Albolene For Weight Loss: Truth About What It Can & Can’t Do

In this article we’ll look at how effective (or ineffective) the moisturizer cream Albolene® is at producing meaningful weight loss.

I’ll discuss the research I did on Albolene regarding what it does, how it does it, and what its limitations are.

I’ll also share how-to videos & results testimonials from people who use Albolene for weight loss, and do an Albolene vs. Sweet Sweat comparison too.

 

Does Albolene cause weight loss?

Using Albolene in conjunction with moderate to intense exercise can cause a loss of water weight of a few to several pounds, depending on your workout level.

This weight loss is only temporary until you resume drinking water & eating again.

Albolene does not cause a loss in body fat.

Science resources included

As is my custom here on heydayDo, I will provide links to all of the relevant sports science & medical resources, clinical studies, and nutritional data used in this article.

 

What’s next

Up ahead we’ll see & hear from people on how they use Albolene and what kind of weight loss results they’re achieving.

I’ll also share some well-grounded facts to help you have realistic expectations of what Albolene can & can’t do for you weight-loss wise.

Next let’s look at how a simple moisturizing makeup remover cream became a trendy weight loss product.

 

What is Albolene?

 

Albolene is a popular cosmetic product primarily used as a moisturizing cleanser and makeup remover.

For these skin care & beauty purposes Albolene ranks very highly in owner satisfaction across the internet, currently with a rating of 4.7⭐ from over 11,000 buyers’ reviews.

 

Albolene ingredients

Albolene consists of just these 5 ingredients:

• Mineral oil – skin conditioner
• Petrolatum – emollient (holds in moisture)
• Paraffin – skin lubricant & conditioner
• Ceresin – keeps ingredients from separating
• Beta carotene – skin conditioner

Albolene’s ingredients are certified

The independent consumer protection organization Environmental Working Group analyzes the ingredients of household products and rates them for safety & health risks.

The EWG have given Albolene & its ingredients excellent grades, and you can look at their report card for Albolene here.

How Albolene works

1. Albolene traps moisture under the skin which builds up heat in the body. 
2. This leads to increased perspiration. 
3. The result is a loss of water weight.

 

One of Albolene’s main ingredients is petrolatum, also known as petroleum jelly. (5)

And petrolatum has been shown in medical studies to form a barrier that keeps moisture from reaching the skin surface and evaporating. (6)

This leads to the body building up heat under the skin in those areas where petrolatum has been applied. (7)

And when working out vigorously, this will lead to a lot of additional perspiration as a result.

Last update on 2025-01-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

 

How people use Albolene for weight loss

How Albolene became a weight loss “thing”

Turns out that boxers and other fighters in competition have been using Albolene for some time as a temporary weight loss aid. (1)

Sanctioned boxing and mixed martial arts bouts require the fighters to reach their proper weight class at the weigh-in beforehand, or face fines &/or disqualification. (2)

Often a fighter who needs to lose several pounds very quickly will turn to products like Albolene or Sweet Sweat.

 

Albolene helps fighters sweat off pounds fast

Somebody apparently discovered that spreading Albolene thickly all over their body and working out causes their body to perspire off pounds’ worth of sweat. (3)

Other fighters cover themselves in Albolene and lay in a hot bath to get the same result: a significant loss of water weight. (4)

 

Word of this rapid weight loss technique made its way to social media, where it has become a popular topic.

 

The methods used by those fighters I just mentioned have been adapted by regular people who are looking for a quick weight loss fix.

Most of the people I came across while researching this Albolene weight loss routine do some version of the following:

 

* Apply Albolene generously onto their “problem” areas, usually the belly, thighs, or hips;

* cover the Albolene with Saran wrap or a modified plastic bag, or something similar;

* cover that with a slimming belt, slimming shorts, or sweat bands, something that can tighten enough to hold everything in place while they work out;

* go work out.

 

Here’s a video from someone demonstrating their own Albolene weight loss routine:

The Albolene Challenge

The Albolene Challenge is a 5-day weight loss challenge where participants

“apply Albolene makeup remover to spots where they are retaining fat and water weight before working out. 

The Albolene weight loss challenge promises that those who follow the challenge plan will burn inches more rapidly in their trouble spots through the use of Albolene.” (8)

 

The makers of Albolene have backed off of actively promoting it as a weight loss aid, which is probably wise considering its limited effectiveness. (9)

But they still maintain their Albolene Challenge web page, even if they toned down their involvement in the social media buzz over Albolene’s weight loss potential.

 

They retooled the page into a “How else do you use Albolene besides as a makeup remover?” page.

 

On it users can post videos & pics of their non-cosmetic Albolene experiences.

Not surprisingly, all of the videos are about using Albolene as a way to lose weight.

Here are a couple of examples:

 

There are a few more similar weight loss results videos on the Albolene Challenge page of their website.

 

How long can you leave Albolene on?

The competitive fighter using Albolene along with a hot bath kept it on for 30 minutes. (23)

And the other fighter who uses it with a workout, sauna, & treadmill routine keeps his on for 70-90 minutes. (24)

The Albolene Challenge had participants leave their Albolene on for a 30-minute workout. (25)

And in all the videos I saw where it was addressed, the women put their Albolene on before their workouts, and took it off afterwards.

One said hers was on 35 minutes, the others didn’t specify.

Albolene’s manufacturer provides no guidance on this.

 

What Albolene can’t do

* Albolene has absolutely no effect on reducing body fat, since all Albolene can do is cause your body to sweat out water.

* Albolene can’t keep water weight from being regained once you resume your normal drinking & eating activities.

