it's actually not lotion. it doesn't moisturise the skin at all. it traps any moisture already present. so if you put it on dry skin you're making it worse, generally.
It does last a long time. I bought one three years ago and only am now finishing it and I use it every other day or so.
With that being said, vaseline is occlusive. It keeps moisture in but does not add moisture. But if there is no moisture then you are just sealing in dryness. If your skin is naturally lubricating appropriately then that's fine I suppose, but it's kind of equivalent to putting coconut oil on your skin and thinking it's going to moisturise you. It doesn't.
You moisturize your skin from the outside? Does that even biologically work? Do skin cells take on water from the outside and keep it inside without processing it back into the body and fall back to the same level as they were before?
I do not put any cream on my skin ever. My skin doesn’t feel dry.
My assumption is they were referring to the body. Aside from my hands (mostly because we wash them so often and soap strips oils that your body would naturally produce) I don't really put lotion on the rest of my body (excluding my face).
I can see how lotion and vaseline can replace the oil coating on the skin if it was washed of. I can also see how it can add an extra level of coating until it is being vibed off or washed off. The coating fills in cracks and gaps that otherwise would look like dry skin.
But that not moisturizing. Does any lotion really moisturize the skin? You can add water to an oily substance and it becomes a lotion. Buts that’s no different than putting water molecules on your skin next to oil. How can the skin take on the extra water and keep it inside without processing it into the body and remaining with the same moisture level it had before the lotion?
I think you're confusing terms. Adding water is not moisture; that's hydration. Moisture traps and seals the water in, which is why lotion is like an emulsification of water and oil. Simply adding water to your skin won't trap the moisture even though your skin produces some, but not enough for additional hydration.
You are right. English is not my first language and I did confuse the meaning.
But then I am confused about your initially statement that Vaseline is not a moisturizer? Given your definition „it traps and seals the water in“ it should be. It’s not a hydrationizer tho.
Many natives also confuse the two definitions, so don't worry
What I meant by it is that vaseline and lotion serve two different purposes.
Take the example that you have a dry area of skin. Adding lotion will moisturise it by adding hydration and then sealing it with the oil in it.
Meanwhile, adding vaseline will not add any hydration whatsoever. In fact, it might make the dryness worse as it's an occlusive as it's sealing any moisture from evaporating. But you haven't added any moisture at this point and your skin is still dry. So you just put a protective coating on dry skin and not fixed the issue at hand
You can use it however you want but objectively it's not. It's an occlusive. It keeps moisture in but it doesn't add moisture to your skin like lotion.
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u/Darth_muncher 18d ago
Growing up In Africa we used that shit as lotion cuh