Product snobbery aside, who doesn’t love Vaseline? It is an amazing lip balm, soothes dry, cracked skin and even removes eye make up. It has so many uses! There’s an old commercial where they refer to Vaseline as the “wonder jelly” and claims Vaseline will take the squeak out of doors, shine your shoes and even condition leather. At the end of the commercial they call it “100% pure”. Well, technically it is-if you don’t mind slathering on a waste product of the oil industry!
What is Vaseline?
Vaseline is a mixture of natural waxes and mineral oils that together lock moisture in skin, moisturizing it to repair and relieve dryness. It acts as a barrier keeping moisture in the skin which makes it a multipurpose jelly like substance. This is why one of the main uses of vaseline is to heal dry, cracked skin.
The Many Uses For Vaseline:
- Heal red chapped winter ravaged cheeks.
- Remove eye makeup.
- Soothe dry skin.
- Moisturize chapped and cracked lips.
- Soften cuticles.
- Heal and protect burns.
- Swipe it across your teeth to keep lipstick from rubbing off.
- Use as a brightening mask by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to 1 tbsp. and leave on the skin for 10 minutes.
- Add sugar or salt to 1/4 cup to create a scrub.
- Makes a great lip gloss.
- Protect, soothe and heal new tattoos!
- Apply after shaving to ease burning or itchiness and replenish moisture.
- Soothe a cracked, raw nose during a cold.
- Use on the ends of hair to condition dry, split hair.
- Apply to nail polish to restore shine.
- Soothe sunburns.
- Heal cracked pet paws.
- Soothe and prevent diaper rash
- Prevent staining the skin from hair dye.
What’s Wrong with Regular Vaseline?
Vaseline is the original, name brand for petroleum jelly and is highly comedogenic (will clog pores) due to mineral oil being one of the main ingredients. I wanted to show you a quote from Dr. Oz about the dangers of petroleum jelly.
Petroleum jelly is a byproduct of oil drilling, and when you spread it on your lips, you end up eating it, which is essentially the same as drinking gasoline. Add up the amount of lip-gloss the average woman uses (and consumes) over a decade, and it equals 7 pounds. The European Union has banned many petroleum jelly products, and experts are concerned they could be linked to cancer. Women with breast cancer have twice the levels of hydrocarbons (substances found in petroleum jelly) in their breasts than women who haven’t had breast cancer. Steer clear of any products that list petroleum jelly or mineral oil on the ingredient list. ~~~Dr. Oz
According to Safe Cosmetics, Petrolatum, or petroleum jelly, derived from petroleum, is often used in personal care products as a moisturizing agent. When properly refined, petrolatum has no known health concerns. However, petrolatum is often not fully refined in the US, which means it can be contaminated with toxic chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are carcinogens and known to cause cancer.
Vaseline is extremely refined and processed-really not my style. So you know what’s coming—–You guessed it-an all natural DIY Vaseline recipe via yours truly! Seriously though, making a Vaseline alternative could not be easier and more multifunctional. You only need 2-3 ingredients, that’s it!
More Homemade Balms You Might Like:
- Hormone Balancing Balm
- Calendula Tamanu Lemon Healing Balm
- 3 in 1 Multipurpose Beauty Balm
- Vitamin C Boosting Sea Buckthorn Balm
- Green Tea Balm
What You’ll Need to Make DIY Vaseline Recipe
- 1/4 cup Olive oil (find it HERE)
- 1/4 cup Coconut oil (find it HERE)
- 2 TBSP Beeswax (find it HERE)
- 4 ounce glass container (find it HERE)
- Glass Pyrex Measuring Cup (find it HERE)
- Medium Sized Pot
- Stir Stick
**You can use 1/2 cup of either olive oil or coconut oil if you don’t have both. Coconut oil will be antibacterial and healing. Olive oil will be antioxidant rich and nourishing.**
How to Make Your Own Vaseline
Materials
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1/4 cup Coconut oil
- 2 TBSP Beeswax
Tools
- 4 ounce glass container
- "Double Boiler"-glass measuring Pyrex cup and medium sized pot
- Stir Stick
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Instructions
- Fill a medium sized pot with water and add a glass pyres bowl with a spout.
