Vaseline Is The By-Product Of Oil Refining
In 1859, English-born chemist Robert Chesebrough traveled to Titusville, Pennsylvania, curious about the healing benefits of the oil by-product “rod wax” which was used by workers to heal skin injuries. By all accounts, the substance worked like a miracle salve in the healing process of work-related wounds.
The gooey substance oozed out of the oil wells and, if not cleaned out, would cause the machinery to seize up.
After experimenting with the rod wax for 10 years, Chesebrough successfully refined it into the clear petroleum jelly that we are familiar with today. He called his new product “vaseline,” and patented it in the U.S. in 1872.
Don O’Brien/FlickrVaseline founder Robert Chesebrough was said to have swallowed three spoons of the stuff daily to keep his health up.
To sell his product to skeptical pharmacists, Chesebrough performed demonstrations on himself, creating self-inflicted wounds and smothering them with the gel on his skin.
His plan worked and vaseline’s all-purpose trait quickly caught on. Besides healing wounds and chapped skin, people began using it for all sorts of things, like preventing diaper rashes on babies, preserving eggs, and even as a beauty product.
But Chesebrough’s vaseline ritual might just be the most bizarre use of the gel yet. After his death at the ripe age of 96, Chesebrough was reported to have swallowed three spoonfuls of vaseline a day.
Now that you’ve caught up on the bizarre origins of these household items, learn about more strange products of days past with this gallery of weird vintage beauty trends. Then check out Chernobyl’s first consumer product: vodka made in the exclusion zone.
