Why Petroleum Jelly is Not Good for Your Scalp or Hair

Your mother used it, your grandmother most definitely used it, and perhaps you even still use it on your hair and scalp. So, what is the "it" that has been a staple to the beautification of black or African American hair for well over a century?

Petroleum.

You may know it by some of its other aliases, petrolatum, petroleum jelly, soft paraffin, white paraffin, or even mineral oil, but it's still the same thick blue, white, green or yellow stuff with fingerprint tracks in the jar that we all grew up with, and that we did not dare run out of. Petroleum was a jack of all trades for the majority of people I knew growing up, making us pretty and solving many problems for us along the way from removing eye makeup to mixing laxatives.

Most of us were raised never questioning that it was hands-down the best moisturizer on the market for the body (and the big plus was that it was so inexpensive). Now, its use on hair and skin that has become highly debatable.

Here is where it becomes important to know the facts.

Fact is that petroleum is not a "moisturizer," but rather a "barrier" which means that having no moisturizing properties of its own, it reinforces and seals the moisture into skin provided by other sources. For instance, if after applying water to your skin, you coat it with a layer of petroleum, you will have effectively sealed in some of the moisture from the water into your skin, along with whatever was already residing on your skin, oil, sweat, etc.

Fact is, petroleum is excellent when strong absorption is needed for topical aids, medicines, creams and so on, as it helps provide a more concentrated delivery to the point needing attention. People have slathered some on after applying other treatments first to ensure absorption. The down side and actual danger of doing this is that as a barrier applied to the skin, petroleum disallows the natural and normal release of toxins, in various forms, from the skin. Ever been around someone who had eaten too much garlic or drank alcohol and you were able to smell it through their skin?