Petrolatum, Petroleum jelly, vaseline, or tender paraffin is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons that is used as a topical ointment for its pores and skin healing properties.
Petrolatum is recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an accepted Over-The-Counter (OTC) skin protectant and is widely used in beauty pores and skin care.
It is commonly known as Vaseline as a genericised trademark.
Petrolatum is a flammable, semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons, having a melting-point usually starting from a bit beneath to a couple degrees above 100F (37 C). It is colorless, or of a pale yellow coloration (when not highly distilled), translucent, and devoid of style and scent when pure. It does not oxidize on exposure to the air, and is not readily acted on by chemical reagents. It’s insoluble in water. It’s soluble in chloroform, benzene, carbon disulfide and oil of turpentine.
There may be a standard misconception (resulting from the same feel they produce when utilized to human pores and skin) that petroleum jelly and glycerol (glycerine) are physically related. While petroleum is a non-polar hydrocarbon hydrophobic (water-repelling), insoluble in water, glycerol (not a hydrocarbon however an alcohol) is the opposite: it is so strongly hydrophilic (water-attracting) that by steady absorption of moisture from the air, it produces the feeling of wetness on the pores and skin, just like the greasiness produced by petroleum jelly. The feeling is analogous, but petroleum jelly repels water, and glycerine attracts it.
Petrolatum was primarily used as an ointment for scrapes, burns, and cuts, but physicians have shown that Vaseline has no medicinal impact or any impact on the blistering process, nor is it absorbed by the skin. Petrolatum’s effectiveness in accelerating wound healing stems from its sealing impact on cuts and burns, which inhibits germs from entering into the wound and keeps the injured area supple by stopping the pores and skin’s moisture from evaporating.
Nevertheless, after changing into a drugs chest staple, customers began to make use of Petrolatum for a myriad of ailments and beauty makes use of together with chapped hands or lips, toenail fungus, nosebleeds, diaper rash, chest colds, and even to take away makeup or stains from furniture. It’s even used as trout bait. There are uses for it for pets together with stopping fungi from developing on aquatic turtles’ shells and to maintain cats from making messes once they cough up furballs. In the primary a part of the twentieth century, petrolatum, either pure or as an ingredient, was also well-liked as a hair pomade. When utilized in a 50/50 mixture with pure beeswax, it makes an efficient moustache wax.
Most petroleum jelly at present is consumed as an ingredient in skin lotions and cosmetics. Though petrolatum is less expensive than glycerol, the most typical active lubricating ingredient in pores and skin lotion, it’s not used in costly lotions because it isn’t absorbed into the pores and skin, leading to a greasy really feel.
Petroleum jelly is used to moisten plasticine, as a part of a mixture of hydrocarbons including better (paraffin wax) and lesser (mineral oil) molecular weights.
It may also be used as tinder when coated on cotton balls. The mix can simply be ignited by a fire starter, burning sizzling and long, and the petroleum keeps the cotton from getting wet.
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