Have you heard that joke about baby oil? The one that goes something like:
If corn oil is made with corn and peanut oil is made with peanuts, then what is baby oil made with?
The answer: Baby oil is made with mineral oil and fragrance by industrial professionals; babies don't have the fine motor skills or chemistry knowledge to create baby oil, duh.
Baby oil is useful for a lot of things beyond baby bottoms. It'll smooth, soften, lubricate, refinish, clean, and so much more. It also has some usual uses for which it really oughtn't be used. Read on for some tips and tricks that'll help you step your baby oil game up.
If corn oil is made with corn and peanut oil is made with peanuts, then what is baby oil made with?
The answer: Baby oil is made with mineral oil and fragrance by industrial professionals; babies don't have the fine motor skills or chemistry knowledge to create baby oil, duh.
Baby oil is useful for a lot of things beyond baby bottoms. It'll smooth, soften, lubricate, refinish, clean, and so much more. It also has some usual uses for which it really oughtn't be used. Read on for some tips and tricks that'll help you step your baby oil game up.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: First, some don'ts
Don't use baby oil as a "personal" lubricant, particularly if you are using a latex condom. (Just look at the next step to see who wins in the latex vs. baby oil battle royale.)
Don't use baby oil to tan. Melanoma looks bad enough without being shiny.
Don't eat baby oil. It has laxative properties and likely doesn't taste delicious. (Mineral oil is safe for human consumption, but only up to around 100 mg. Many of those milligrams come from food-grade mineral oil that's used in baking and other industrial food processing places because it's odorless and tasteless. My guess is that baby oil mineral oil isn't food-grade. Stay safe: don't guzzle a bottle of it.)
Don't use it in your 2-stroke engine.
Don't aim baby oil at helicopter pilots. Wait... that's for lasers. But you should still be careful around helicopter pilots with baby oil. It can be a slip-fall hazard, and pilots prefer the scent of aviation fuel.
Don't use baby oil to tan. Melanoma looks bad enough without being shiny.
Don't eat baby oil. It has laxative properties and likely doesn't taste delicious. (Mineral oil is safe for human consumption, but only up to around 100 mg. Many of those milligrams come from food-grade mineral oil that's used in baking and other industrial food processing places because it's odorless and tasteless. My guess is that baby oil mineral oil isn't food-grade. Stay safe: don't guzzle a bottle of it.)
Don't use it in your 2-stroke engine.
Don't aim baby oil at helicopter pilots. Wait... that's for lasers. But you should still be careful around helicopter pilots with baby oil. It can be a slip-fall hazard, and pilots prefer the scent of aviation fuel.
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Creaking is the result of shrinking of the wood caused by loss of moisture. If appropriate, oil can swell the wood and reduce noise. On the West Coast, decks often look horrible in the summer, after they've dried and shrunk back down, revealing cracks and splits. Oil, when it soaks into the wood, has the same swelling effect as water, but without rot problems and it doesn't evaporate at the rate water does.
Similar to with decks, mineral oil is good for butcher blocks. I have restored them by merely slathering on mineral oil (not adulterated mineral oil, like baby oil). After soaking for a few days, all the separations between pieces and cracks from drying disappeared.
I need to go to bed, this is getting to me!!
Hardening oils include oils like tung oil and boiled linseed oil. While both would be poisonous to ingest. "Boiled" linseed oil is flax seed oil with heavy metals added to speed hardening (polymerization). It tends to darken wood. Tung oil often has heavy metals added too, but would be toxic without them. It and walnut oil do not darken wood like boiled linseed oil.
Hardening oils take time to harden. If they are pre-polymerized and have hardeners added, they will dry quicker. In any event, all excess hardening oil should be wiped off, or it will orange peel, and will take longer to dry.
Many people use olive oil to treat wood food preparation surfaces. However, olive oil goes rancid (lots of free radicals) from exposure to air. You can usually smell a breadboard treated with olive oil.
When any standard finish (e.g., shellac, polyurethane, lacquer, hardening oil) hardens, it is considered safe for food grade finishes.
While I agree mineral oil probably isn't something we should be drinking, the amount you would get on your food, after treating a butcher block or bread board would not be significant. Too, after treating with mineral oil, you can put a hardening oil or other oil compatible finish on to seal in the oil.
