Ask the Addict: How Long Does it Take to go Cold Turkey?
We received this note from Joe G.
I recently decided that I was going to quit my 4-year Chapstick addiction once and for all, cold turkey. I hadn’t done much research on lip balm addiction, the only thing I knew was that it was a real thing, but I hadn’t seen your website until today. I’m currently in the 48th hour of no Chapstick, and the blood has started to flow out of my lips, but I’m still going strong.
My question is… how long should a cold turkey recovery take? Because while this website is certainly helping, I don’t know how much more I can take of this. If it’s a couple more days, fine. But if it’s any longer than that I might have to consider switching over to weening.
Great site by the way, informative, interesting, and humorous all at once!
Thanks Joe. We’re not sure what you’re talking about with the humor, but we’re always happy to hear from someone who is trying to kick the habit and get their life finally under control.
Cold turkey is a strange thing. There’s no set formula for how long the “withdrawal” of not having Chap Stick will last. But 48 hrs seems like well under what you should expect. I think 4-5 days or maybe up to a week would be most typical. But, seeing how your lips are bleeding, I would say that visiting a doctor might be wise.
It´s been 2 days since I stopped using my chapstick. I haven´t had cold turkey (I´ve been using chapstick just for 2 months 24/7), so I can´t say I´m really addicted. Actually, I never enjoyed using chapstick or its flavour, I just used it TO AVOID chapped lips…
The fact is that, ironically, my lips look really awful right now, worse than ever: chapped, cracked, blood, irritated all around my lips, have a “ouch!-feeling” every time I smile or open my mouth to eat… guess the skin on my lips got used to have some oily protection all day long, so they lost their natural hability to “remove old cells”.
My question is: will they ever get to normal again?? Will my skin recover its “natural protection”?? Will I have chapped lips for the rest of my life? Thanx!!
Yes, Tiffany, you lips should return to normal. As always, if there are issues be sure to see your doctor.
I am trying to give up my lip gloss addiction. I have used it for years, but not exactly how long. Maybe 15 years. I apply it several times an hour. I am trying to wean myself off. I am using it once every hour. Hopefully in a couple of days I will be down to once every 2 or 3 hours. Can I be sure that my lips will return to normal. Could I have done permanent damage? Any Idea of how long it could take. After 30 minutes they feel super dry and cracked.
I have been addicted to Chapstick the past 4 years. I’ve stopped using it for 29 hours so far. My lips are dry, burning, peeling, etc. Is this the normal reaction, and how long does this last (if anyone has been through this?)? I want to stop spending a small fortune on Chapstick and not be obsessed with always having it with me. I want to be free from this and move on.
I am currently trying the cold turkey method and after going strong for 15 hours, I couldn’t resist applying some good old Burt’s Bees acaeberry lip balm. I tried again after this and have now been going strong for a full nineteen hours. It is hard but I eat a tictac every time I want to apply lip balm. My lips are flaking and are going wrinkly and it feels like the blood inside my lips is fizzy. Any advice or tips? Think I’m going mental thanks xoxo
Hey .. i was using the coldturkey method and be strong for 1 day and still counting … my lip now is very dry and skin is peeling … i apply lipBalm( 100% pure beewax) in the morning and use toothbrush to scrub off the dead skin and it feel more comfortable .. I wanted to ask if it will really 100% returned to the normal state not dry peeling or cracked ? As when i am small i tend to lick my lip alot i scare then due to my Licking of lip my lip will not return to the normal state .. I am sick and tired of applying lipbalm every few min ….
I have been a full-on addict since the winter of 1992/1993, so for over 19 years of my almost 37 years on this earth. I quit cold turkey on Saturday, March 24th. It’s April 4th now (11 days, but who’s counting?), and I am still in agony. I keep waiting for my stupid lips to start taking care of themselves, and it hasn’t happened yet. All I can think about is how wonderful it would be to slather my lips with some chapstick.
I’m a chapstick addict for the winter months and have a really hard time quitting for the summer. I just started this morning and it’s horrible. My mouth is in shock and my jaw is even tight and clenched. However, I do this every spring/summer. The key to making quitting as painless as possible is to:
(1) NEVER lick your lips no matter what.
(2) drink plenty of water and stay HYDRATED.
