I’m reading this thingy here from AOL RealSimple (not sure if this link works for non Aolers) and it gives this alternate use for baby oil: Taking tar off of your feet after a walk on the beach.
I live in NYC where the non-cleansliness of the beach is a running joke. Medical wastes, poo, glass-- you name it, we’ve seen it wash up at one time or another. But never tar. We leave the tar for the constant refilling of the potholes on the roads that lead to the beach.
Who’s got tar on their beaches and where does it come from?
NC beaches abound with “tar.” One of the local colleges even named its sports team the “Tarheels.” I’m not sure what it is, exactly. It is, however, incredibly black, sticky, stinky and prolific.
Yeah, residents of Galveston Island will have baby oil available during a tarry spell. Natural oil seeps annually release more oil into the Gulf of Mexico alone than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. It’s a gift from Mother Earth.
Actually it’s not that big of a deal out there (I would normally say here but I am away from home on business right now.) The tar problem used to be a lot worse actually and, as twickster noted, it is natural. The Natives used the stuff to seal their canoes. A lot of the beachside hotels have bottles of baby oil in the bathrooms for tar removal.