Last week, I found myself at Rossoblu in downtown Los Angeles for what I thought was going to be a standard influencer-meets-brand dinner. Cute vibes, a nice meal, a product or two, you know the drill. But nope. Vaseline said, “Actually, let’s talk impact.” And baby… I left that dinner learning about a whole world I did not know existed: the Vaseline Healing Project.
And let me tell you, for a brand that has lived in nearly every Black household since the beginning of time (my grandmother kept that blue jar like it was currency), hearing how they’ve shown up for communities in crisis? I was impressed. Like, goosebumps and clutch-my-pearls impressed.
What Is the Vaseline Healing Project?
Glad you asked. Picture this: mobile medical teams pulling up to communities affected by natural disasters or systemic health barriers, think wildfires, uninsured populations, and folks simply forgotten by traditional healthcare systems.
Through a long-standing partnership with Direct Relief, Vaseline funds and supports mobile skin-health clinics that provide free dermatological care and essential products to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access.
“Vaseline has cared for every body’s skin for more than 150 years, and the mobile medical units are the next chapter in that commitment. Through the Vaseline Healing Project, our partnership with Direct Relief to expand skin health care, we’ve learned that access is everything; you can’t have healthy skin if you can’t reach care,” said Liz John, Senior Brand Manager, Vaseline Purpose and Sustainability, Unilever. “By supporting these mobile medical units in Los Angeles and New Orleans, we’re helping bring dermatology and essential health services directly into communities that face barriers to care and are still recovering from the long-term impacts of natural disasters.”
And yes, these are the same mobile units that showed up during the California fires, providing skin relief and emergency care to families who lost everything. They weren’t just handing out lotions; they were delivering dignity, relief, and care.
Dinner + A Mission
The dinner gathering at Rossoblu brought together a room full of beauty editors, publishers (hi!), dermatology experts, health access advocates, and creators. Think of it as a chic collision of community, conversation, and purpose.
We were greeted with cocktails, a dreamy Italian dinner, and the kind of energy that makes you say, “Oh yes; these are my people.” But then things got even more meaningful when the program began.