(3)In extremes cases only use a little Vaseline on lips before bed for the first few days.
i recently quit using balm and here’s how i did it:
i started coating my lips in raw honey at night.
then if my lips were really dry, i would use olive oil and honey.
i did this for a couple of weeks and it was so much easier than just cold turkey.
once in a while now, if my lips are really dry (i live in the desert) i’ll use a little honey at night and it works really well. i also take an omega 3 fish oil supplement daily and drink plenty of water.
i hope this helps someone trying to quit.
i am a real addict with real problems …..i used to blow my mailman for five dollars and a and a free maxium magazine..now i have to see him everyday and thats embarrassing ….i was a full blown crack head and i think being “addicted” to chapstick/lip balm/gloss is absolutely crazy riddiculous..were do u get off using the same twelve steps i use and how do u have have resentments toward ppl? like the twelve steps say and who do u ask forgiveness from? this is were i dont get were the twelve steps come into place…i highly doubt you people are robbing and stealing to get ur chapstick and holding convienient stores up or blowing the mailman like me…just sayin sounds a little fuckin crazy ..yea ur lips get chappped and i get severe diareahh and end up in the fetal postion and feel like im goin to die…so fuck offf
I quit using all types of lip balms for two weeks now and I want to know when the cracking and bleeding and peeling will stop. I’m afraid I have permantely damaged my lips due to using lip balms for over 20 years. I feel so angry because their is no warning labels for lip balms. The first week was the worst, but if you stick it out then the cravings definately go away. I love not having to carry my lip balm with me everywhere. I’m just concerned that the sever lip problem im having wont go away.
I used to be addicted to Chapstick, I read an article about that it was an addiction and when I realized I had it, I weaned myself off it. Now my friend is addicted. Literally puts it on all the time. I have been begging him the wean himself off it, but he refuses. I’m afraid he may be of no help, but I did send him this site to help him out.
I was addicted to chapstick for 13 years. I quit cold turkey 3 weeks ago, and my lips are quite dry/cracking. Can anyone suggest a natural product to help with the dryness?
I went cold turkey 24 hrs ago, after 30 years of chap stick addiction. I just keep drinking water! I hope it works
I recently went cold turkey after an 8 year addiction brought on by Accutane. I am on my 96th hour. The first 48 were missearble. My lips started to bleed so I bought some vitamin E pills and starting the begining of day 4 I put it on in the morning and have been fine all day.I tried going cold turkey once before and I gave in from the pain. I read somewhere on this site about the Vitamin E and it will likely be what gets me through this.
Isn’t it funny that your name and email is required on a lip-balm anonymous website??
I am absolutely addicted to Carmex, to the point where I need to apply it almost every 20 minutes. Since discovering the dangers of the petroleum in the product I am going to attempt to quit. Is it any better to substitute it for something like Burt’s Bees and then wean myself off? Or just try getting straight off all lip balms? I’m aiming to apply only once per hour and start from there.
Hi everybody! Remember my post from february? Well, all I can say is that I haven´t used lip balm since then, and my lips are totally back to normal. Even thought it´s been rainy and cold these days, my lips are not chapped or irritated, so I guess the only way to get rid of the addiction is… stop using lip balm!! Don´t even try to use natural remedies (licking your lips or using olive oil/vaseline), that won´t make your lips heal or recover their natural protection; it´s hard, cause that means you will have cracked lips for a few months (3 or 4 in my case), but it´s the only way to get rid of it (and to safe some money!). Hope this post wil encourage you guys to stop using this f***ing shit!
I’m 67 years old and have been using Chapstick and similar lip balms since 9th grade. I realized I was totally addicted in Vietnam in 1966, 46 years ago. My lips were very red and slightly burning until I got my “care package” from home. I have been off the stuff for 36 hours now. Lips are red and it hurts (pinching) to open my mouth wide. Some foods aggravate the condition (burning). My lips are still soft, and not cracked or chapped. Over the last 10 days I have been substituting different brands of lip balms, hoping it would reduce the withdrawal symptoms - trying to wean me off one component before getting addicted to another. I don’t know if that helped or not. I’m considering trying the Vitamin E to see if that helps. There should be a warning on all tubes of this stuff.
Im currently on hour 76 of going cold turkey
I been addicted to lip balms and vasaline for 14 years!
I Tryed going cold turkey when I was in uk got to 72 hours n gave in a was in agony
Now I’m in oz it’s not to bad just really dry, peeling and tight!
