I am going to be honest with you. When I first heard about slugging I thought it was a joke. Like actually. I saw a girl on TikTok with this shiny greasy face and she was like yeah I sleep like this. And I remember thinking there is no way. No way I am putting vaseline all over my face. That is for my elbows. That is for my kids chapped lips. Not my face.
But then winter hit. And my skin started to hurt. Not like a rash or anything scary. Just this constant tight feeling. Like someone was pulling my cheeks back toward my ears. Every time I talked or ate or just moved my mouth it felt dry. My makeup looked terrible. It would sit on top of my skin in these little patches. I tried everything. I bought that expensive cream from France. I bought that snail mucin stuff everyone talks about. Nothing helped.
So I caved. I tried the vaseline thing. And I am embarrassed to say it worked. It worked really well. So let me tell you exactly what I do. And more importantly what I do wrong because trust me I mess this up all the slugging routine for dry skin.
What Even Is Slugging?
Okay so slugging is just a dumb name for putting a thick greasy balm on your face at night. The name comes from how you look. Like a slug left a trail on your pillow. Gross right. But the idea is simple.
Your skin has this outer layer. It holds water inside. But when the air is dry that water escapes. It just evaporates into the room. That is why your skin feels tight. You are losing moisture while you sleep.
Petroleum jelly stops that. It does not add water. It just sits there like a lid on a pot. It traps everything underneath. So whatever serum or cream you put on before the jelly stays there all night. Your skin has like eight hours to just soak it all in.
My dermatologist explained it to me once. She said think of it like Saran wrap for your face. That helped me understand it better. It is not adding anything new. It is just keeping what you already have from leaving.
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Who Should Actually Do This?
If your skin is naturally dry you should try this. I am talking about the kind of dry where you put on moisturizer and twenty minutes later you need more. The kind where you can see little flakes on your nose when you look in the mirror. That is me. That is who this is for.
It is also really good if you use retinoids. Those strong anti aging creams. They work but they make your skin peel and get red. Slugging helps calm that down. It gives your skin a break.
But if your skin is oily do not do this. My sister has oily skin and she tried it once. She woke up with like five new pimples. It was bad. The jelly traps oil too. So if you already have too much oil you are just trapping it against your skin all night. Not good.
Also if you have acne please skip this. The jelly seals everything in including bacteria. You will make it worse. I learned that the hard way when I had a tiny pimple and slugged over it. It turned into this big angry red thing the next morning. Never again.
The Products I Use
I keep this cheap. Really cheap.
For my cleanser I use that CeraVe hydrating one. The green and white bottle. It is like fifteen bucks and it lasts forever. It is milky not foamy. Foamy cleansers dry me out more.
For my serum I use the ordinary hyaluronic acid. It is like seven dollars. I know hyaluronic acid sounds scary but it is just a water magnet. It pulls water into your skin.
For my moisturizer I use the CeraVe cream in the tub. The big blue one. It is thick and heavy.
And for the slugging part I just use plain vaseline. The original petroleum jelly. I tried that Aquaphor stuff too. It works fine. But vaseline is cheaper and it does the same thing for me.
That is it. My whole routine costs maybe thirty five dollars total. And it lasts me months.
My Nighttime Steps
I do this three nights a week. Usually Sunday Tuesday and Thursday. I skip Monday and Wednesday and Friday because I use my retinol on those nights. You cannot slug over retinol. I will explain why in a minute.
Step one is washing my face. I do it twice. Once with an oil cleanser to get my sunscreen off. Then again with my milky cleanser. I use warm water not hot. Hot water dries out my skin more.
Here is where I mess up sometimes. I forget to wash my neck. And then I slug my neck and I wake up with a sticky neck and my hair sticks to it. So do not forget your neck.
Step two I pat my face dry. But I do not pat it completely dry. I leave it a little damp. This is important. The hyaluronic acid needs water to work. If your face is dry when you put it on it will actually pull water from deeper in your skin and make you more dry. So keep your face damp.
Step three I put on my hyaluronic acid serum. I use like two drops. I pat it in. I do not rub. Rubbing pulls at my skin and makes it red. I just pat pat pat until it disappears.
Step four I wait like thirty seconds. Then I put on my thick cream. The CeraVe one. I use a good amount. Like a nickel size. I rub it between my hands first to warm it up then I press it into my face.
Step five I wait again. This time I wait like two minutes. I want the cream to sink in a little. If I put vaseline on right away everything just slides around and gets in my eyes.
