Petroleum jelly gets a lot of hit-or-miss buzz in the skincare community. Many of our beloved slug lifers on Reddit swear by using petroleum jelly as their skincare sealing occlusive, though just as many say using the slippery stuff makes them break out.

We’ll be upfront with you from the start, we’re totally against using petroleum jelly on the skin, especially for a slug life skincare routine.

Most of us get squicked out that petroleum jelly was discovered as a byproduct on oil rigs. Yikes. But, the problem with using petroleum jelly is that it’s downright risky when you really take a look at the research.

That whole oil rig thing? Yeah, not only does it send shivers down the spine to think about, but if you are environmentally conscious it’s concerning to say the least. To get petroleum jelly, there must be petroleum, making it an unsustainable product in the long run. That’s only part of the reason we prefer a safe, natural, and renewable product when we slug it up. 

To make the petroleum jelly “safe” for the skin, it has to go through multiple refining treatments. These treatments are to remove all the potentially harmful and carcinogenic components. Not every petroleum jelly product is thoroughly refined though, they even come with different grades of “purity”. And hey, if you slather your nose with the jelly (especially during cold season) you put yourself at risk for lipoid pneumonia. Breathing in petroleum jelly can cause easily cause this condition.

But let’s just put all that to the side for a moment. Let’s say you’re still on team jelly and will happily slather your skin with the oily occlusive. Using petroleum jelly in your skincare routine may cause more harm than good. 

Even though some petroleum jelly products are listed as noncomedogenic (it won't clog pores)  they can still be the cause of acne in many other ways. Because your skin can’t absorb petroleum jelly like a natural oil, it just sits on the surface of your skin trapping air out and bacteria in. Any bacteria sitting on your skin before covering it in petroleum jelly can cause irritation or acne. Basically a big ol’ no in our book.

For all these reasons and more we just can’t recommend the use of fake balms and oils with petroleum jelly (mineral oil too, babes!). We’re on team Nilotica, and we can tell you from experience that it just works.

For those down to slug it up every night (we totally do!) we always opt for healthy, natural, skin soothing oil. Nilotica Reserve™ fruit butter matches and one ups petroleum jelly on every account.

First of all, let’s chat about the occlusive properties. This is why people are using it to slug life in the first place! We use our all natural Pure Nilotica Melt on top of our targeted skincare to hydrate the skin, and keep our serums in place as we sleep. Not only is our star product hydrating, but it seals in that moisture so your skin keeps all the benefits.

It’s a natural product, too. So natural in fact that our Nilotica Reserve™ nuts literally grow on trees making it a sustainable resource for years to come. You can’t say that about petroleum jelly! It’s noncomedogenic as well, but also gives your skin a little more leeway for absorbing essential moisture, vitamins, and fatty acids.

Using our Pure Nilotica Melt sooths skin and calms irritation. Painful dryness, flaky skin, and even eczema irritation no more! It doesn’t sit or smother the skin like an oily mask. And really, what more could you want from a product that you wear all night long?

When it comes to the slug life, you’ve got to go natural.