Vaseline

07-02-23 00 / episode: 21

Script

Vaseline

Do you use Vaseline?

Another name for it is petroleum jelly

But when I was growing up, we just called it Vaseline

and we used it around the house for various things on our skin

You know, if you got dry skin, that was the most common place

But my mom also used it for diaper, rashes, cuts and scrapes

And I hear that some people use it if they have eczema or psoriasis

But there's other uses.

one of the most unconventional purposes of or uses of Vaseline is to lubricate hinges

You could also use it to protect tools from rust

And some people put it on leather to make it a little bit more water, water resistant

You could use it as a fire starter in camping and survival situations to actually,

I was wondering about where it came from and it's been around for about 160 years

There was a guy, a chemist named Robert Cheese,

bro and he was making a product and the product became obsolete after they discovered oil locally,

they didn't need his product anymore

He went over to the oil field to see if there was anything he could learn

And maybe he could use the petroleum to make new products

As he, as it turns out he found this stuff that they called petroleum jelly back then

And it was mostly a nuisance

The people who were drilling oil didn't like it except

when they got a burn and they put the petroleum jelly on the burn and it got better

He started to look into this substance and he purified it

Then he tried to sell it

Nobody wanted it at first

But he kept on touring and showing people its miracle powers

Of course, it doesn't have a miracle power

and it doesn't heal cuts and burns

It just covers the skin and keeps dirt from getting in

and it keeps the moisture in two so the skin can heal a little bit faster

And that was where petroleum jelly started and that's where I'm gonna stop for today.