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For spring break, I didn’t have any adventurous plans and just went back home for the week vacation. During this time, I went back to work at the trade job that I’ve been employed at for about a year. With this job, I am working around a lot of dust in some humid climates. As you would imagine, this does some damage to my acne-prone skin. While I try my hardest not to wipe my grease-covered hands on my face, I cannot prevent breakouts from happening. During this time, I decided to see if I could try a technique that will help me during the summer when I come back to this job. I recently came across the technique of “slugging” on TikTok and I figured this would be the best time to try it out. For a whole week, I slugged my face every night before bed, and the results are conflicting in my opinion.
To summarize what slugging is, it is when you lather your face in petroleum jelly as the last step of your nightly skin routine. It is supposed to lock moisture into your skin and prevent water loss. The benefits of slugging can include glowing skin, repair to the skin barrier, decreased wrinkles, etc. Dermatologists say that slugging is good for dry skin and not for acne-prone skin. For me, this was conflicting, since I either have dry skin or acne prone skin, my skin tends to fluctuate. With this information I dove into my experiment to see if slugging will help me while I am working around machines during my 10-hour long shift days.
While most sites will recommend using Vaseline, I decided to go with something that I had around the house, which was Aquaphor. Since I have a family of tattoo-addicts, Aquaphor was a stability in our home, and I knew we had some on hand. I didn’t want to use the gel alone however due to the fear of clogging up the pores, so I decided to mix my batch with jojoba oil. Jojoba oil has benefits with treating acne by balancing the skin so there is no overproduction of oil in areas where it is not needed. I had jojoba oil on hand for my hair since it has properties that helps me with my dry scalp.
Each night went as followed: I would start by washing my skin with the Vitamin C Facial Wash from Soap and Glory to get off any dirt and grime that built up on my face during the day. Then I would wash my face with the Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser from CeraVe to help with any irritated areas that may have come to surface. Following that, I would then mix a dollop of Aquaphor with a drop of jojoba oil and start massaging it into my face. I would massage the mixture for about two minutes while I felt the gel melt into my skin. After that, I went to bed. I would wake up in the morning and go on with my day without a wash in the morning.
Throughout the week I started to notice some changes. My skin started to feel hydrated and smooth, which was interesting since I would struggle with dry skin. This feeling lasted all day, and I didn’t have to think about applying moisturizer during lunchtime. Another thing that I noticed a change in was my appearance of acne. Of course, with working around dirt and grease it wasn’t something that was completely avoidable, but I noticed that the flare ups went away fast. They would pop up and calm down within a night of slugging. I also started to notice my skin looking a bit more plum than usual. Normally my skin would look very tired, but while slugging I started to notice my skin glowing, and I looked more awake even when I was exhausted.
While I loved my results, I believe that I will start to reduce how much I slug by doing it every other night due to the fact I do not want to accidentally clog my pores. For my skin it gave me some very good results for just a week of use, and I will continue to use this technique for the future. I know this is not for everyone, and some dermatologists are advising against it, but I believe every skin type is different and you just need to find what works for you.