The inventor of Vaseline, Robert Chesebrough, was such a firm believer in its medicinal properties that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it a day. During a bout of pleurisy in his 50s, he ordered his nurse to cover him from head to toe in the substance, and soon recovered. He lived to be 96.

[u/JennyFromTheBlockJok]

[u/MushinZero]

Isn't neosporin basically just Vaseline with antibacterial agents in it?

[u/bobpaul → u/MushinZero]

You betcha. Vaseline infused with bacitracin and a couple of other antibiotics. But there's drug resistant bacteria now. And people tend to leave these little bottles in the medicine cabinet for years and years. By the expiration date it's not "expired" in a dangerous sense, but it's not quite as effective. Leave it there another few years and it's a lot less effective.

This was one of the things people found out when they switched from pseudophedrine (which can be used to make meth) to phenylephrine (which can't). People would leave the boxes on the shelf for too long and then found out that phenylephrine never worked as a decongestant in the first place, even before the "expiration" date.

[u/Pinkcoconuts1843 → u/bobpaul]

Use for expired old Vaseline: 

Take some cotton balls, or 100% cotton towel dryer lint will work.  Smush a glob of the vaseline into the cotton balls.  To start a fire, even in difficult conditions, spread the mushy cotton ball out with your fingers until it is several inches across. One swipe with a flint or fire steel or even a single tiny match will start a fire with these. A small bag of these along with a matchbook or flint goes in your camping or emergency bag.  

Geek info:  Vaseline doesn’t actually burn. It puts off a gas that  is a mild ignitor, The petroleum jelly cotton ball burns quite a few minutes while you add other pieces to your fire.

[u/LoornenTings → u/Pinkcoconuts1843]

The cotton alone ignites more easily than the petroleum jelly. So leave half the cotton ball uncoated or have some that are and some that aren't.