The Interesting Ways Giada De Laurentiis Uses Olive Oil Outside The Kitchen

It's pretty much common knowledge that Giada De Laurentiis is fond of olive oil. It's one of those grocery staples De Laurentiis always keeps in her pantry. De Laurentiis once shared with Bon Appétit, "I eat olive oil with almost everything — from my oatmeal in the morning to salads to cooking with it, there's no such thing as too much olive oil." And if you are wondering what brand the famous celebrity chef likes to use, the Kitchn revealed De Laurentiis took her fans on a virtual shopping tour and said in one of her posts, "I really like to use Lucini olive oil in my cooking. It is an extra virgin olive oil, but it's a very light one, so it's really easy to cook with — you just have to be careful not to cook with it at too high a heat. But otherwise, it's fantastic." 

But De Laurentiis is full of tricks, and it might surprise you to learn that these are not the only ways that she uses this ubiquitous ingredient. In fact, De Laurentiis really walks the talk when it comes to this "liquid gold," as the Ancient Greek poet Homer called it (per Science Direct). So how does De Laurentiis use olive oil when she isn't in the kitchen cooking?

Olive oil is actually part of De Laurentiis's beauty regime. According to Food Network, the co-host of the limited discovery+ series Bobby and Giada in Italy will blend olive oil with white rice flour to create an exfoliator she uses in the evening to get rid of dead skin cells. But that's not the only way De Laurentiis has incorporated olive oil into her grooming routine. She also uses it to gloss up her hair and scalp to keep her mane we all admire glowing and luxurious. Not the most conventional uses of the cooking ingredient, until you realize that this fatty liquid was once used to make cosmetics and medicines. 

Perhaps De Laurentiis's use of olive oil is a nod to her Italian heritage. Per Olive Oil and Beyond, olive oil was highly coveted by the early Greeks and Romans. It was used by both societies to make perfumes as well as to bathe in. Sounds a little slippery to us, but these ancient cultures clearly knew something. Additionally, it would be used to help heal wounds and heal a scratchy, sore throat. Maybe we should all grab a page from De Laurentiis's beauty playbook. It seems to work its magic for her — and perhaps the rest of us, too.