We all grew up with a jar of Vaseline somewhere in the bathroom I'm sure! We definitely didn't know or think to question what we were sold.
Did you know petroleum jelly was created as a skin healing ingredient after being discovered clogging the machines on oil rigs in 1859? Yep that's right, healing...
We are fighting to make a change because climate change is real, and here we are putting a byproduct of crude oil in our skincare and cosmetic products. Aside from the known environmental dangers of fracking and oil drilling, petroleum refineries contribute to air, water and soil pollution due to the toxins released through the refining processes.
If that's not enough of a reason to stop using petroleum jelly then how about it only being a quick fix for hydration. It does give you a skin smoothing feel at first but in actual fact it blocks your skin from receiving hydration through moisture in the air as well as trapping sebum and bacteria on the skin and in turn drying your skin out.
Now it's no secret I am passionate about what Mother Earth creates and am doing what I can to protect it. Which is why I thought it would be a good idea to point out why we do not use petroleum jelly in our products and in fact consider Ouli's Ointment all purpose balm a necessary swap for petroleum based salves.
Before starting Ouli's Ointment, I was using a balm that touted itself as natural, prior to ever really looking at ingredients (crazy to think how common this is. We all have been known to trust marketing but am proud to be always growing in knowledge now) I believed the packaging when it said natural and only listed the fruit this balm was supposedly derived from, no real ingredients list there, which I know do not trust products that don't openly list ingredients..
As I started down the rabbit hole of researching ingredients, I found that this product was mainly petroleum jelly and very little of the advertised 'natural' ingredient. Interesting right?! This was enough for me to decide what my brands first product needed to be, an everything balm with real NATURAL AND ORGANIC ingredients that weren't damaging to the environment and actually benefit your skin.