- Turn stove top to medium heat.
- Add oils and wax.
- Allow the ingredients to melt completely.
- Pour into container.
- Once cool (after about 30 minutes) stir to make a creamer, soft petroleum jelly consistency. See pic below!
Notes
- You can use 1/2 cup of either olive oil or coconut oil if you don't have both. Coconut oil will be antibacterial and healing. Olive oil will be antioxidant rich and nourishing.
- If you experience a grainy balm after time, remelt the balm and cool in the fridge.
Check out my Homemade Neosporin and Vapor Rub recipes. They both use this vaseline recipe as their base.
Feel free to add essential oils to amp up whatever you are trying to accomplish with your DIY Vaseline!
- Lavender-healing and moisturizing
- Peppermint-anti inflammatory and pain relieving
- Myrrh– heals and soothes dry and chapped skin
- Eucalyptus– decongests and soothes raw nose
Enjoy your new DIY Vaseline! There are so many uses for it! Feel good about ditching the mineral oil and petroleum-your body deserves better! If you’d prefer to keep your vaseline vegan and ditch the beeswax, I’ve got you covered. I created a vegan vaseline recipe using candelilla wax.
xx, Jenni
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Jennifer Phillips worked as a licensed aesthetician for over 8 years before creating the DIY skincare blog, Jenni Raincloud and her natural skin care line, J. Raincloud Organics. Jennifer has been blogging full time for 16 years and loves to gain and share knowledge on how to achieve beautiful skin the natural way.
Wow, fun site. Found you on Pinterest today. I would be honored if you will link up some of your posts each week on Oil me Up Wendesdays at My lamp is full. My readers love natural skin care idea. Pinning this one!
Janine
Hey Jenni! I’m new to your site, and I LOVE it!!! This may be a stupid question, but is the olive oil that is used in several of your recipes the normal olive oil you buy at the grocery store?
Thanks!
Stephanie-Yes it is! Be sure to look for organic, cold pressed.
Hello there!!
Before I venture out to make this “Vaseline” can you tell me, how do you store it? (glass jar, plastic, air tight or not?) as well as how long does it last? does it ever go bad?
thank you very much!!
shelley
Hi Shelley, I prefer to keep mine in glass. I avoid plastic whenever possible especially when essential oils are involved because they will react with plastic. If you don’t add essential oils plastic will work if you don’t have glass though. It should last for about 6 mos. Thanks!
I am new to your website but I LOVE it! This vaseline is a MUST for me! I thought- I will try it but I didn’t have real big expectations. Now I know I must have it with me at all times for at least hand lotion in our very cold winter weather! But I use it as lip balm too! Its fantastic!
Thank you so much for the ideas!
Denise! Thanks so much!
oh- and I use it on my feet! I apply it after shower in morning and by night, my feet are still super soft!!!!!!!!!! THat was not the case with any other product before.
Made it, love it! I love it for dry hands, feet and fantastic for lips!
Love your ideas!!!!!!!
Denise-Thanks!
When you say “fill a medium sized pot with water and add a glass bowl with a spout.” Is this like a double boiler?
Thanks! And I love your site!!
Hi Susan, thanks! Yes, exactly! I don’t have a double boiler so I rig my own!
Love this, I’m so sensitive that I break out from petroleum based products . Thanks 🙂
Hi Jenni, I too have stopped using the commercial variations of Vaseline. My son has excema on his face and aquaphor helped but it never went away. And, Eos just seemed to make his lips dryer. I threw them all away. I started researching how to make my own “balm”. I made some with calendula as the main herb and it works great, his face has never looked better. I made a bunch of little pots so he can carry one as a lip balm. I just came across your recipe and it seems to be the cleanest of all the recipes I have found. I can’t wait to make it. Thanks for posting it. — Rene
Rene-You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing!! I’m so glad your son’s skin is responding!
