Travellers don’t always agree on what you need to pack or where to go but 9 out of 10 will agree on one simple rule!
It’s best to try and pack as light as possible.
Save Space: Pack Multi-Purpose Items
As a seasoned traveller, I have learned a few packing tricks that help me keep my luggage to a minimum.
One of these tricks is to pack as many things as I can that do double duty and have multiple uses.
- A sarong can do double duty as a scarf, a belt, a head wrap even a towel in a pinch.
- Bring one pair of shoes that you can wear with multiple outfits and dress up or down.
- Bring a tablet which doubles as a computer, e-reader, mp3 player and child entertainment center.
You get the picture.
Enter VASELINE: *trumpets playing da-da-da-daaaaaaaaa*
Vaseline is one multi-purpose thing I never leave home without.
It’s like magic to me and literally replaces dozens of products I use and frees up tons of suitcase space too.
I’ve only listed 51 uses but there are literally hundreds of uses for this miraculous gooey stuff which makes it the perfect item to pack in your luggage or even your purse for that matter.
51 reasons you need to pack Vaseline in your luggage on your next trip.
Beauty and Skin Care
Vaseline when used on the skin literally locks in moisture and prevents dryness which is what makes it such a great product to use on your skin.
Check these beautiful and famous woman who swear by it.
Tyra Banks, Jennifer Aniston, J-Lo, Halle Berry and probably hundreds more.
1-Apply a very light coating of Vaseline before flights and you won’t get that icky dry skin feeling. It actually prevents moisture loss.
2-Seal in moisture after a hot shower:
3-Put under eyes to keep wrinkles at bay.: Jennifer Aniston does this and she looks flawless.
4-Rub a little on fine lines like your crows feat area. It will reduce the appearance of fine lines.
5- Night time Hand and feet moisturizer: Make this a nightly ritual and put a pair of socks over your feet and you will have the most touchable, softest hands and feet in the world.
6- Night Cream: Just warm it up for a few seconds and apply a thin coat on your face.
7- Lip cream replacement: Halle Berry puts some on her lips and lets it set before putting on lipstick. I actually think it makes my lips look plumper but it feels great.
8- Cracked heels: Apply daily and nightly and watch your cracked heals turn to butter.
9- Dry elbows:
10-Stretch your favourite lotion by mixing with a little Vaseline each time: Great for when travelling with a small amount of your favourite lotion.
11- Body scrub: Mix a little sea salt in a bowl with some Vaseline and you have a pretty darn good body scrub. This keeps my hands caress-able.
12- Chapped Lips: Rub on lips and watch the magic happen. I think it is better than chapstick.
Make Up & Beauty Enhancers
13- Make-up remover: J-Lo aka Jennifer Lopez uses Vaseline as a make-up remover and so do I. Especially eye makeup.
14- Make your own lip gloss colours: I love this. Get a spoon full of Vaseline and melt it in the microwave. Add a sliver of lipstick and pour into a portable container and let it cool. It will harden and turn to lip gloss.
15- Blush: Use the lip gloss recipe above as a cream blusher. Or add a little powdered blush to Vaseline to make cream blusher.
16- All over body moisturiser:
17- Eyelash s strengthener: Put some on your eyelashes before bed to make them longer and thicker. Some women swear by this.
18- Mix with eye shadow to make new creamy colours.
19-Harsh weather skin Protection: Put some on exposed skin before going out in harsh or windy weather. Example on your hands and cheeks.
20- Apply under eye shadow for a shiny effect:
21- Rub a little on your cheeks for a dewy radiant look
22- Perfume Enhancer: Apply some to pulse points before spraying perfume and your scent will last longer.
Hair Product
23- When dying your hair, put a little along your hairline to prevent your skin from touching the chemicals and dyes.
24- Hide Split Ends by rubbing some on your hands before applying to split ends. Great for when you can’t get to the salon.
25- Hair Gel: but only a little bit or you’ll will end up looking like greasy drowned rat.
26- Hair scrunched: rub a little on hands and scrunch hair to give tussled wavy look.
27- After Shave balm: apply to smooth and sooth your skin
28-Condition your scalp with a little before shampooing.
Health & Personal Care
29- Helps calm rashes like poison ivy.
30- Reduce scaling and itching from dandruff
31- Can improve and ease the symptoms of eczema and psoriasis by helping to get rid of dry patches.
32- Moisturiser for people with acne: No it does not clog pores.
33- Use as a diaper rash cream for babies.
34- Thermometer lubricant: Apply some to the thermometer when taking your baby’s temperature through the rectum.
35- Male genital rash: Yes, you heard me right. if it works on baby rashes why not male genital rash. (NON STD TYPE ONLY)
36- Helps alleviate toenail fungus. YUCK!
37- Can prevent chaffing: Runners sometimes put Vaseline on their nipples to prevent chafing caused by t-shirt friction.
38- When applied thick to the scalp, it eliminates lice by smothering them.
39- Minimize your allergies: Place a little under the nose and you’ll trap pollen before it enters the nostrils.
40- Nail and Cuticle Care: Rubbing a little on makes cuticles softer and better looking. while keeping fingernails healthy.
41- Hemorrhoids: Yes applying a little Vaseline can help relieve the pain, itching, and burning associated with Hemorrhoids.
42- Protects and Hasten healing of burns, cuts and scrapes: put a little on affected area to seal the wound which prevents germs from getting in the wound.
43- To care for a reduce scarring after surgery:This apparently is standard post – surgical therapy. Who knew?
44- As um a personal lubricant. wink wink. But never with a condom because it will make the latex fall apart. YUP. I’m not lying.
Miscellaneous
45- Fuzzy Photo Effect: An old photography trick is to smear some Vaseline on a lens filter to give it that foggy effect.
46- Fix squeaky doors: There are squeaky doors everywhere.
47- Remove gum from hair: rub on gum and surrounding area. Take a comb and gently start to comb out.
48- Remove rings that are stuck on your finger.
49- Shine your shoes or leather bags with a dab of this and rub vigorously.
50- Remove lipstick / Make-up stains from clothing and napkins: just rub a little on stain before washing.
51- Lubricate suitcase wheels and skateboard wheels too.
Conclusion
I always keep Vaseline with me wherever I go. Even when I’m not travelling it is a staple in my medicine cabinet.
*NOTE: Vaseline is sometimes hard to find in some countries or not readily available. Case and point France. It exists but it’s not in all pharmacies or at least not in the ones where I live. So don’t assume your destination country will have it. Bring a little three ounce container of it in your bag at minimum.
Here is a quick video of 50 uses for Vaseline in less than 2 minutes. Please share this post on faceook, it helps drive traffic to this site so i can keep providing you with unique content.