Eye Drops, Calamine, Benadryl...EVOO?

[Arey]

This may be a good little marketing gimic for Eckerd, eh? Doctor says "eat more olive oil, it's healthy!" So they package it like they would mineral oil

Well, actually, as some one who grew up in a household where olive oil was not used, peanut oil and bacon fat were no problem, but oilve oil ......

[Pickles]

Say...those are some great points. I (since I use olive oil almost exclusively for myself and my food) would NEVER have thought the obvious. That some people don't automatically buy olive oil, they use other oils, and they may very well consider it purely as medicine. Makes perfect sense, actually. Looking forward to hearing what Eckerd says, too.

[AmyDaniel]

My mom used olive oil back in the day for her hair - apparently, it makes hair soft and shiny. She and her family didn't use it in cooking (wasn't popular in Malaysia when she was growing up - hmmmm, don't know if it's popular there now... ). I'd consider it - but I find the scent too strong sometimes - I don't think I'd like my hair smelling of olive oil!

Amy

[Pickles]

If you're going to use o/o as a hair conditioner, be prepared not to go out in public for a few days. It makes hair soft, but really, really flat until it all washes out. Been there, done that, got the greasies.

[pjs]

Olive oil is the preferred lubricant when doing a french-polish finish on furniture, fine wooden musical instruments, etc. The cheap oil works fine and no, I haven't yet seen olive oil listed in the Woodcraft or Garrett Wade catalogs.

BTW the preferred solvent for the shellac flakes used in french-polishing is Everclear. Just what you need when the finishing starts to go wrong ...

PJ

[esperanza]

Yes, olive oil in medicinal size bottles is on the pharmacy shelves here in Mexico as well. We do tend to use the remedios caseros--home remedies--here a little more than they're used in the States. For earache, it's the herb ruda soaked in olive oil, wrapped in cotton, and stuffed into the ear for a day. Olive oil is said to be good for the skin as well.

According to a March 2004 article in a major daily newspaper here, olive oil is good for preventing some types of cancer as well as cardiovascular disease.

[Pickles]

Olive oil is said to be good for the skin as well.

I was surprised to see that olive oil is an ingredient in my Dove skin toner!

Edited July 17, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[GoodEater]

My wife and I were cleaning our boat and she got a drop of On/Off boat cleaner in her eye. We should have been wearing googles but we weren't. The cleaner is a mix of hydrochloric and Oxcylic (sp?) acid. Very nasty stuff for removing scum from the bottom of the boat. She took out her contact lense, we rinsed her eye with water and then called my father who is a doctor. He told us that before we headed to the hospital that we should put some olive oil into her eye as this would keep it lubricated for the 20 minute trip. We were out of olive oil so we used some regular Wesson oil. We got to the hospital and they immediately flushed her eyes out with a sterile solution. She got lucky as she had no major damage ( the contact lense helped to block out the cleaner). However, the inside of her eyelid suffered minor burning and irritaion.

We don't know how much the oil helped but in an emergency it did keep her eye properly lubricated. I never would have thought to use oil and would not have done so without professional advise. Who knew? The one caution is that you should not use butter on any burns on your skin as it can increase the infection risk.

[lala]

Yep, my Dad told me the old "drink a tablespoon of olive oil before a night of drinking" tale, too.

What I find amusing is mineral oil, used for oiling wooden cutting boards and other wood food preparation surfaces. I've read countless times, and was just told by a dealer, to buy mineral oil at the hardware store, or at the fancy kitchenware places that sell these items. Heck no. I get it in the drugstore (probably right next to that bottle of olive oil at that store), in the medicinal aids section. Oils wood, AND cures digestive ills for a third of the price in the cookware stores.

[Pickles]

Makes you realize how subjective we are to packaging. I just wouldn't put anything on my salad that came out of a bottle like that...

Oddly, neither would I. Even though I know it's pure o/o. Just unappetizing. It would be like making a Johnson's Baby Oil and Balsamic Vinaigrette!

[esperanza]

Gosh, maybe THAT'S what we were trying to do in my misspent youth, when we mixed Johnson's Baby Oil with iodine to make quick suntan oil. It shoulda been balsamic vinegar instead!

[esperanza]

Aaackkk, I got a DNS error and hit the blasted button again...sorry.

Edited July 19, 2004 by esperanza (log)

[Pickles]

Gosh, maybe THAT'S what we were trying to do in my misspent youth, when we mixed Johnson's Baby Oil with iodine to make quick suntan oil.

