'Slugging' Is TikTok's Biggest Beauty Trend & It's Helping Vaseline Make A Comeback

The latest beauty trend on TikTok is called "slugging," and no, it has nothing to do with the slimy, slow-moving animal.

Essentially, the trend involves slathering your face in Vaseline and then going to sleep, only to wake up with baby-fresh skin in the morning.

According to "sluggers," when you sleep with a thick layer of a petroleum-based product like Vaseline on your face, it creates a barrier between your skin and external disruptions. As a result, it leaves you with super plump-looking skin in the morning, explained TikToker Faith Allison.

Allison explains that petroleum molecules are too big to be absorbed by the skin, so the petroleum Vaseline acts like a barrier to help your skin stay hydrated.

Videos of the beauty trend has amassed millions of views, and it sparked interest in the beauty product that had fallen off the radar for so long.

You're supposed to apply the Vaseline as the very last step of your skincare routine, wipe it off the following day and witness the magic for yourself.

And while it might sound like a random TikTok trend, there's a lot of history and science behind it.

Dermatologist Dr. Shari Marchbein explained in a viral 2020 Instagram video that "slugging" is totally legit, and that it's a great way to stay moisturized during the dry winter season.

"In truth, dermatologists have been ‘slugging’ for years," she told Teen Vogue last March. "I don't go to bed without it."

But the trend is even older than that.

Vaseline was first introduced to the world in the late 1800s by chemist Robert Augustus Chesebrough who used to work in kerosene refining, according to Vaseline-maker Unilever. He found that when you distilled crude oil, it left behind a substance that worked wonders to heal burns and scrapes and decided to market it to the world.

Initially, it was advertised as a substance that could be used to oil leather, as a hair pomade and even taken orally for several disorders.

Eventually, the product was advertised as a beauty product for women, and that's when its sales really took off.

An advert for the company from 1881 claimed that the substance could "keep the skin clearer, softer, and smoother than any cosmetic ever invented, and will preserve the youthful beauty and freshness of the healthy complexion," reported Bloomberg.

It was then used as a beauty staple for many years by women, including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Rudolph Churchill.

She was known to have beautiful skin, and her secret? Applying Vaseline before bed.

So essentially, you could say she the OG creator of the beauty trend that everyone is now calling "slugging."

Now we're seeing the product and trend come back into style, and it's all thanks to the influence of TikTok.