Vaseline is an American Vaseline product brand owned by the multinational corporation Unilever. [3] Products include regular petrolatum and select skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers and deodorants.

The word "Vaseline" is used as a generic term for petroleum jelly in many languages; in Portugal, Unilever's product is called Vaselina, while in Brazil and some Spanish-speaking countries, Unilever's product is called Vasenol.

In 1859, chemist Robert Chesebrough, who had made kerosene from sperm whale oil, traveled to the oil fields of Titusville, Pennsylvania, to study what new materials could be made from the new fuel. There, he learned about a residue called rod wax that must be regularly removed from oil rig pumps. Oil workers have been using the substance to treat cuts and burns. Chesenborough took samples of the stick wax back to Brooklyn, extracted the usable petroleum jelly, and began manufacturing a medicinal product he called petroleum jelly. [4]

The name petrolatum was first mentioned by Chesenborough in 1872 in his US patent (US Patent 127,568). "I, Robert Chesenborough, have invented a new and useful product out of petroleum, which I have named Vaseline..."

Manufacturers claim that the name "Vaseline" is derived from German Wasser "water" + Greek έλαιον (elaion) "oil".