Why Elvis Presley's Hair was Shiny

Bist, Jordan. "Petrolatum in Pomade." 2015. JPEG.

Petrolatum and Pomade

Pomade has been used to style men's hair for over a century and while traditionally using bear fat as the main ingredient, petrolatum (petroleum jelly) has become more frequent as a main ingredient as of the early 20th century (1). If you ever wondered what made Elvis Presley's hair shine, it was petrolatum.

The resulting greaser term from pomade use, coined out of the 1950's (2) has its merit, as petrolatum is primarily a lubricant made from several distillation processes of crude oil (3). Since its discovery in 1859 from an oil well in Pennsylvania (4), petrolatum has grown to accompany many usages such as ointment base in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, lubricating firearms and machinery, leather greaser, shoe polish, rust prevention, modelling clay, laxatives, (5) and much more. This greasy, malleable, almost clear jelly has a structure composed of complex hydrocarbons with carbon chains longer than 25 (6), and while it is not toxic (7), can cause complications if one was to inhale it (such as inhibiting ciliary movement in the lungs) (8). While an apparent simple compound, petrolatum gave rock and roll's most iconic figure an unbeatable style.

References

1. Wikipedia. Pomade, n.d., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomade (accessed Dec 3, 2015).
2. Wikipedia. Greaser (subculture), n.d., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greaser_(subculture) (accessed Dec 3, 2015).
3. Petrolatum. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia, (6^th ed.) [online]; Columbia University Press, 2012. http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/petrolatum.html (accessed Dec 3, 2015).
4. Vaseline History, n.d., http://www.vaseline.com.pk/about-us/history/(accessed Dec 3, 2015).
5. Petrolatum. In The Merck Index (14^th ed.); Wiley & Sons; NJ, 2006; 7190.
6. TOXNET. Petrolatum, n.d., http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/rn/8009-03-8 (accessed Dec 3, 2015).
7. Petrolatum; MSDS No. P3350 [online]; Spectrum Laboratory Products Inc: San Pedro Street Gardena, CA, https://www.spectrumchemical.com/MSDS/P3350.pdf (accessed Dec 3, 2015).
8. TOXNET. Petrolatum Emergency Medical Treatment, n.d., http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+1138 (accessed Dec 3, 2015).