What is vaseline?

Pomades are usually divided into two categories, water based and oil based, but Dick Jonson has developed a new one to challenge this: a new category that combines the positives qualities of both pomades. We call it the nature-based category.

To start with, let’s consider what we look for in a pomade. The most important qualities are a strong hold and the fact that it can be restyled. Restyling means that if your friend gives you a friendly scalp massage with their knuckles in the middle of the day and simultaneously messes up your hair, you don’t have to worry since a good pomade does not harden even though it gives you a good hold. You can easily fix it with a comb or your fingers. Vaseline has met the requirements very well because vaseline (petrolatum) does not harden in your hair and is thus stiff, and the vaseline-rich pomades are still popular among enthusiasts in the field – maybe because there has been no good substitute available. 

What is vaseline?

Vaseline became increasingly common in the 1850s and it was used to lubricate machines in factories. After that, it has commonly been used in cosmetics even though we don’t know enough about it. The same ingredient has different names: mineral oil, liquid paraffin, petroleum jelly or vaseline petrolatum. 

Vaseline is used in skincare because it creates a protective layer on the skin, stopping it from breathing or letting water through. In theory, under the vaseline the skin can heal itself. However, we cannot recommend that you use vaseline on your face because it almost invariably leads to the so-called pomade acne. 

We didn’t want to use vaseline in our pomade because hair products inevitably spread via hair to the forehead, so we replaced it with a natural candelilla wax, which gives the same strong hold while still remaining easy to restyle.