11 Unusual Uses for Baby Oil

Step 13: Remove bubblegum, wax, or bandaids

If you've got some bubblegum or wax on your body or in your hair, baby oil will get it out. Apply a small amount to the affected area, let it sit, then work at the mess with your fingertips. It'll make the gum easier to get out, it'll soften the wax, and it will help the bandage come off without tearing out any hair.

This is a particularly good method of removing excess wax after an eyebrow or bikini job.

For those of you who remove more band-aids than body hair, applying some baby oil around the bandage is a great middle-of-the-road option for people who can't subscribe to the RIP IT OFF! camp or the IT'LL FALL OFF ON ITS OWN, DON'T TOUCH IT! contingent. Firm but gentle, that's the way to do it. Tough love.

Comments

[miles-fisher]

Baby oil is also useful for stopping creaking floor boards. Just trickle a small amount on the joint and hey presto.

[eight]

Talc is far better !

[dejure]

While you are generally right, insofar as noise is concerned, it depends on the situation and effects you are seeking.

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.

[Bosun Rick]

If it's 'Baby Oil', how can it be 'adulterated', wouldn't it become Matured Oil?
I need to go to bed, this is getting to me!!

[dejure]

Groan

[KittyF]

baby oil has added scent, which wouldn't be a good thing for a Butcher block or cutting board where food is going to be prepared. using plain mineral oil is a better option in that case.

[gloriaflower]

using any petroleum based product near food is a bad idea.....walnut oil, etc. better for wood surfaces that are used for food.

[KittyF]

well, that's very true and I'd never thought of walnut oil. I was only commenting on the inadvisability of adding baby oil scent to food. LOL next time I have trouble with a cutting board I'll find some walnut oil rather than tossing it.

[static]

Vegetable oils can turn rancid (and generally does in time), that's why mineral oil is recommended for wood surfaces that come in contact with food. Mineral safe for human use can be found at the pharmacy.

[gloriaflower]

good idea, I sometimes refinish wooden bowls, and walnut oil while somewhat expensive is really worth it, you really don't need much, just let it dry and buff it with a soft cloth

[dejure]

Just for reference, be aware walnut cooking oil is a hardening oil, whereas mineral oil is a non hardening oil.

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.

[flamesami]

linseed oil does not have to be "boiled" to harden, it will just take longer (a few weeks instead of a few days) and therefore penetrate further. An example of a vegetable oil that stays liquid is sweet almond oil...almond and walnut oil can be toxic if not pressed a certain way though

[dejure]

Linseed oil is not actually boiled. It is said it got its name because it appeared to be boiling, as air was blown through it to speed up polimyerization.

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.

[flamesami]

huh, I didn't know that. Are you sure? I would think that if you blew air through the oil, it would harden pretty fast and would therefore not keep well. It was my understanding that heating the oil changed it so that it reacted faster with oxygen, but as long as it wasn't exposed to air, it would keep, without polymerizing (setting).
Like I said before, pure linseed oil will still harden/oxidize/set, but a lot slower than boiled linseed.

[d_j_h]

I second that talc is better. So is graphite.
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.

[dejure]

Talc works extremely well to stop squeaking resulting from two wood surfaces moving against each other. The most common example might be oak flooring. The squeaking could be from the flooring moving on the subflooring or movement against an adjacent board.

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.

[muldoon man]

I've read that mineral oil is a non-conductive liquid. Because of this unique property I've seen people who have literally dropped a computer into a fish tank filled with mineral oil. Allegedly they work great, it's like poor man's liquid cooling.

[rams666]

it provides better cooling than fans and its noiseless and it has the possibility to be further cooled thus allowing you to overclock your system well above the norm

[Annaaziza]

I use baby oil right before the show ring. We smear it around my Arab Quarter Geldings eyes and muzzel to make him stand out. Their is the option of buying Face Goo, but baby oil works just as well. (Although, Blaze dosent really appreciate it...... :/ ) The one bad thing about it is, if your horse is white, or has white markings on his/her face, (Like my horse, who has ALOT of white) they can get sunburned. So on those hot horse show days, wipe it off with a baby wipe (HA! A theme!) to reduce the chance of their tender muzzes getting crispy fried.

[hosborne1]

Try using plain mineral oil instead of baby oil on Blaze! I used to fight my Egyptian Arab Godiva constantly until I realized she just didn't like the scent. if your horse is not head-shy usually but acts up when you approach him with the oil that may be it. You could also try purchasing a different type of baby oil; I've used Johnson's baby oil with shea and cocoa butter and that seems to be preferable for Godiva as well. Plus, it smells really nice and you can put it on your hands after bathing your horse to ward off dry skin!!!

[mrsthursday]

you can use baby oil to clean a stainless steele fridge, it gets rid of the finger prints and a little goes a long way- so just use a dimes worth- put on with a soft cloth and buff up with another soft clean cloth.

[emerson.john]

Good solvent for removing gummed labels, price stickers, etc. from non-porous surfaces. WD40 is even better.

[Bosun Rick]

WD-40 is Fish Oil, also good for arthritis stiffness

[emerson.john]

Horsefeathers, Bosun Rick. I do not doubt the arthritis benefits. WD40 is good for many things you won't find on the label.  There is no fish oil in WD40, that's another urban legend (a fish tale?).

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. 

[ashmantech]

Also an economical stainless steel appliance cleaner.

[pamgotcher]

baby wipes (which contain baby oil, I'm sure) are absolutely the best for this.

[ashmantech]

Sounds like a great way to pamper my Viking range (pun intended), but they're not just mineral oil (if they have any at all) which is what does the job so cheaply.

[pamgotcher]

LOL, yes, ashmantech - mineral oil will be much cheaper than baby wipes. I like the fact that baby wipes remove all the oil that I get when I fry, etc, and leave the stainless looking like new with no fingerprints (and are already on a towelette). I actually use it on everything stainless in the kitchen, even my coffee maker. But, baby oil would definitely be cheaper.

[zuclo]

I find the mineral oil is cheapest as baby oil for cleaning and maintainiong my swords and knives

[mooster]

Baby oil removes beach tar very well.

[Big Tattoo]

Wipe down shower curtains to help prevent soap buildup.

[BGreenHVAC]

I used to work in the jewelry business. Pearls will dry out and lose it's luster. You rub a small amount of baby oil on them about once every 6 months. Your natural skin oils are good for the pearls, but your natural body salts are not. You can rinse them off with water only (DO NOT use cleaners or detergents, just water) then rub a very small amount of baby oil.
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.