New Addiction TV Show is Casting
It is a fine line between following our Tradition of attraction rather than promotion, but this is both an awareness opportunity as well as a chance to make amends. So, please move forward with cautious optimism.
Candor Entertainment is looking to help people get over their obsessions and addictions. We are a production company in Los Angeles, and we are casting for a new TV show about people who are fanatical about something to the point it has started to have a negative impact on their lives. It can be anything from Harry Potter to The Red Sox to Lip Balm. The aim of the show is to help people let the negative thing stop running their lives. If interested, tell us about it at entertainment.candor@gmail.com.
Ask the Addict: Lip Gloss or Lipstick Okay?
Lynn writes:
I am addicted to chapstick, I have been for years. I am on day two of not wearing any. My lips haven’t had moisturizer for 2 days and they are in terrible pain.
I am just wondering, after I get better…when I wear lipgloss or lipstick (down the road) I am scared I will fall into the same habit with those or go back to chapstick. Have you heard of any cases like this?
Have we heard of this? Of course we have.
Among the reasons for lip balm addiction are the psychological feelings one gets when you start your ritual of covering the lips. For some, trading lip balm for lip gloss or lipstick equates to someone addicted to drinking beer switching to wine. At the same time, lipstick especially will form a barrier between your lips and the elements. So, you definitely need to be careful to keep your use within appropriate limits.
Unless there is a professional reason to use lip gloss, however, we’d recommend staying away. Many of these are flavored, which only adds to the impact of “glossing.” These are essentially more viscous versions of lip balm anyway, so if you’re trying to cut the habit this isn’t much of a step.
Hope your sobriety continues.
Ask the Addict: Dry Lips… or Cancer?
Leanne P. wrote:
I have used lip balm several times a day for years – it just seemed to me that my lips were a little dry and a little lined compared to models and I wanted them to look plump and smooth. I figured make-up manufacturers add powder to lipstick to get it to stay on, which dries my lips out, and the pictures of models lips were air-brushed, so I was never concerned about it. I saw your website and thought it was interesting, but since I had reasons for my lips being dry and wanted them to look nice under my lipstick, again, I was not concerned.
I went to the doctor yesterday for a one year follow up appointment and skin check after having a little basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) last year. She asked if my lips were dry a lot and I told her that they were. She took a closer look and said that my entire lower lip appeared to have sun damage and pre-cancerous activity. She said it needed to be treated aggressively because pre-cancerous activity in the lip area can turn into cancer quickly. She prescribed a medication that I am using now to treat this condition. It will be interesting to see what my lips are like afterward.
I don’t want to scare any one, but I thought about your website and whether there might be others who, like me, thought they just had dry lips, when it could actually be something else and thought I would just pass the word along. I had the same dry lips a year ago when I was diagnosed with the basal cell carcinoma, but that doctor apparently didn’t notice the lips, and I had no idea that dry lips could be a symptom of a pre-cancerous condition.
This is a great example of what we’ve always said, which is to see a doctor rather than “self medicating” with Chap Stick or even “medicated” lip balms. In these cases, the doctor may prescribe a lip balm to reduce the dryness of the lips. If so, that’s fine… but once your lips are moist then it’s time to cut back on the balm!
Teen Addiction… and Recovery
The saddest part of lip balm addiction is that it ensnares people as young as five years old or even younger. Unlike cigarettes, alcohol, or hard drugs, it is socially acceptable to get your kids balmed. The inherent dangers of such practices are described in this testimony we received this week.
After ten years of a crippling addiction to Blistex, I am finally free. My name is Sarah and I am fifteen years old. When I was at the tender age of just five, my poor, uninformed mother noticed that my little lips were badly chapped.
And so the addiction began.
Blistex Lip Medex
I can recall several mornings when we were standing outside my house, and I would suddenly exclaim, “Mommy! I FORGOT TO PUT ON LIP MEDICINE!” Little drama queen (and addict) that I was, I would proceed to scream, cry, and wave my little pudgy arms in practical hysteria as my dear mother sprinted into the house, grabbed the little barrel of evil, sprinted back outside to her bawling daughter, and applied it to my dependent lips, all before the bus even arrived to take me to Kindergarten. Over the years, it saddens me to tell you that my addiction only worsened. Blistex became my constant companion, always ready and eager to soothe my lips (and my soul). Sadly, I had no idea of the danger of my obsession until my mother happened to inform a friend of hers of how much I adored Blistex. He quirked an eyebrow and wondered suspiciously, “When she puts it on, does it tingle?” My mother, of course, had no idea what he could mean by this strange question, and when she relayed it to me, I, too, was oblivious. Finally, the turning point in my painful addiction: I happened to Google “dependence on Blistex,” and a world opened up to me. I discovered that there were two dangerous ingredients in Blistex, Camphor and Menthol (which cause a tingling sensation), that had led not only to a weakening of my poor lips but also to further dryness, thus increasing my want (and need) for the malevolent Blistex.
I was distraught; I had nowhere to turn. How could I destroy my addiction when it had all but consumed me?
Finally, the heavens smiled upon me: I stumbled upon Lip Balm Anonymous. Without your fantastic web site and liberating 12-step program, I would surely be applying Blistex at this very moment! I just had to write you and thank you for the wondrous new life you have given me! “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!”
Very Sincerely and with Many Thanks,
Sarah