Oh dear...I remember doing that! I imagine the balsamic would have been a lot less toxic to our livers!

[dumplin]

Maybe the olive oil sold in the little pharmacy container is a more refined oil than the extra virgin olive oil that we are now accustomed to using for cooking. I think they sell it in those little bottles for people who still consider it medicine.

[jmcgrath]

What I find amusing is mineral oil, used for oiling wooden cutting boards and other wood food preparation surfaces. I've read countless times, and was just told by a dealer, to buy mineral oil at the hardware store, or at the fancy kitchenware places that sell these items. Heck no. I get it in the drugstore (probably right next to that bottle of olive oil at that store), in the medicinal aids section. Oils wood, AND cures digestive ills for a third of the price in the cookware stores.

Where ever you buy mineral oil, make sure it is labeled USP i.e. food grade if you are using it on a cutting board or anything else that comes into contact food. I suspect oil from a hardware store may not have that labeling.

Jim

[Rachel Perlow]

Ah, here it is: Eckerd Olive Oil. It's listed under First Aid/Alcohol & Antiseptics. I'm going to email their customer service for more info.

Here is my email to them:

One of our members noticed

Eckerd Olive Oil in the first aid section of their

local Eckerd and was surprised by this. I also

found it on your website and think the generic

medicine type packaging is unusual for a bottle

of olive oil. Also, the price seems a little outrageous

for 4 oz of olive oil. We'd love for a representative

to respond directly to our membership.

Here is their response to my inquiry:

Dear Ms. Perlow

Thank you for your email.

In response to your inquiry regarding our Eckerd Olive Oil.

This Eckerd item has been offered to our customers

for many years and continues to sell well. The

prices vary by the market area and are marked

according to our competion, supply and cost of

our goods. This product is of high quality, is

offered as a competition item and manufactured

for Eckerd by a supplier who also makes national

brands. The item location on a shelf is predetermined

by the headquarters based on customer shopping

habits and is occasionally misplaced at an individual

store or moved by a customer. Eckerd plans to

continue to offer this product to its customers.

We appreciate your time and hope that this information

has been helpful.

Sincerely

Eckerd Customer Service

[hathor]

Nice that they responded, but they sure didn't answer anything. A guess that would be a classic customer service reply.

[Pickles]

Thanks for emailing them, Rachel. They really didn't answer the question as to who is actually purchasing this "Eckerd Product" in their stores. I will try to get in there this week, and ask a pharmacist. Maybe (s)he will know. When I get curious about something, I am pain in the ass.

[GG Mora]

Olive oil is said to be good for the skin as well.

I was surprised to see that olive oil is an ingredient in my Dove skin toner!

My husband spent some time in Greece when he was in the Air Force & learned there to use olive oil as a skin moisturizer, tanning oil and, umm, lubricant. Still does.

[ghostrider]

We should have been wearing googles but we weren't.

I'm still amazed at how Netspeak continues to insinuate itself everywhere.

[hathor]

Olive oil is said to be good for the skin as well.

I was surprised to see that olive oil is an ingredient in my Dove skin toner!

My husband spent some time in Greece when he was in the Air Force & learned there to use olive oil as a skin moisturizer, tanning oil and, umm, lubricant. Still does.

Olive oil is the miracle, all purpose oil. "Castille soap" is made from olive oil. Its a very good cleansing agent and is used in many, many cosmetics. I make a salt scrub using olive oil and citrus peel that's fabulous, you come out of the shower all scrubbed and soft!

[GG Mora]

I make a salt scrub using olive oil and citrus peel that's fabulous, you come out of the shower all scrubbed and soft!

Yum! Recipe?

[Pickles]

Follow up to my own curiousity...I did manage to find a quiet time at Eckert and ask the pharmacist about the selling of Olive Oil in this packaging. He said some customers use it for ear-aches, and that's where they go to look for it. He didn't have any real comment/answer to why people just don't go buy some olive oil at the grocery store. But we came to the conclusion in this thread that some people really don't know from Olive Oil, and think of it as medicine more than as a cooking element.

[jsolomon]

Hmm, this is an interesting thread. Yesterday, I was perusing the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary handbook (all 3000 pages of it) and came across a USP specification for chocolate. I'll look and see if there is one for olive oil.

[sparrowgrass]

Pickles, I make my own soap occasionally, and have used olive oil.

Commercial Palmolive soap=coconut oil (that's the "palm" part) and olive oil.