Slugging

A Tik Tok beauty trend gone viral. I usually don’t pay them any mind This one, however, kept popping up on every renowned beauty site and received positive reviews. Not to mention that it is cheap and easy. Win-Win!

This is a K-Beauty trend which I have also learned are generally effective. This hack has nothing to do with actual slugs, the whole thing just gives you a slug like appearance. It is the process of covering your skin in Vaseline, Nivea or Aquaphor and leave it on overnight. It is most beneficial for those of you with dry skin. This treatment will lock in moisture that gives your skin a plump and more youthful look. Wait wha? You have my attention.

I don’t necessarily have dry skin but I have aging skin! Translated by all beauty blogs into “skin that needs hydration”. There is not much else to explain about the actual “how-to”. You basically coat your face in a coating of Vaseline, go to bed and wake up rejuvenated. This does bring me right to the con’s of slugging. You will have to pull your hair back preferably with a head band, or just wrap your hair all together. Obviously only if you have long hair, because it will be become a stringy, sticky mess. Surprisingly my pillow case was not as sticky as I thought it would end up being. My satin pillow case may have helped with that, the material tends not to absorb as much as cotton. Vaseline may stain your sheets, big deal, we fight bigger battles with our mascara smudges. It’s all for the cause.

When I woke up in the morning, I noticed my skin looked just as described above: “plump” and healthy. This instantly lead to a search of “how often to slug”. Some experts say every night is just fine, but I am sticking we the others who recommend once or twice a week. The crazy thing is that Vaseline is non-comedogenic, although it is not recommended for acne prone skin.

I usually don’t get technical but the science behind this is simple and intriguing. Lipids are the glue that keeps our outer layer of skin in tact. Fewer lipids in your skin will result in water loss. When the lipids in your skin are damaged, the protective barrier will let out water. Petrolatum can fix that. With that I mean Vaseline. Or Nivea which contains enough petrolatum to provide the same benefits. And Vaseline is the original name brand for petroleum jelly, in case you were confused about that like I was…

It is great for aging skin because lines and wrinkles are more evident on dry skin. I still feel as if my mug needs some retinol every once in a while so I will continue to switch it up. I honestly have not read one bad review about slugging. It is mostly in the category of “if it doesn’t hurt you” in combination with “cheap and easy”. I am sold.