Discovered your site today and I can’t stay away! I have about a thousand tabs open of all your DIY solutions…..as I’m reading this one I know I have some old Vaseline somewhere. I’m about to dump it out and reuse the container for my Vaseline 2.0 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much!!
Hey! My husband is a boxer and I’m sure you know that boxers put Vaseline on their face before a fight or before sparing. I just wanted to double check, your Vaseline recipe will work for the same purpose right? Which is, it being harder for him to get hit/hurt from the slipperiness of the Vaseline. We only use homemade products and are very organic and natural.
Thanks!
Melissa-I didn’t know that! If the vaseline is used solely for it’s slipperiness then the homemade vaseline would work great-it is equally as slippery as vaseline. Good luck!
I was wondering if you could tell me how you clean the bowls/spatulas/measuring spoons, etc. that you use for your DIY projects? I recently tried my hand at homemade lotion with beeswax and found that it creates quite the mess and is very difficult to get off of utensils without harsh chemicals, any tips would be appreciated, thanks!
Rebecca-Hi! Yes, diys involving beeswax can be a huge mess! The key is to take a dry paper towel and wipe out your bowl thoroughly first. Then use hot water and soap to further clean the bowl. Hope this helps! Also, as far as utensils go, I use popsicle sticks or chopsticks and then throw them away after I make a batch!
What if you don’t have both coconut oil and beeswax? Can you just use olive oil by itself?
Josie-Hi! If you don’t have beeswax to thicken your oils up, you will have just an oil. The beeswax is what gives it a vaseline like consistency. If you were to drop anything from the recipe, I would say drop the coconut oil. Beeswax is pretty vital.
I love this, love it even more when I add some aloe butter to the recipe. I’m a converted Aquaphor user. I LOVE this for my lips.
Do you add the essential oils with the other oils or after removing from heat?
Charity-I remove from heat first since e.oils can be sensitive to high temps.
My 7 month old daughter has some eczema on her legs and I’ve been using olive oil to moisturize then a purchased but organic non-petroleum jelly to lock in the moisturize (ingredients: sunflower oil and beeswax) so this recipe is exactly what I was looking for! I’d like to add lavender, how many drops would you recommend? Thanks!
Shannon-I’m glad you found what you were looking for! I would add about 15-20 drops per 4 ounces! Thanks and good luck!!!
Hi, I was wondering, does using beeswax on skin attract insects like ants.
Thanks
Ola-I have loads of beeswax products all over my home and have never had an ant problem so I would say no. 🙂
Hi Jenni
I am planning on making your homemade DIY Vaseline. I have purchased some pure vitamin E oil and wanted to know how much I can add? Also how much essential oils should I add? & lastly I had thought to use Bergamot, is that ok?
Kind regards,
Gina
Author
Gina! I would add 1-2 tsp of viatmin E. I would add a total of 15 drops of essential oil per batch (4 ounces). Bergamot is fine but it’s a citrus oil and it could cause your skin to be sensitive to the sun so it really depends on when and where you use it. Hope this helps!
Hi! My daughter has eczema to the point where her skin in cracked in one area. I want to add three of the essential oils you mentioned but am new to the EO world. Would I use 15 drops of each oil? I want to use lavender peppermint and myrrh. Is it ok to use all 3?
Author
Autumn-Oh, poor thing! That’s gotta hurt! Yes, you can add 15 drops all together so 5 drops each. I hope this helps sooth her. She’ll need to apply it often and be consistent. Good luck!
