. I use it lightly over my moisturizer, keeps my hair nice and soft. Oils, aside from castor oil, always made my have feel dry. I guess my hair likes to be sealed with heavy things

Your hair in your siggy looks almost like mine: a very fine stranded, highly porous Type 4b+). IMO, ours does way better with heavy sealing and that includes petro products. Oils are too light and dont trap the moisture in our skinny open strands. Unless I co-wash every other day, simple oil-only sealing buys me maybe half a day of retained moisture. By dinner, it feels like steel wool . I generally use oils mostly for shine and HOTs. I use grease in dry winters on the ends and a thick shea/coco butter mix I make myself the rest of the year.

So for anyone, if your hair likes it, use it. It doesn't take much. I use a fingerful on my soaking wet ends at night. In the morning, the greasy is gone--and so is the frizz and I'm left with supple hair for ~4 days.

Just be sure to use a sulfate shampoo on wash day to get it all out.

 

[Holla]

Thanks, ladies! I am going to try it on my ends leading up to wash days.

 

[Ari8]

I'd like to add that sometimes vaseline (and similar super sealants) can mask hair problems which can worsen untreated because they take so long to become noticeable.
So while vaseline can seal in great moisture or beneficial products, if used improperly, it can give the APPEARANCE of healthier hair and the APPEARANCE of a smooth cuticle. Coatings get a bad rep not because they're bad necessarily for hair but because if the hair is damaged, coatings make it difficult, if not impossible, to correct or treat.
By the time you might realize you have split ends, using heavy coatings, they could already be mid-shaft or higher.
Just because the hair is long and shiny doesn't mean it's HEALTHY. And eventually, unhealthy hair will become brittle, weak, and uneven. It's only a matter of time.

via LHCF App

Patently untrue for my hair, at least with regards to cones (only tried Vaseline twice - never noticed any effects, so I suppose it doesn't 'mask' damage either). I'd say olive oil did a better job of masking SSK's than cones ever could.

Both cones and petrolatum washed off my hair easily with sulfate-free poos. I had tougher build-up with shea butter.

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

No...
Castor oil and Shea butter can be rinsed off with warm water and have properties beyond sealing which are beneficial to hair.
Petroleum byproduct, mineral oil, silicones, and parabens REQUIRE surfactants to be completely removed. The molecular structures of these substances are completely different as well as the way they interact with hair and create a seal.



via LHCF App

This is not always true. I have to wash shea butter(and yes it was pure) out of my hair. Natural oils and butters can build up on hair, especially fine hair. Some natural products require surfactants too.

 

[DarkJoy]

This is not always true. I have to wash shea butter(and yes it was pure) out of my hair. Natural oils and butters can build up on hair, especially fine hair. Some natural products require surfactants too.

Truth. Oil and fats and water don't always mix or rinse out with just water... Sometimes a good cowash has just enough surfactants to get the heavy oils and butters out tho. Depends on brands I think and whether the cowash contains cones, which probably just coat on top of the butters.

____________
*.~.*Sent from a distant Galaxy in the Unicorn-verse*.~.*

 

[prettybyrd]

This is not always true. I have to wash shea butter(and yes it was pure) out of my hair. Natural oils and butters can build up on hair, especially fine hair. Some natural products require surfactants too.

I have to agree with this. When I first discovered shea butter, I used it in my hair and had to use shampoo to get it out. I couldn't cowash it out.

 

[havilland]

http://m.vitacost.com/alba-un-petroleum-multi-purpose-jelly-3-5-oz

This is an all natural alternative to Vaseline that Chicoro uses.

I've used it to seal ends. Works great ..

 

[kxlot79]

I think that some of the responses were selective to my last post. I didn't bother to post links to scientific evidence for what I wrote because I don't believe it's quite that serious. But my post is based on more than anecdotal evidence. I never said that product buildup of any kind, whether natural-shea butter or unnatural-vaseline, can ALWAYS be removed by water alone. I also didn't say it's IMPOSSIBLE to successfully use vaseline & such products. So mentioning anecdotal evidence which is only apparently contradictory doesn't add much to the discussion, IMO. ANY buildup, whatever amount of product will lead to that for any specific individual, will obviously require more than water, or possibly a LOT of water over a LENGTHY period of time. Some hair may be more sensitive to nut butters or may need a heavier sealant, but it could also be the combination of other products and techniques used. At any rate, as I posted earlier, I myself have use(d) such products with minimal to no ill effects because I've used them properly. If you've used them with what you deem success, you too have used such products appropriately for your hair. Just as the potential for misuse or inefficacy with nut butters or any other product, so too is that possibility with vaseline and such. Just as some people can have long and apparently healthy flat ironed hair without a heat protectant on 400 degrees, others will meet disaster. So I was posting the POTENTIAL complications of using vaseline and such, NOT implying similar complications aren't possible with other products as well. There are tons of articles & studies available online which extol the virtues of using more natural sealants over crude oil refinery byproduct (which is what petroleum and such are... derivatives of the stuff put in gas tanks... for some that's no different than the stuff from trees which is often edible but... To each their own). But if one looks hard enough there are probably articles & such extolling the opposite. I'm inclined to believe the latter are sponsored by the cosmetics industry, which has more to gain in causing problems whose correction will prove profitable, but that's the conspiracy theorist in me. Hope this clarifies!

via LHCF App

 

[Holla]

I washed my hair last night and decided to use it. I was about to use plain vaseline when I remembered that I had cheap grease tucked in the cabinet. It is vaseline mixed with coconut oil and jojoba oil. I figured it wouldn't be as sticky but still moisturize. I airdried overnight and blow dried a bit this morning. I feel like a grease slick. Just greeeeeezzy! I'm literally rubbing the extra grease on my legs like my grandmother used to do. I'm going to have to temper the amount next time. My hair feels ok moisture wise. JUST ok. It'll pass my test if I don't have to re-moisturize/seal tomorrow.

 

[prettybyrd]

Holla, you want to use water to moisturize your hair, and oil/Vaseline to seal it. It sounds like you used way too much of that Vaseline mixture on your hair. If you can still feel the oil on your hair, and then rub it off, you've used too much.

If you opt to try this again in the future, you will not need to use anymore product than it takes to barely coat the tip of your finger per section. A very little goes a long way.

 

[Holla]

Holla, you want to use water to moisturize your hair, and oil/Vaseline to seal it. It sounds like you used way too much of that Vaseline mixture on your hair. If you can still feel the oil on your hair, and then rub it off, you've used too much.

If you opt to try this again in the future, you will not need to use anymore product than it takes to barely coat the tip of your finger per section. A very little goes a long way.

Yup. I used way too much. I'm about to jump in the shower just to get all this grease off of me.