* Sweating a lot in your belly area doesn’t mean you’re losing any belly fat; it just means you have a lot of sweat glands there. (10)

 

Albolene vs Sweet Sweat

Sweet Sweat is the most popular thermogenic (heat-generating) workout cream these days.

It has well over 60,000 reviews across the internet & receives very high buyer ratings — over 90% 5 & 4-star reviews and a 4.7⭐ rating.

As far as which one works better between Albolene & Sweet Sweat, there are only a few head-to-head comparisons that have been published online.

Below are a couple of videos on the subject, and in the first one the guy uses a heat-sensing device to show which sweat cream heats up his body more.

 

Comparing ingredients: Sweet Sweat vs. Albolene

Here’s what’s in Sweet Sweat:

• White Snow Petrolatum
• Brazilian Carnauba Wax
• Organic Coconut Oil
• Acai Pulp Oil
• Pomegranate Seed Oil
• Organic Jojoba Oil
• Virgin Camelina Oil
• Squalane Oil
• Aloe Vera Extract
• Vitamin E
• Fragrance

And here again are Albolene’s ingredients:

• Mineral oil
• Petrolatum
• Paraffin
• Ceresin
• Beta carotene

My ingredients takeaway

Albolene and Sweet Sweat are similar in how they get you to sweat, since both are using petrolatum to trap the moisture under the skin surface in order to generate the heat buildup that causes the extra sweating.

From there, Albolene is mostly made up of synthetic chemical ingredients while Sweet Sweat relies on several natural, plant-based oils & extracts for its skin conditioning properties.

 

Comparing cost: Sweet Sweat vs. Albolene

For this price comparison I’m using what I see on Amazon at this moment.

(Keep in mind prices online these days seem to change every time the wind blows…)

The Albolene product I’m looking at is this 12 oz. one:

 

Sweet Sweat comes in a few different sizes, so I picked the one that’s closest to this Albolene jar.

It’s this 13.5 oz. size, and it’s also unscented like the Albolene one I’m using:

 

Comparing their respective costs per ounce makes the most sense, since they’re different sizes.

You can see that Sweet Sweat costs between 3 & 4 times more than Albolene does:

Sweet Sweat – $2.96/oz.

Albolene – $0.81/oz.

($2.96 ÷ 81¢ = 3.7)

That’s a difference of almost 26 bucks a jar (!) using Albolene’s 12 oz. container as a reference ($2.15 x 12 oz.).

 

My cost takeaway

Just spitballing a few ideas as to why Sweet Sweat costs way more than Albolene…

 

*Brand perception 

Sweet Sweat is marketed as a workout enhancer complete with fitness models, while Albolene is a humble makeup remover with moisturizers added.

 

*Ingredients

Except for the petrolatum they both heavily rely on, Sweet Sweat uses several plant-based ingredients that cost more to make than the industrially-produced chemicals found in Albolene.

 

*Money back guarantee vs. “Not returnable”

I bet that Sweet Sweat’s 90-day Satisfaction Guarantee is built into its price, at least a little. 

Obviously they’re not guaranteeing weight loss, but it is a simple No Questions Asked type of return policy.

Albolene on the other hand is treated as a regular cosmetic product: once opened, it becomes non-refundable unless there’s something really defective/wrong with it.

 

About water weight gain

Since Albolene only causes a loss of water weight, I thought it’d be good to have a little section on water weight itself.

 

Main causes of water weight gain

Here’s a list of the main reasons you’d experience water weight gain:

• Too much salt & carbs in your diet
• Menstruation
• Birth control pills
• Cortisol (our stress hormone)
• Certain medications
• Poor circulation
• Travel
  (11)

Easiest ways to get rid of water weight gain

And here are a few medically-approved ideas for reducing or eliminating any unwanted water weight.

 

Exercise

* A workout with enough intensity to get you to sweat will help get rid of excess water. (12)

* Exercise can reduce water weight by up to a few lb. per hour, depending on how hot you get. (13)

 

Control your stress level 

* Since excess cortisol helps retain water, avoiding a stressed-out mindset helps prevent that from happening.

 

Manage electrolytes

*We’ve seen that too much salt causes water weight gain, so avoid going overboard with it in your diet.

*And on the other side, we need to be taking in enough potassium & magnesium in our diet or through supplements to help regulate our water balance.

 

Drink more water

Say what? It turns out that drinking a good amount of water can result in less water being retained. More water helps the kidneys do their job better, including keeping our body’s water level balanced. (18)

 

Health risks of excessive water loss

Medical experts warn against using Albolene too often, citing the following potential health risks:

* Livestrong says that with too much Albolene usage, “dehydration is a real possibility.” (19)

* A study of elite amateur boxers showed that excess sweating for rapid weight loss caused dehydration and a significant drop in both blood plasma and body mass (20)

* According to Healthfully.com, too much sweat loss could cause failure to your organs and induce a coma. (21)

 

Albolene FAQ

Here are answers to a few of the commonly asked questions about Albolene and sweating off pounds.

 

Does Albolene help stretch marks?

Stretch marks are in fact a type of scar, and the most common reasons this scarring appears are:

• rapid weight loss or gain (26)
• pregnancy
• growth spurts (like puberty)
• rapid muscle growth from weightlifting workouts

There’s no evidence in any dermatology studies that a petroleum-based moisturizer like Albolene will have any positive effect on stretch marks.

These medically-backed articles go through several options for reducing, if not eliminating, stretch marks. One is from Cleveland Clinic and the other from the Mayo Clinic.

Wrapping Up

Related articles

Best Fat-Burning Creams

Losing Weight After 60

HIIT for Seniors

 

I hope that my article on Albolene being used as a workout enhancer/weight loss aid is useful to you, and I wish you well on your fitness journey.

Let’s go.

– greg

 

Last update on 2025-01-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API