FOLLOW UP:
I just wanted you to know after a patch test with 75 little patches on her back, a blood test for allergens and a prick test where they pricked her arm with 50 tiny needles ALL the medicines the prescribed made her condition WORSE. This was before I found your blog, which was found out of desperation and with tears in my eyes for my poor itchy, embarrassed of her skin, crying child. 🙁 The only thing that gave her relief was your recipe. I took her in for a follow up after using EO jelly for a month and her dermatologist (who was named one of the best in the city) was in awe of how clear her eczema was, when I whipped out my EO jelly and told him that his prescriptions gave her horrible reactions and I threw them all away he was in shock. We only use EO jelly now on her eczema, it made her skin CALM and not inflamed and it cleared up for awhile. We still have a little bit more testing to do because we are trying to determine if she has a strange allergy, and summer is horrible for flare ups, but the EO jelly is the ONLY thing that gives her relief. Thank you for sharing with us! And as always this is just my experience with my child I always recommend other moms that are reading follow the advice of a doctor, however, I offered to allow her dermatologist to test the jelly, he said he had no need to; the results prove themselves. 🙂 I’m going to try an alternate recipe for summer flare ups as the heat in Texas seems to make it worse but we love our jelly! 🙂 Thank you Jenni for sharing your gift!
Author
Autumn-Thank you for sharing this! Blogging is a funny thing-I don’t always get to hear the success stories but I keep going because I know my recipes are simple and natural and have helped me. It means the world that you took time to tell me this. I’m so excited that your daughter has found relief with my recipe! Good luck this summer!! Big Hugs to you and your daughter!
Thanks for this post! I’ve been a religious Vaseline user all my life and I’ve recently started learning about the negative effects/ingredients.
Author
Amanda-You’re welcome!!
Thank you for the recipe. I am currently undergoing Effudux treatment and have a raw and painful face. Was told to apply a layer of Vaseline to help keep the lesions moist. Made your version and couldn’t be happier…Next time I am add Cera Bellini wax as I have that in my cabinet. Love your posts.
Author
Bronwyn-Ohhhh sounds so painful! I’m so glad you’re not using vaseline! My recipe is so so so healing thanks to that coconut oil! Good luck!
i love you blog, thank you for share !!!
Author
Maria-You’re welcome!!
Your posts and recipes are wonderful, thank you. I just googled and it looks like soy wax is comparable to beeswax for a vegan alternative. At least according to Google.
Author
Randy-Thank you so much! For a vegan version of this I would suggest Caranuba Wax. It does take longer to set up and tends to be harder but it is plant based.
Why did Mine came out hard? I just did coconut oil and beeswax. It didn’t come out Vaseline consistency.
Author
Chewy-You have to mix it after it has totally hardened. That’s the only way it will give you a vaseline consistency. I use a tongue depressor/popsicle stick to do this.
Trying to come up with alternative glitter stick for teen. I want tackiness of the base to stay for a while on the skin so fine glitter will adhere longer. Commercial glitter stick ingredients downright scary! Thoughts on using this as base and maybe using in stick form? Should I add a little more wax to make a little stiffer?
Author
Alisa-I actually have that recipe! Find it HERE. I will say it’s a very subtle glitter effect. For a teen, you might need to use more mica.
Hi Jenni,
Is there a substitute I can use for the coconut oil that would provide the same antibacterial and healing properties? I am not able to use coconut oil.
Author
Cindy-There’s nothing as great as coconut oil when it comes to healing but olive oil still contains some amazing qualities that could act as a substitute. So you could do 1/2 cup of olive oil. Rosehip seed oil is another healing oil and can be used here but I typically save it for anti aging DIYs. You might think about adding frankincense essential oil-it is very gentle and healing. It pairs well with lavender which is also great at healing. I would add about 10 drops to this recipe all together. Hope this helps!
If I can’t afford the beeswax that you linked to, what exactly are we looking for in a quality beeswax?
Author
Kyra-I like to look for organic pellets. It’s best to get the yellow beeswax since the white is sometimes bleached. There are plenty of brands on Amazon. One in particular is Sky Organic. Typically beeswax comes in a 1 lb bag which lasts forever. Unfortunately you can’t get it in a smaller quantity that I’ve found.
I use a hairdryer to melt the butters and waxes. Makes cleanup a lot easier, hold over a trashcan to catch the melted stuff and wipe off what is left with a paper towel. Give it a try.
Author
Marian-That’s so interesting-I will try it! Thanks for sharing!