Rural beauty hack Bag Balm has entered the skincare mainstream thanks to TikTok . A widely known secret within rural communities, Bag Balm has gone viral after content creators and “skinfluencers” alike have begun to tout its effects as an alternative to Vaseline for “slugging,” the act of covering your entire face before going to bed to seal in moisture. From actor Raquel Welch to country superstar Shania Twain , celebrities have long credited Bag Balm as the beauty hack that helps them weather long days on set and on the big stage.
Back in 1999, the latter spiked sales of the product when she told London’s Telegraph newspaper, “When I’ve been flying a lot and my skin is really dry, I’ll rub it over my face and on my hair and leave it there all day.” But with influencers like Alix Earle telling her millions of TikTok followers that she swears by the product to help with dry skin and lips, new, younger audiences are turning to the product in droves. Made in Lyndonville, Vermont for 125 years, the concoction is made of petroleum jelly and lanolin.
It was created primarily for cows when their utters become dry during the state’s harsh winters. The square green tin’s label is explicit that it’s for veterinary use only: “For sore teats and hard milkers, apply the Balm one hour before the night milking and immediately after the morning milking.” Dairy farmer John L Norris first bought the rights to the formula from a druggist in Wells River and began se.