H07: Mr Chesebrough’s Wonder Jelly! A history of petrolatum and the skin

E. Pender

Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland

Petroleum jelly (petrolatum) has stood the test of time as a product recommended by dermatologists worldwide. However, it was discovered quite serendipitously, and brought to market by an enterprising chemist. Its story begins in 1859, and today it remains remarkably similar to the original ‘wonder jelly’ developed in Victorian times. Sir Robert Chesebrough was initially tasked with extracting kerosene from whale oil, but the establishment of America’s first successful oil well led to him travelling to the site in Titusville, Pennsylvania. While there, Chesebrough was struck by an unusual practice. Workers were applying a thick, black substance that collected on the drills to their wounds. This ‘rod wax’ damaged the machinery, but Chesebrough believed its healing properties were remarkable. (Jayakumar KL, Micheletti RG. Robert Chesebrough and the dermatologic wonder of petroleum jelly. JAMA Dermatol 2017; 153: 1157) He brought the rod wax back to his Brooklyn laboratory and spent the following 11 years refining his product, before marketing it as ‘Wonder Jelly’. Initially, Chesebrough struggled to persuade chemists to stock his products. However, his sales pitch, involving treating his own self-inflicted injuries with the product, along with copious free samples, soon had customers clamouring for it. By 1874, Chesebrough had registered the name Vaseline (vasser = water, elaio = oil), and was selling a jar a minute (https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/personal-care/vaseline.html#:~:text=History%3A,of%20a%20jar%20a%20minute). Chesebrough himself so believed in the power of Vaseline that he ate a spoonful every morning. On developing pleurisy, he instructed his nurse to rub him daily in Vaseline from head to toe. He lived to the impressive age of 96 years – a feat he attributed to these practices (Jayakumar et al.)! Chesebrough’s success was bolstered by the endorsement of royalty – Queen Victoria was an avid user, and she knighted Chesebrough in 1883. Vaseline’s place was cemented in history when it travelled with Commander Robert Peary on the first successful North Pole expedition, and was used in dressings and on burns in both world wars, with the US surgeon general commissioning a petroleum jelly-coated gauze to be sent to the front in 1943. Vaseline’s popularity has scarcely waned since. It continues to be used in dermatology clinics and postoperative wound care worldwide. Meanwhile, on social media, ‘slugging’ – the application of a layer of petroleum jelly to ‘seal in’ skincare – is increasing in popularity. Vaseline shows no signs of becoming obsolete.