You hear the name “Vaseline” and may think it only has a few uses, but this will make you miss out on one of the cheapest beauty remedies out there! We’re not joking about this, Vaseline will change your life. Below, you’ll find 10 unusual uses for Vaseline.
1. Lipstick on Teeth
Never get lipstick on your teeth again! Smear a little Vaseline on your teeth before applying lipstick and keep your chompers pearly white. This is a technique is used by beauty contestants, or those first learning to apply lipstick.
2. Hair Dye Barrier
To protect your skin from being dyed along with your hair, try creating a barrier on your forehead and around your ears with a thin layer of Vaseline. The petroleum jelly will protect your skin from absorbing the hair dye, allowing you to be a little messy when applying liberal amounts of dye to your hair.
After dye application simply wipes the Vaseline off with a cloth.
3. Shine Your Boots
Use some Vaseline to touch up your scuffed boots or heels, making them look good as new!
Dab a clean soft cloth with a little Vaseline and gently rub into leather shoes or boots. Petroleum jelly is great for moisturizing leathers, making them shine, and giving them a little water resistance.
4. Prevent Battery Corrosion
Vaseline can also help outside the home, like in your car. By adding Vaseline to the terminals of car battery you can help prevent corrosion. The Vaseline forms a water-resistant barrier around the metal tops of the battery terminals, a place where acidic corrosion is likely to occur.
Pop the hood of your car, and carefully smear a liberal amount of Vaseline on each terminal of the battery, being careful not to touch both terminals together with anything conductive.
5. Revive Dried Leather
Vaseline is great rejuvenating skin, so why not on leather goods?
This old baseball mitt was brought back to life by rubbing Vaseline into every stitch and seam and allowing it to sit for a while to really soak in, excess Vaseline was wiped off. If needed, apply another session of Vaseline to any stubborn areas after allowing the glove to rest for a day between applications.
For the baseball enthusiasts who reject Vaseline on your glove, Harold Reynolds recommends Vaseline to help break in baseball gloves.
6. Remove a Stuck Ring
Vaseline is super slippery and can be used to loosen any stuck jewelry from your chubby digits.
Smear a liberal amount on both sides of your stuck ring, then twist and work the ring back and forth on your finger to spread the Vaseline underneath the ring and between the metal and your skin. Then, gently pull the ring from your finger.
7. Remove Chewing Gum From Hair
Getting gum in your hair is the absolute worst. Luckily, humble Vaseline can help remove even the stickiest chewing gum.
Isolate the section of hair that has the gum stuck in it, then work a large gob of Vaseline into the gum to break up the gum elasticity. Take breaks by wiping the gum and Vaseline mix from your hair with a paper towel, then reapply Vaseline to the gum in hair again and continue working until all the gum has been broken down and removed.
To remove the amount of gum shown in the picture took about 7 minutes.
8. Put It on Small Cuts
If you ever watch boxing, there’s a reason why trainers apply Vaseline to the cuts on the fighters faces. Aside from being all slippery, the Vaseline also forms a barrier that can stop small cuts.
After cleaning your cut you can apply a gob of Vaseline to the area directly over the cut, this will seal the wound which should prevent further bleeding and also provide a barrier to prevent infection.
9. Hairball Remedy
Since petroleum jelly is a lubricant it can be used to help pets with hairballs. Some animals don’t mind eating Vaseline straight, but for more finicky pets you can apply the petroleum jelly directly to the paws and they’ll lick it off.
Petroleum jelly is non-toxic, and in small quantities should be fine for pets. Be mindful that although a moderate amount of jelly is fine, too much can prevent the intestines from absorbing vitamins and may give your pet diarrhea.
10. Easy Open Jar Lids
Keeping jar lids easy to open is simple with a little petroleum jelly. Smear a thin layer of Vaseline around the threaded side of a jar lid before screwing on the lid, the slippery jelly will prevent any stuck food from seizing the lid to the jar and should allow you to easily open those suborn jars.
This works great for sticky foods with high sugar content, like honey, jam, or barbecue sauce.
