Many varieties of shaving cream contain lanolin. As an ointment base, it is readily absorbed through skin.

Lanolin is used commercially in many products ranging from rust-preventative coatings to cosmetics to lubricants. Some sailors use lanolin to create a slippery surface on their propellers and stern gear to which barnacles cannot adhere. The water-repellent properties make it valuable as a lubricant grease where corrosion would otherwise be a problem, particularly on stainless steel, which becomes more vulnerable to corrosion when starved of oxygen.

Crude lanolin constitutes approximately 5-25% of the weight of freshly shorn wool. The wool from one Merino sheep will produce about 250-300 ml of recoverable wool grease. Lanolin is extracted from wool via a scouring process. This process involves washing the wool in hot water with a special wool scouring detergent to remove dirt, wool grease (crude lanolin), suint (sweat salts), and anything else stuck to the wool. The wool grease is continuously removed during this washing process by centrifugal separators, which concentrate the wool grease into a wax-like substance melting at approximately 38°C (100°F).