Lanolin's quite close chemically to a wax. "Anhydrous" simply means that there's no water mixed in.Alex C wrote:I thought Anhydrous lanolin was pure lanolin. A friend of mine used to buy it a a drug store where the druggist would always say loudly, "Oh, you want wool fat!" Apparently the druggist thought that it was funny to say "wool fat."
Mostly, it's cholesterol mixed wtih several fatty acids, very akin to the sebum that humans secrete as "skin oil". And like most organic fats, it has several fractions. Lanolin oil is the lightest of these and is a viscous liquid at room temperature, not a solid.
Some marine types coat propellers with lanolin. Evidently, it's a great rust preventative and barnacles won't stick to it. It's also part of many lubricants for stainless steel.
The mineral oil-lanolin mixture is sometimes known as "guppy lube".
