We’re going to tell you about that later this week, but first we want to tell you about a woman we met named Wendy. She lives in South Africa, and she wrote us an email with the subject line “Vaseline shmazeline!!” Who could resist replying?

She said:

Three weeks ago, Vaseline convinced me with their new television campaign in South Africa that Vaseline is the way forward—you know good ol’ fashioned petroleum jelly, only now it’s even better for you because you can have it with healthy vitamin E, or cocoa butter or aloe…

So off I head to the shops so excited that I think I have found the cure for dry skin, I spend three weeks lacquering it on…and then I start noticing little red dots on my legs!

I’m getting pimples, kind of ingrown hairs, that I never had before. Duhhhh of course my poor skin is suffocating, and hence I have stopped using it. Thank you for making me put two and two together. I suspected it but doubted myself, but when I read your blog I realized exactly what was going on.

So, couple things. Wendy is awesome, clearly, and she knows how to title an email. Second, we totally get that feeling she describes where you know something is just off with a product, but the marketing dragons get you anyway, and then you end up with some nasty rash or whatever. And finally, we need to have a serious chat about petroleum jelly.

In the meantime, have you had an experience like Wendy’s?

Image (cc) from Flickr user Hellabella