Step six is the vaseline. Here is my biggest mistake. I used to use way too much. Like a big glob. My face would be dripping. My pillow would be ruined. My hair would be stuck to my cheek in the morning. It was a mess.
Now I use a pea sized amount. Maybe smaller. Like the size of a lentil. I warm it up between my fingers until it gets soft and melty. Then I press it all over my face. Not rub. Press.
It should look shiny but not wet. If you can see white streaks you used too much. Wipe the extra off on your hand.
Step seven is my pillow. I use an old t shirt over my pillowcase. I wash it every day. Because the vaseline gets on it and it gets gross. Do not use your good silk pillowcase. You will ruin it.
Then I sleep on my back. Which I hate. I am a side sleeper. But I trained myself to sleep on my back for this. It took like a week. I still roll over sometimes and wake up with vaseline in my ear. It happens.
Why You Cannot Use This With Retinol?
This is important. I messed this up bad one time.
Retinol is strong. It exfoliates your skin. It makes new skin cells come up faster. When you put vaseline on top of retinol you trap it against your skin. It does not evaporate or rub off on your pillow. It just sits there all night.
That makes it way stronger than it should be. I woke up the next morning with my face bright red. Like sunburn red. It hurt to touch. It peeled for like four days.
So now I only slug on nights I do not use retinol. If I use retinol on Monday I slug on Tuesday. Give your skin a break.
What I Do In The Morning?
- In the morning my face is still shiny. That is good. That means the vaseline stayed on all night.
- I do not wash my face with soap in the morning. I just splash warm water on it. I use my hands to gently rub the leftover vaseline off. It comes off pretty easy.
- Then I pat my face dry. My skin feels so soft. Like baby skin. The tight feeling is completely gone. I can move my mouth and my cheeks do not pull. It is such a relief.
- I put on my regular daytime moisturizer and my sunscreen. And slugging routine for dry skin.
- Sometimes if I used too much vaseline I have to wipe my face with a soft towel to get the greasy feeling off. But I try not to rub hard. Just gentle wipes.
How Often I Do This?
Like I said three times a week.
I tried doing it every night for a while. But my skin got lazy. It stopped making its own oils. It was like my skin forgot how to moisturize itself. So I cut back. Now three nights is my sweet spot. If I have a really dry week I might do four nights. But never more than that. In the summer I do it less. Maybe once a week. Because the air is humid and my skin does not get as dry. In the winter I do it more. Usually four nights.
The Mistakes I Still Make
- I still mess up sometimes. I am not perfect at this.
- Sometimes I forget to wash my face well enough. And I wake up with little white bumps on my chin. Not pimples exactly. Just tiny blocked pores. That is my sign I did not cleanse properly.
- Sometimes I use too much vaseline and my hair gets stuck to my face. I wake up with vaseline in my hair and it is so hard to wash out.
- Sometimes I fall asleep on my side and wake up with vaseline all over my ear and my pillow.
- Sometimes I forget to put vaseline on my lips and then my lips are dry in the morning. So now I always put extra on my lips.
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How Long Until You See Results?
The first night you will not see much. Your skin will feel softer in the morning. But the real results take like a week.
After a week of doing it three times my dry patches were gone. Completely gone. My makeup went on smooth. I did not have to use those heavy foundations anymore. I switched to a light tinted moisturizer.
After a month my fine lines looked better. Not gone. Just softer. Because my skin was hydrated it plumped up a little.
So do not expect magic overnight. Give it time.
When To Stop?
If your skin starts to break out stop. If you get little red bumps stop. If your skin feels itchy stop. Slugging is not for everyone. And even if it works for you it might not work forever. Our skin changes. What works in winter might not work in spring. I have stopped slugging for weeks at a time when my skin felt good. Then I start again when winter comes back. Listen to your skin. Do not force it.
Conclusion
I never thought I would be a slugging person. I thought it was weird and gross. But my dry skin was making me miserable. I hated how my face felt. I hated how my makeup looked.
This routine fixed it. Not completely. I still have dry skin. That is just how my skin is. But now I can manage it. I can wake up and not dread looking in the slugging routine for dry skin.
The vaseline costs like three dollars. The whole routine takes five minutes. And it works better than any expensive cream I have ever bought.
So if your skin is dry and tight and nothing helps give this a try. Start small. Use a tiny bit. Wash your face really good before you start. And be patient. It took me a few tries to get it right. You will probably mess up too. That is okay.