As the colder months arrive here in Australia, it also signals the arrival of another winter classic: slugs. The inferior being to the snail with its shell-less body, these slugs go to town on the concrete, weaving trails of silver slime all over the place like some kind of Egyptian hieroglyphic we know not how to decipher. Why anyone would look at such things favourably is beyond us here at Men’s Health, but apparently there are things to be desired from the humble slug: namely, moisture.
Take a cursory scroll on TikTok today and you might be bombarded with a rather perverse grooming trend known simply as ‘slugging’. While it doesn’t quite entail covering your body in petroleum jelly and sliding around like a slug, it does require you to take that petroleum jelly to the face and slather it on thick, like butter on toast. Thankfully, you don’t have to step outside with this thing on your face, it’s solely for bedtime purposes only. Why are we doing this, you ask? Purely for maximum overnight hydration.
It’s not a particularly new phenomenon, people have been covering their faces in non-comedogenic jellies for decades in the hope of waking up plump and dewy. Just look at Patrick Bateman’s extensive skincare routine demonstrated in American Psycho. The thinking behind it is that by covering the face with a non-comedogenic jelly, it will act as a barrier to external stressors, allowing maximum moisture to be retained.
When it comes to the actual process, most advise that a pea-sized amount of Vaseline or any other petroleum-type jelly should be used, and applied sparingly. Remember though, this product doesn’t add moisture, it simply retains it, so you should add something like a hyaluronic acid or some form of active hydration beforehand. Once your visage is lubed, you can then slid into your sheets and get some shut eye. It’s not the worst idea, and there won’t be oily deposits left behind on your pillow when you wake up. The skin should feel moisturised and somehow firmer in the morning, too.
That said, don’t just tread into slugging territory blind. Unfortunately, not everyone is cut out for the slugging process. If your skin is oily or prone to breakouts, the barrier created by the jelly could actually exacerbate the issue. If you’re looking to try it out, consider doing a patch-test first, or applying to a concentrated spot before then going ahead and slathering it on the entirety of your face. Best of luck out there folks, go embrace the TikTok trend.