I also keep picking the dry bits off which prob ain’t great but few more data I hope il be ok
I think the best thing to do is just stop using them and think as positively as you can about your lips. Your lips will like become cracked and dry and maybe bleed (more likely if you bite and chew on the chapped skin), the length of time it takes for them to heal will vary but the main thing is to keep in mind that once the storm has passed you’ll have naturally soft lips for as long as you keep the chapsticks, glosses, lipsticks, waxes and balms away. I think anything used on your lips as an alternative would just cause the same problem eventually. To go “cold Turkey” dig out the remaining balm in any container you have and crush it all into some tissue, (if you have any half chapsticks, glosses, lipanythings, smother it all into the tissue/s… then flush it down the toilet! Or chuck the things into a bin (a public bin is probably better as you’re less likely to attempt to take it out again if you have a last minute change of of heart or a struggle with the part of you that finds it difficult to let go.)
I recently quit using chapsticks on december 20, i was addicted for about 8 years. I was nervous to quit because i read about the lips cracking and bleeding. The best thing to do is not lick your lips. For the first few days it was really hard to not use my chapstick or lick my lips but i refused to give up. I used a lipgloss a before work so i wouldnt lick them so maybe used it twice during the day for 3 days. After 4 days it was alot easier and my lips were fine apart from peeling only slightly. Christmas Day, i didnt think about my lips at all and now its absolutely no problem to not be using my chapstick and it is so good not to be addicted anymore ! Drinking lots of water really helped but if you quit, you really will find it so much easier if you DO NOT lick your lips.
this addiction happened to me a couple of years ago and it took about a week for my lips to stop peeling. every morning i would wake up and they would be fine but as the day went on and i moved my mouth a layer would peel off. so then that stopped after at least 4 days. while this was going on i researched addictive lip ingredients and i got chapstick without those in it. i forget what they are called sorry. but i did learn that nivea is a good brand that doesnt have bad ingredients. just dont get the medicated one. other then that just look to make sure face and lip products dont have harmful or addictive things in them and this will never happen again.
Anyone from the above got an update how they’re getting on? I’m 4 days in now and have got hard sking on my lips and they’re very dry, if I smile or open too wide i’m worried they’ll crack.
Any advice or previous experience would be great!!
There are not enough success stories on this website so I am here to share mine! I actually decided to stop after many many years of using a lip balm because it was starting to hurt me. My use of vaseline was starting to make my lips and the skin around it red and painfully burn. I didn’t know what it was but I tried everything: anti-fungal cream, antibiotic cream, hydrocortozone, even antiviral prescription medication (for herpes). My younger sister who’s been using lip balm as addictively as I was told me about this website and how she was going to go cold turkey so I decided to give it a try because nothing was working. Before starting my cold turkey I looked scary and had a burning pain on and around my lips.
First two weeks of no lip balm were pretty rough. It was painful from the cracking and I was pretty ugly with white lips plus the skin around my lips (because I used to put lip balm on the skin around my lips too). It was white from the intense flaking and peeling of my skin.. so yea, ugly. Week three was better, less ugly. I’m in week 5 now and no longer ugly/scary looking and no more cracking or bleeding. My lips are still sorta dry and I don’t have that really nice moister that I used to have during the “good” lipbalm days. But I did it! No longer in pain and no longer scary-looking from too much lip balm or no lip balm!
If you’re starting cold turkey, good luck! Stick it out and you’ll get through it. I suggest staying away from spicy foods and not doing it in the dead of winter if you can (like I did). Also doing cold turkey with a friend is so much better than alone, that way you can suffer together and motivate each other to keep going. I know that 3 ish weeks sucks to have scary-looking lips and be in pain. But so so worth it. Now I’m free from the chains of lip balm and I love it. (My sister’s lips have a similar story and now hers are feeling better too!)
Thank you SO much to “M” above. This is exactly what I needed. Today is Day 13, so tomorrow will officially be my 2-week mark of “cold turkey” and I still look like I ate a powdered donut, or went skiing in the Andes.
I am vain, wear make-up, and work professionally, so this has been tough. I have heard the “cold turkey” method takes approximately one month (give or take a week-ish). But I was starting to doubt I would ever see any progress……so I needed to see that Week 3 is the peak of “bad” and that it starts to get better after that. Can’t wait. I have totally “abstained”…..not even one drop of vaseline, olive oil, honey, or whatever (though I’ve looked longingly at a stick of butter - kidding!). I’ll post back with my progress.