Skin moisturizers
Bag Balm
Bag balm vs Vaseline
Bag Balm and Vaseline are both petroleum-based products that moisturize dry skin, but Bag Balm contains added ingredients like lanolin and paraffin wax, making it thicker and often preferred for severely dry or cracked skin. Vaseline is a simpler, pure petroleum jelly product, effective for general moisturizing and protection, including for minor cuts and burns.
Bag Balm
- Ingredients: Contains petrolatum, lanolin, and paraffin wax, along with other ingredients.
- Texture: Thicker and more emollient due to the additional ingredients.
- Uses: Excellent for severely dry skin, cracked heels, calluses, chapped lips, and protecting cuts and burns. It’s also used for animal care and protecting tattoos.
- Best for: People with very dry or cracked skin who need a heavy-duty moisturizer. [2, 5, 6, 7]
Vaseline
- Ingredients: Primarily 100% pure petroleum jelly, which is similar to skin’s proteins.
- Texture: Softer and less greasy than Bag Balm.
- Uses: Moisturizing dry skin, healing minor cuts and burns, preventing chafing, and treating diaper rash.
- Best for: General, everyday moisturizing and skin protection for a wider range of minor issues. [1, 3, 4, 5, 8]
How to choose
- If you have severely dry, cracked, or chapped skin, Bag Balm is likely the better choice due to its richer, more emollient formula.
- For general moisturizing and protection, Vaseline is a simpler, highly effective option. [2, 3, 4, 5, 8]
About bag balm:
Its lanolin and petrolatum. I was using Bag Balm for a while for my lips and hands, and I’ve switched over to 100% lanolin now. 100% lanolin is kinda better in every way. It moisturizes more but still acts like an occlusive, though it does smell more like a sheep.
Yes, I use Bag balm on my face each night. It is completely penetrated by the morning. It leaves my face flawless
I have used it for over 8 years , after have vicious menopausal dry skin. IT CLEARED IT UP!! My skin is beautiful now. it removes my scars, discoloration, , moisturizer my skin. My coworkers and family keeps asking me about my beauty products. I say bag balm. lately, I started using it on my scalp. it soothe my dry , itchy scalp, also from hormone change. I am happy with bag balm.
I lather it on my feet, cover will plastic bags and then put socks on for the night. My wake up with wonderful soft feet and my callouses don’t crack. You only have to do it once every couple months.
If you want a thick moisturizing thing, I might start out with just 100% lanolin. I’ve used both, and lanolin is an ingredient in Bag Balm, but it is more moisturizing on its own and does a great job holding that moisture in. The price is also pretty comparable (at least for me, but my source is Amazon US). Lanolin is the only thing I have found that keeps my lips really moisturized. Just another option to consider!
While it’s probably ok to use bag balm in humans , let me tell you when it’s NOT ok to use it :
The antiseptic ingredient in bag balm is phototoxic : in other words , if you put it on your face and then go spend some time in the sun, it’s bad for you .
Do not use bag balm on exposed to sun areas of the body !
Studies show photo toxicity.
Probably ok for non-sun exposed use , if the use isn’t religious .
All day every day. I’m on Accutane and it’s been nice on my lips. It’s got a thinner texture than Vaseline with a bit of “grit” to it. It’s the best thing for healing cracks hands down. The major disadvantage is it’s really messy and you can’t really wear it out because the point is to really slather it on.
Bag Balm is also good for diaper rash. I used it on both my sons and they never had diaper rash.
A true story: My son had an ostomy when newborn. Around his ostomy site the skin looked like it was burned from urine. It was raw and painful for weeks and we took him to numerous Doctors trying to get relief. Doctors prescribed creams of all sorts. None of the prescription creams worked. In desperation my mom recommended Bag Balm. I used it and it was like a miracle cream, healing my babies skin in record time. When Doctors saw the amazing results and asked me what I’d used, and I told them, they’d laugh and sneer but nurses privately would tell me it was like a miracle. I didn’t care what the Doctors said, or who made fun of me, if it helped my child I was going to use it. My grandmother always had it in her medicine cabinet and used it on our cuts and scrapes. I use it on my chapped hands and lips to this day. Fast forward to 2018 and I saw several nurses had a tin of Bag Balm on their nursing carts as they made the rounds at a nursing and rehabilitation facility. I asked them about it and they rattled off all types of skin conditions that it worked for. After my first hand knowledge of its benefits, I’ll never stop using it. I have it both upstairs and downstairs in the house I live in, so that it’s always easy to use. By the way, my baby is now a 30 year old man and he uses it to this day as do my other kids and my grandkids. Amazing product! Don’t use it if you don’t want to but please keep negative comments to yourself (especially if you’ve never used it) because until you’re faced with a skin emergency and find out how amazing it is, you just have no idea. Plus, turning people away from a relative inexpensive, amazing product, that’s been around for years, because of your irrational fears is just ridiculous and not helpful.
It has Hydroxyquinoline in it, and is a kick ass antibacterial/antifungal, partly because of its chelation mechanisms. It’s proven effective even against MRSA. Cut myself on a potato peeler, 3 hours later had severe cellulitis- I mean, balloon hand that HURT. The antibiotics were wretched and not working. 2 days of bag balm and I was good to go. Some people are sensitive to it, worth reading up on risks/side effects as it’s much more than Vaseline