Vaseline Total Moisture: In the Beauty Brains Bathroom

Have you tried the latest Vaseline Intensive Care lotion restage? According to the fine folks at Unilever (manufacturer of the Vaseline brand), this new product is different because it contains Stratys-3™. What is that you ask? Well, they say that some moisturizers stay on top of your skin where do a good job of moisturizing but make the skin feel greasy. Other lotions penetrate the skin well so there’s no greasy feeling, but they don’t thoroughly moisturize. Apparently Stratys-3™ this is the “Goldilocks” of lotions because it gets moisture just right. It’s just unfortunate that they’ve chosen to give the ingredients in this lotion such a faux-science nickname.

What does Statys-3 REALLY mean?

First, lets take a look at the ingredients:

Water, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Petrolatum, Isopropyl Palmitate, Avena Sativa (Oat) Straw Extract, Dihydroxypropyl Trimonium Chloride, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Acrylates/C10 30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Lactic Acid, Fragrance, Magnesium Aluminium Silicate, Potassium Hydroxide, Propylene Glycol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Titanium Dioxide

Now, let’s break it down by skin layers:

The tippy top layer of skin
Petrolatum and dimethicone are the classic “sit on top of skin and seal in moisture” ingredients. These are the ones that could potentially make your skin feel greasy. Isopropyl palmitate sits on the skin as well but it is a very dry feeling ester.

The in between layers
Glycerine, because it is hygroscopic, works at the surface and beneath the skin to bind moisture.

The deeper layers of dead skin
Hydroxyethyl urea works from within the stratum corneum (the upper “dead” layers of skin) to hydrate. Lactic acid helps in this regard as well.

So, Vaseline has a good mix of skin moisturizing ingredients. But then again, so do a lot of other products.

How does Vaseline Total Moisture give you the best of both worlds?

Reading between the lines here, we’re assuming that the Unilever chemists have managed to balance the greasiness with the moisturization so it feels like you get the best worlds. This is quite an accomplishment considering that petrolatum is the fourth ingredient.

How does it feel?

From a sensory perspective, the lotions do feel nice. And they provide a nice range of three fragrance types so hopefully everyone will find something they like. (The coconut one is particularly yummy.)

Even though the Beauty Brains don’t do traditional reviews, from time to time we like to share new products that we’re trying. We want you to know that we received free samples in exchange for a mention on our blog and that we’re not necessarily recommending you buy anything. We’re just sharing new product news; please do your own research before you buy.  But if you do choose to buy this product, please use our link for Vaseline Total Moisture and help support the Beauty Brains.