Is It Possible?
Help!
My favorite AskKaren Vaseline-in-the-hair story was from Jennifer, a concerned mom, whose three-year old wannabe stylist son rubbed Vaseline into her 9-month old's hair. After days of trying the frustrated mom still could not remove the Vaseline from her baby's hair. She finally wrote to me to tell me that "I have tried everything and I can't get it out!!! I've washed the hair at least a dozen times, but the baby's hair is still greasy. Is there anything I can use to get rid of this problem?"
That first Vaseline SOS hit my e-mail box only to be followed by a steady trickle of interesting follow-up stories.
Heather wrote that her two year old popped open a jar of the greasy stuff and smeared it all over her face, hair and clothes. While the face and clothes could be reclaimed, Heather could not get the grease out of her daughter's new do.
One woman wrote that she had recently gone through a type of skin surgery that required the constant use of Vaseline. She reported that as the Vaseline warmed from the temperature of her skin, it would melt into her hair line. She was unable to get the greasy residue out of her hair no matter what shampoo she used.
Luckily the news is good. Vaseline, which is composed of petroleum jelly (petrolatum) can be removed from hair.
Removing Vaseline
If you apply a little cornstarch to the hair and carefully pat it into the hair, it will absorb some, if not all the petroleum jelly. After you apply the cornstarch, you can shampoo it out with a good clarifying shampoo, and it should be removed. If the Vaseline is not completely removed in the first treatment, it will be removed to the point where one more treatment will remove all of it.
Be sure to use warm to hot water in the shampoo. Cold water makes the Vaseline worse.
Or you can try putting about one teaspoon of baking soda and mixing it with a regular baby shampoo and this should help.
Unfortunately, Vaseline is petroleum-based and can be almost impossible to remove. If the clarifying or baking soda does not work, try using soft tissue to blot the hair and see if that removes some of it.
You can try a good clarifying shampoo like Edwin Paul Classic Shampoo, Vain Peppermint Strip or Philou Green Apple.
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