Cotton Balls:

I don't use them with Vaseline. Messy yuck!

But, in asking myself if they are worth carrying, I have come up with:

Fishing lure - can be tied to a hook; It might work great, and is much less bulky than a jig body, although it might not last as long.

Any other uses?

Just trying to push the envelope.

Cotton balls can still be a good fire starter without the Vaseline. I've successfully lit cotton balls soaked in alcohol...they burn relatively slowly (though not as slow as with Vaseline). The same could be done with gel hand sanitizer. I imagine you could do something similar with wax to make a less messy fire starter.

It might also be possible to pre char them at home to make something akin to cotton charcloth.

There is also the obvious medical uses.

I'm not sure about the pre char part, having never tried it, but YUP...

only good as a last ditch..nothing else around to light a
fire method..candle stubs --heat tabs--Sterno cubes..wax
and saw dust..all are less of a mess and will do the job
much better..the cotton ball trick is right up there with
the nine volt battery and steel wool or the fire piston..
it's survival not a boy scout demo on odd-ball fire starting
methods..
as for other use's--zip--zero..better to put more matches,
meds,fish hooks..in that space

You can spray them with your favorite big game lure/scent and then use safety pins or thumb tacks to attach them to stuff all around your tree or ground stand. Works well especially when using a short ranged weapon like a bow or muzzle loader. I also pin them to my hat and hunting gear and spray them with earth or pine coverscent as the cotton holds the scent longer than spraying the clothing or gear directly. It’s not really a survival tip as such and is only of use if you hunt, but it is the most fascinating use for a cotton ball I have ever come up with.

You can remove your make-up at night...

Oh, wait.

Seriously, I carry them (no PJ) as back-up tinder and little else. Squirted with a bit of Purell, I suppose they could clean a wound.

I've never used a cotton ball for the purpose of starting a fire, with or without PJ. I do have PJ in my BOB, mostly in the form of something to protect my lips or an antiseptic ointment.

I have used a lip treatment PJ smeared onto a gauze pad to start a fire, just to see how it worked. It did burn with a couple inches of orange flame, until I could no longer tell what was burning. Seeing as it worked with a gauze pad, as much as it might with a cotton ball, I'd add more gauze instead of the cotton balls.

I stuck one in my waterproof match container to keep the matches from rattling around (stuck it so it is against the wood ends, not the match heads.

They make field-expedient puppets for keeping babies entertained.

If you had enough of them they would make good insulation...

Ear canal protectors.

-Kurt

Candle wax also enables them to burn longer, without being messy, at least at reasonable temperatures. If it's too warm the wax will melt but it's OK at room temperatures. Wax may also help with water-proofing the cotton (although in my experience enough additive to proof against water also makes it hard to light - this applies to Vaseline too).

I tend to carry them in first-aid kits, for wound-cleaning.

I have used cotton balls with vaseline. They are definitely messy to make. Personally I like to use bulk cotton rather than small cotton balls. When I make it the cotton is "oily" but not "goopy". Bulk cotton compressed into a film container. Pull out a pinch with thumb & forefinger. Not too much mess in the field. Takes a spark real well & burns good. That film container and my scout hot spark are my main campfire starters in the field.