Linseed oil is made from flax seed. After it is put through a process, which often includes adding heavy metal driers, it is called boiled linseed oil.
Like I said before, pure linseed oil will still harden/oxidize/set, but a lot slower than boiled linseed.
While oil works perfectly well enough, in a floor it also attracts dirt and eventually becomes sludge whereas the dry lubricants do not.
The same goes for lubricating door lock keyholes.
If the squeaking is from subflooring moving against the support beam, talc will do nothing to solve the problem, since the talc could not get to the trouble spot.
If your furniture isn't coated with wax, whether from Pledge or some other product, you can apply "tung oil finish," pure tung oil (polymerized is preferred) or boiled linseed oil. The latter two may emit an odor longer than the finish, which is just thinned linseed oil with resin, thus, a wiping finish. These will harden and, if thinned for application (the finish is already thinned), will soak in just as the mineral oil would.
Boiled linseed oil (just flax seed oil with [toxic] driers added, and which has been polymerized by blowing air through it so it appears to be boiling, thus the name "boiled linseed oil") and tung, or Chinese oil, as well as products that incorporate those names (e.g., "Tung Oil Finish") are hardening finishes. Boiled linseed oil and tung oil are common ingredients in high end finishes.
Since the last of my post talked about hardening oils, as opposed to [non hardening] baby oil, I presumed people would note the difference, The difference in the types of oils is noted several posts down from this.
For reference, below is a quote from.jamestowndistributors site. Other sites can be found that describe the process. Batches could be ruined by overheating, such as by bringing them to a boil. That may be why a finish which would not normally melt "gave more traction when hot.
"'Boiled' linseed oil, though, is not boiled. The actual boiling of some varnish oils changes their drying characteristics. With linseed oil, though, it is the addition of certain solvents that causes linseed oil to dry more quickly, acting as if it were boiled. This makes it a better product for preserving tool handles, decks, and furniture. I suppose they should have named it "sort-of-boiled linseed oil", or "kinda-like-boiled-but-not-really-boiled linseed oil". Boiled Linseed Oil is used as a natural wood finish and preservative, either alone or with other oils and solvents. Mixed with oil based paints and varnishes, it increases gloss and improves leveling and durability. A mixture of 2 parts boiled linseed oil to one part turpentine creates a semi-gloss wood polish for furniture. Can also be mixed with mineral spirits."
As elsewhere noted, the term boiled, when applied to boiled linseed oil, is said to be based on that the oil appeared to be boiling, when air was blown through the oil to speed polymerization.
Also, to add to the list again (and as unlikely as this sounds it's a good one)...
If you eat something really spicy and your mouth is burning and you can't stand it, if you swill some baby oil in your mouth and spit it out it will take the burning away.
This is because the capsicum is usually an oil so it's hydrophobic. Water has no reaction, doesn't suspend it so doesn't lessen the burning. Swilling baby oil suspends the capsicum, "waters it down" and allows you to spit it out.
All that to say: if you find out what cleaned out the honey = I'd sure like to know! :*)
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/med/ear-oreille-eng.php
I have personal experience with ear candles and can say honestly that the draft created does remove wax from my ears. Once, out of curiosity, I purchased some just to unwind them and see if all the junk that I was seeing at the end of a session had already been snuck into the ear candle. None of the wax that appeared to have been removed from my ears was pre-existing in any of the four I disemboweled.
Do I think they are dangerous? I think anything involving fire has the potential to do great harm. The candles I've used do not contain excess wax, I know this because there have never been wax droplets after/during their burning. When I run the tip of my finger on the inside of the wide end of an ear candle I feel the material only because the wax coating is on the outside.
Best method? Hydrogen peroxide + needle-less syringe. The hp will break up the wax, and water from the syringe flushes it out. (You don't need a lot of water pressure. Nor do you want it. Unless you want to see if you can brainwash yourself via your auditory canal.)
This is another type of syringe without a needle in it...in fact, the way this syringe is made, there is no way a needle can be attached normally. I'm not for sure, but I think you can buy Catheter tipped syringes at your local drug store...check with the Pharmacist for sure.
