Ask the Addict - May 23, 2009
I just ran across a news article on Yahoo.com about your website, so I took a look at it. I’m just wondering what all the hype is about. So people use chapstick–big deal! I can understand someone being worried if they’re putting it on every 5 minutes or something, but I don’t put it on that often. I always have it with me so I can put it on when I need it, but I don’t use it excessively. On the rare occasions when I run out of chapstick, my lips feel too try after a while, and it gets worse the longer I have to wait. But if I have it with me, I just put it on a few times throughout the day, and I’m fine. Why would I want to stop using it?
Sabrina K.
Not everyone who uses ChapStick becomes addicted, just as there are many who can drink socially without becoming alcoholics. Looks like you’re in this camp.
When I first saw your web site on Yahoo, I thought it was a joke. How could someone be addicted to lip balm? I had been using it for a decade and I did not believe that I was addicted. It started with Bonne Bell flavored lip balm when I was a young teen, and I have been using it ever since. It was always in my pocket and if I left the house without it, I would have to go buy more. I decided to become more aware of how often I was using it, I realized that I sometimes put it on with out even thinking about it. It turns out that every 30 minutes, I had to reapply. I knew I had to stop, I spoke with the my friends and they only use it once maybe twice a day. I immediately made the switch to pure vaseline because my lips would dry out so much they would bleed. It has now been over a month and I use vaseline four times a day, my goal is to get that down even more.
Thank you for creating this site and making me aware that I had a problem.
Stephanie D.
It’s stories like yours that illustrate the life-changing benefits of a site such as this one. Keep going with your weaning and best of luck for a full recovery.
It’s a shame that you trivialize 12 step programs with your silliness. Unlike yours, these programs have saved people’s lives — like mine.
Sue F. Fort Wayne IN
At LBA we take a live-and-let-live position on a variety of subject, silly or serious. We take our addiction seriously, but we don’t have an attitude where others can’t have fun. Look, clearly, balm addiction isn’t as serious as addictions to other substances like alcohol or hard drugs.
I came to Korea for a year to teach English. I was concerned for my well-being because I didn’t know if they had my favourite type of Chapstick. (Turns out they don’t, so the 5 tubes I brought with me would end up holding me over until my family came to visit me 5 months later). Wait, that’s a lie. I had my best friend mail me 3 tubes of my favourite kind 2 months after I got here.
Anyway, I apply it during the night, every morning when I wake up, before and after the shower, during class (my students tease me in an endearing sort of way), before and after meals and, of course, before and after I brush my teeth.
I don’t consider my addiction serious, but I DO freak out if I leave the house without it… and then I need to buy some before my lips fall off. I have no desire to quit, because I know I’m better off with it in my life.
When I was about ten years old I received my first tube of Chapstick because my lips were really chapped. Almost thirty years later I can not imagine my life without it and I am ok with that, I have no desire to quit. I probably own about 300 tubes and they are scattered through-out: the nightstand, the end table, pocketbook, the car (except in the summer when they tend to melt!!) I think this website is neat because it’s funny to see that other peple understand your obsession. Who else can really relate to what it’s like to wake up at three in the morning clumisly trying to locate lip balm on your nightstand only to knock it over and hear it roll onto the floor, then having to feel around the floor for it?? Or that feeling of tapping your pocket before you leave the house just to make sure it’s there? I love my lip balm and would not change a thing about my addiction. Thank you for creating this website!!