We’ve introduced Lip balm addiction a bit, but it’s time to find out more from real-life lip balm addicts, as well as learn about the key ingredient in these tubes and why some people can’t get enough.
Katherine Fiet is a 25-year-old occupational therapist from Dallas. Her story is similar to that of many female lip balm users. “I started out with the little girl fantasy of me wanting to be like my mom,” she says. “I wanted to have something on my lips.” In 15 years, Fiet has moved from using Lip Smackers, to glitter lip balm to Burt’s Bees.
“My best friend is Burt,” says 23-year-old college grad Alexander De Guzman, referring to his lip balm of choice. “There’s something about it. It gives your lips this tingle and I fiend for it—kind of like when your body fiends for nicotine.” De Guzman, from Chicago, applies lip balm every 10 to 20 minutes. “I’m putting it on right now actually.” He keeps one in his right pocket, one in his backpack and one at home (just in case the others get lost). His addiction started in high school and five years later he’s developed his own routine. “I realized when I was driving I couldn’t use two hands,” he says. “So I developed the one-hand technique: I open the tin with one hand and drop the cap in my palm and use my index finger –I do it every time.” Like others, De Guzman has tried to stop but has yet to make it through a whole day. “I’ve tried,” he admits. “But the day’s just not the same.”
Katharine Hoffmann, a paralegal from Philadelphia, says she has been addicted for more than 10 years. At 26, living an active athletic life, she’s dedicated to ChapStick’s Ultra SPF 30 lip balm because she’s always out playing soccer, hockey or running. “I usually try to buy a new lip balm every other week and if it’s on sale, I stock up,” she says. Her stash is set of five, reserving one for work, one for home and rest for…I’m not sure. Like De Guzman, she applies every 20 minutes.
Kevin Crossman runs the popular website Lip Balm Anonymous. This 43-year-old website manager was addicted to cherry-flavored ChapStick for about 10 years. In 1995, after his friends made him aware of his frequent use, Crossman created the online site. “It’s an important topic that is evergreen,” he says. “There’s always people who are encountering this problem and [the website] is resource for those people. A lot of people think it’s a parody but this is a very serious problem.”
Behind the “Addictive” Ingredient
For those who rely on the product to get them through the day, lip balm has another name: the crackstick. This is not to insinuate there’s actually crack cocaine in it, but to suggest that, to them, their craving for it is just as serious as that of a drug addict.
But who actually pays attention to the ingredients in lip balm? Most brands only list them on the box and for addicts, that box is the only obstacle holding them back from experiencing the bliss of that wax-like substance.
Most leading brands of lip balm, such as ChapStick, Blistex and Carmex and Burt’s Bees, contain many of the same ingredients. But the ones that have raised concern among dermatologists are menthol, peppermint oil, phenol, camphor and salicylic acid and fragrance. A combination of these six are found in most medicated lip balm, all of which (with the exception of peppermint oil) are found in Carmex products.
Dermatologist, Dr. Roopal V. Kunpu, assistant professor and director of the Ethnic Skin Clinic at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, is quite familiar with the effects these ingredients have on the lips:
“Menthol is synthetic, but it’s also derived organically from mint plants. It essentially gives the sensation of coolness, but it doesn’t necessarily healing your lips. Phenol has a mild-anesthetic effect so [your lips] almost feel numb. It’s also a very mild exfoliant [like] salicylic acid [which is] natural and derived from the bark of the willow tree. Salicylic acid is commonly found in different percentages of acne medicines and chemical peels. ”
According to the Cosmetics Cop, Paula Begoun , author of “The Original Beauty Bible” and a nationally-recognized consumer expert for the cosmetics industry, the good, soothing feeling people get when using lip balm is a temporary fix. To her, most lip protection products don’t do anything to make your lips better in the long run. “Many lip products are little more than waxy coatings that make lips feel thickly protected when they are applied,” she says. They don’t really moisturize or provide adequate protection from the weather or from the dry heat and air-conditioning you find indoors.”
Neither Begoun nor Dr. Kundu recommends using medicated lip balm for occasional dry lips. Begoun takes it a bit further. “Lots of lip products also claim to be medicated. ‘Medicated,’ however, is at best a dubious term, and it has no regulated meaning when it comes to lip balms,” she says. “These ‘medicated’ products usually contain camphor, menthol, peppermint oil, and eucalyptus, but these are not medicines for dry lips. They mostly irritate and can actually make lips burn, which is neither disinfecting nor helpful for lips that are already dry and chapped.”
But what do lip balm companies have to say?
Meeting the Top Suppliers
From their catchy Suzy ChapStick ads in 80’s to their “Never let your lips go naked” commercials, ChapStick has been in the streets since the late 1800s. Invented by Dr. Charles Browne Fleet, a pharmacist, who in 1912 sold the rights to his goldmine ingredients for five dollars to the Morton family. Through time the brand switched hands from the Morton Manufacturing Corporation to the Wyeth pharmaceutical company to Pfizer Inc. in 2009.
Next came Carmex, first produced in 1937 by Alfred Woeling. Success from product sales turned the Woeling’s stovetop business into Carma Laboratories Inc. Famous for their yellow-capped jars, Carmex has expanded its product line from squeezable tubes (in 1988), traditional stick form (shortly thereafter) and new strawberry and cherry flavors. It is available in more than 35 countries.
Unfortunately, Carmex has also received most of the backlash from critics who believe their lip products contain addictive ingredients.
“We are addictive,” says Mike Pietsch, vice-president of sales at Carma Labs. “We’re addictively good.” The corporation seems to take the sarcastic approach when trying to defuse the claims. In fact, for this issue it may be the most outspoken brand. On the first page of their website, the answer they give to the “is Carmex addictive” question is, “Are sunshine, kisses and puppies addictive? You decide.” They provide more legitimate response on their Q&A page, “No, there’s nothing in Carmex that’s addictive. As required by the Food and Drug Administration, all ingredients in Carmex products are listed on the label.”
Ten years after Carmex made its debut, Blistex came onto the scene (1947). Like Carmex, Blistex is a family-run company that blossomed into a manufacturing and corporate headquarters complex. With 12 types of lip balms to choose from, Blistex Inc. has dedicated most of its manufacturing and research power into being the leading brand of lip-care products. The corporation also produces five other ointment and skin-care products under its brand, the most well-known being Stridex, the acne-fighting treatment.
Burt’s Bees is the rookie in the game but still manages to keep people hooked. Maybe it’s the company’s “earth friendly” natural products but since its start in 1984 the product has been all the buzz—no pun intended. From an abandoned schoolhouse room in Maine to their recent 136,000 square-foot site in North Carolina, Burt’s Bees has expanded its production of natural soaps, perfumes, toothpastes, shampoos and, of course, lip balm. In 2007, the company internationally known for its famous lip balm was bought out by the Clorox Company.
Yet, how harmful are lip balms? Find out more as we dig deeper into the issue, and find a solution for those of us who just can’t put our lip balm down. Click here for Part 3.
Comments 6