I know this because I use these every day.
BUT, any syringe that does not have a needle will do just fine.
you bunch of babies. Hah!
I can take a joke, but baby oil and Vaseline work wonders for us who have messed up, sensitive skin :)
Actually, you're never supposed to put mineral oil on your face, especially the eye area. Only noncomedogenic products for the face. :)
http://www.futurederm.com/2007/12/21/is-mineral-oil-really-bad-for-your-skin/
http://thebeautybrains.com/2006/11/28/the-top-5-myths-about-mineral-oil-part-1/
bullfrogs
[snahrl]
–noun
1. a tangle, as of thread, hair, or wire.
2. a complicated or confused condition or matter: a traffic snarl.
3. a knot in wood.
Katzpawz
Baby oil is not even food-grade...
It´s a nasty petrochemical containing neurotoxins which damage the nervous system, it´s a well known carcinogen that´s clogging your pores and most of the time olive oil will generally be as good or better, even for removing sticker remains.
The mechanical lubricant ability of baby oil is very poor, olive oil would do as good a sharpening job on the oil stone.
I melt bee´s wax in good olive oil to make the face -15C protection (or worse, this is Sweden and we do get -20C during winter) and skin balm , same goes as lip balm casted in empty glue stick cases, this is actually cheaper, less greasy and a lot better for your skin/health than mineral oil.
Please make a search on mineral oil and it´s dangers before you use it on anything near/on you, it may seem harmless and neutral but it is documented dangerous by stately organs worldwide.
Cheers,
Dian & Denns
While it may be claimed it will not be absorbed into the skin, you might want to investigate the longevity of individuals who work with petroleum products day in and day out. Many leave this earthly coil too soon.
Swedes and europeans are using just the same and so did i before i got to know about it....
We 'murrikans are stupid, but not that stupid.
It's sold as a laxative and is often used in lubricating machines that handle food.
The original post didn't mention that it can also be used to cool oil-submerged computers.
Beyond that, baby oil IS mineral oil (see the label) - whether or not "food grade" - AND is a petroleum product just like gasoline and oil for your vehicles, mowers, etc. Same goes for Vaseline and WD-40. Would you use gasoline on your baby's skin?
Consider using vegetable oil, olive oil (preferred), or butter (including cocoa and shea - also preferred) to remove paint on your skin. I would consider trying these on your tip about unkinking jewelry since it rests on your skin - I've not tried that!
Beware of industry since they will say anything to get you to buy...
PS I really enjoyed the humor that you added to your instructable!
I also enjoy reading the comments that are posted with the all instructables too.
Here's another WD40 use I have tried successfully: restoring noisy carbon potentiometers. I feel safer using Caig Deoxit, but WD40 sure seems to work as well.
" it's too hot! it's too cold! moan, moan, moan :-p
Katzpawz
You get down to -20 and then we'll talk.
That being said, this is a really good way to prevent windburn, much like a good lipbalm, only all ovah ya face.
And as to wind chill - forget it... -30 windchill "feels like" is picnic weather when comparing it to actual mercury levels on the thermometer.
Now we need someone from Siberia to post and say, -30 is nothing b/c...
:^)
-10C can even feel comfortable or really awful, it depends on
the wind and humity. I recommend slowly acclimating yourself to the cold weather by going out (shortly) with little clothes, letting oneself freeze and becomes cold to make it easier for the body to accept colder climates. I usually do that at autumn. :)
Go out in the cold all bundled up. Do some back breaking labor - like splitting firewood. As you get warmer start stripping off outer layers of clothing until, Keep doing this until you are in a T-shirt. When you get done with the work, go in the house and take a shower but do not try to cook yourself b/c the water feels good. Also do not have the heat in the house up so it is baking you. And, above all, do NOT use an electric blanket - these cook you all night and your body gets to expecting this kind of heat and then you cannot acclimate.
I used to go to school in SC and would come home during Christmas vacation to the Lake Erie snow belt. The first day I was home I did this very thing and, from then on, just had on a light jacket & hat while still home.
