Vaseline? Does that cause them to die in place or do they attempt to pull their head out to survive? I had to pull one out of the back of my sons neck this past weekend after spending the weekend in and around the woods. I think it may have been in overnight as he had pajamas with a hood on and it was just at the base of the hairline blending in. I felt bad as he was scared to heck to have me going at it with rubbing alcohol and a pair of tweezers. It was almost impossible to get with tweezers without taking a couple pieces of hair with it so he was just about screaming in pain. Horrible horrible horrible feeling to have to cause the pain but be finally got the darn thing out. Check kids well to get em before they burrow.