Uncommon Uses for Baby Oil

I am not the biggest fan of baby oil. This has to be said. It usually clogs your pores and is too oily, and often stains clothes. If your like me and found out that those bottles you got from your baby shower are sitting with dust on them; Then put them to use!

Bye-bye Cradle Cap

I have found baby oil is great to have on hand for the cradle cap that infants get. You simply pour a small amount on your child's scalp and let it sink in for about ten minutes. Then carefully take a baby comb and begin to work against the cradle cap flakes to remove them. They literally just start "peeling" right off your baby's scalp. the baby oil makes this easy and is much safer than doing it with your nails on a dry scalp. A word of caution, do not attempt to remove all the flakes. You will over stimulate the scalp, and may take too much off and cause bleeding/scabbing.

Easy Diaper Change

The only other time I use baby oil on my children is for those bad poopy diapers. You know the ones where you have to wipe hard to clean it all up. Sorry to be so descriptive, but I had too. On those not so fun to change diapers, squirt on some baby oil. You can squirt the oil directly on babies bottom, or apply a bit to the wipe. Either way, the baby oil makes this task quick and painless for baby. The oil just wipes the poopy away, like magic!

Other then those two tips, I never use baby oil on my babies skin. It has been said that baby oil traps up the pores, and makes it hard for the skin to expel toxins. With that said, the next few tips will have nothing to do with you or your babies skin.

Better Shredder

If you have a paper shredder you will know that after several heavy uses, it just doesn't seem to be working as well. This is because the shredding blades that were so well greased have gone dry. I have seen office supply stores sell oiled paper just for the purpose of oiling the blades of the shredder. However, these sheets sell for over five dollars for just a few sheets of oiled paper. But, if you carefully squirt some baby oil on any piece of paper you were already going to shred, then you have oiled paper for a huge fraction of the cost! Be careful though, this can get messy, you may want to do it over the sink or an old towel. Squirt on a little baby oil and let it soak into the paper, Once most of the paper become "transparent" then the baby oil has soaked in and your ready to shred. Do this every few weeks, more or less depending on how often you use your shredder.

My Shoe! My Table! My Hair! Oh My!

Gum! It's on the bottom of your shoe, maybe the underside of your kitchen table. Prayerfully it's not in your hair! Relax if it is though, because baby oil is perfect for removing chewing gum from anything. Where ever you found that unpleasant wad of gum, just massage baby oil right into it, and be gone gum! Besides, it works much better than the old peanut butter trick. Just be careful, baby oil stains clothes, so if you are looking to remove gum from your jeans or couch, this isn't the way to go. Other than that, baby oil is a quick dissolver of gum!

Shiny and New

Baby oil can also be used to make metal picture frames shinier. Just dab some baby oil on a cotton ball and apply to the metal frame. You will notice the frame appears shinier and stand out more. It really helps draw attention to the picture. You can also do this to wooden picture frames, as long as they are already sealed. You do not want to apply the baby oil to fresh wood, it will just seep in and discolor the wood.

Stick Situations

Baby oil is also a great way to release sticky residue off of something. If you ever had tape on something for a while, or a sticker, anything "sticky" for that matter, use baby oil to release it. just apply a few drops of baby oil to the sticky area and rub back and forth. The sticky adhesive will start to "ball up and break down. Then just wipe it away!

And I know I said I was done with putting it on the skin, but it must be said, rubbing a few drops of baby oil on a bandage will help release it from your skin without removing the hair!

These unique uses for baby oil will have those bottles gone in no time! You may even find yourself buying more, just to keep on hand for those scary times of finding bubble gum in your hair, or those bad poopy diapers.