And if I was willing to write a book, one of the most intelligent sayings I have ever heard is an old indian saying: "white men get cold b/c they treat cold like an enemy instead of a friend." I have found this more and more true as I get older. Explore the meaning of this saying and it will be hard for you to be uncomfortable in cooler climates. I also find my immune system is stronger.
True, beautiful said. Thanks. The Western have lost a lot compared to the ancient tribes living in harmony with the nature. Look at the animals and birds, do you actually see somebody resisting the cold weather?
They seems to shrug it away, it seems that they're listening more to the body, it's older and more developed than the brain. Where does the resistance most people have comes from?
The modern world seems to have that attitude that everything unknown/uncomfortable is a enemy to one's welfare. I wonder why.
-30 a couple of nights a year in these parts, colder happens... I was happy when my car started at -34 C .. :-)
Vacation seasons often see vacationers trying to substitute baby oil for suntan oil or afterburn oil...which, by the way, is an excellent way to develop blisters in a sunburn - but not so great for "tan acceleration", contrary to vacationers' expectations. It's also great for getting the fans unstuck after a season of storage.
Baby oil is also excellent at removing Kool Seal from hirsute homeowners' forearms, as, yes, it breaks down the latex.
Yes, it also makes for a great bath oil - but only in moderation, and - as with all oils - always be certain to clean the oil out afterwards, as the tub can get quite slick for the shower-taker afterwards.
Almost Heaven... West Virgnia.
And here you have been hiding it up there all this time!
BTW - beautiful country up there!
I've got you ALL beat.
Try sitting on a warm sunny beach with a light breeze, your favorite drink, and favorite person/people.
Well...I'm not saying that's where I am, but it'd SURE be nice :)
I much prefer if it never gets above 30F. I'm just different.
Great for your hands if u r doing concrete & out door work that may dry your hands.
Also good for the car dashboard as this stops the sun from spliting it.
Add some flour & it can clean & protect metal.
Thats my 10 cents. Cheers Kiwi
Any bath oil can also be a big problem in the drain. It tends to clog drains. I would recommend running very hot water through the pipes as soon as you are out of the tub so the oil is flushed through the system.
If your going to be doing heavy duty painting then use petroleum jelly instead.
Great I-ble,
-Yac
(resident helo bubba)
A bucket of baby oil definitely sounds/smells more pleasant (I assume--can't say I've ever seen a whole bucket o' baby oil).
If you think you need more help, try a hefty squeeze of a decent dish detergent and let it sit in the drain over night, then pour a bunch of hot water down the drain.... will help for sure. Do this one first and wait a day or so to use the vinegar and baking soda and only if you don't have a major problem.
I worked in a paint store for about 15 years, selling Benjamin Moore paint! Love seeing it in the photo :)
Lots of interesting stuff here I never would have thought. I will defiantly try the band-aid tip as every time I donate blood the band-aid they give we practically de-hairs my arm... that's the most painful part
-------------
Hadn't known about some of those, may try with paint or bandaids.
-----------
Another use is when you're sharpening something with an oilstone. Works nicely and price is right, although of course there's always the bad smell of baby oil. An alternative for some of the uses given here is mineral oil from the drugstore. No stench! More viscous, though.
-----------
If baby oil acts like mineral oil when used in a bath, it will make the bottom of the tub slippery. Beware. Easy to clean off, though.
The pearls are pourous and will absorb cleaners, detergents, and other things that can stain pearls. The baby oil will prevent or at least reduce the risk of the pearls getting stained.
P.S. I'm not sporting extremely coarse, stiff, facial hair, but it still does a number on a razor.
If you can get most of a bottle in there, his car will smoke like there is no tomorrow !
Thanks for posting!
X
;P
Also great for kitties who are suffering with ear mites. Ask vet for instructions.
half dettol
splash eucalyptus
grate mozzie repellent killer.
My #1 use for mineral oil is combined with beeswax, to create a food-safe finish for wooden cutting boards, wooden spoons, etc. Simply melt 1 part beeswax into 4 parts mineral oil (use a double boiler, so you don't set the mixture on fire), and when it cools, you have a creamy paste which rubs into wood easily. You can get beeswax in craft stores, by the candle-making supplies
#15 Removes residual price sticker and label adhesive from non-porous surfaces.