Vaseline Cocoa Butter Revitalising Gel Body

I picked up this product as I do like cocoa butter as it’s a lovely natural ingredient with a high nourishing content with good skin affinity and this seemed like a novel variant.

Ingredients
Petrolatum – contains lots of it
Cocoa Butter – doesn’t contain any, only cocoa butter fragrance, which I find misleading
Brazilian & almond Oil – inexpensive natural vegetable oils & almond oils

Petrolatum (Pet Jelly)
Petrolatum is a by product of petrol and is very cheap around 50p / kg.  It’s been used in cosmetics for decades because it does perform well in moisturisation tests.  If I pick up a premium product ie Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream and see that petrolatum features quite high on the ingredient list, I put it back, as I think it’s insulting to market a product as premium that contains petrolatum.  There are natural alternatives from castor oil which is naturally sourced from castor beans (Ricinus communis).   I did at one time present this to the UK cosmetic industry, although it was generally acknowledged that it was an excellent substitute for petrolatum, it was considered way too expensive at > £5 / kg.  If the personal care industry was very serious about moving to a natural alternative and switched en masse than economies of scale would make it possible for to bring prices down.

Moisturisation Tests

Emollients or moisturisers are generally tested by their ability to prevent TEWL (trans epidermal water loss) or evaporation of the natural water content of our skin.   Petrolatum lies as a heavy occlusive layer on the skin surface thereby preventing TEWL, vegetable oils are similar to the oils naturally present in the skin, and therefore add moisture in a more natural way.   Petrolatums are often used as a standard or benchmark in TEWL tests so its very effective occlusive agent.  I have met people who only use Vaseline on their skin, and their skin is usually in very good condition for their age, so I guess if you ever found yourself home and really couldn’t afford anything decent – Vaseline would be your best option. 

Skin Affinity
Feels like molten Vaseline and feels very greasy, however skin continues to feel moisturised after a few hours which not all body lotions deliver.

Rating
Value for money – £4.89 over-priced for Vaseline
Availability – Boots, Superdrug and most supermarkets
Effectiveness – I was surprised at how moisturised my skin felt a few hours after
Pampering factor – I do like the high sheen it leaves on legs, so think it’s a good summer time product
Recommended – just OK