Let’s make a list of the important things you need before walking out the door: Wallet: Check. Cellphone: Check. Keys: Check. Lip balm?
You slap your back pocket. Nope. Rummage through your bag. Nada.
Step by Step, but not the 12 Steps
Think lip balm addiction isn’t a serious problem in our schools and with our kids? Think again.
Hi, I’m 15 and have been gradually getting more addicted to lip balms for the last 10 years. It has come to the point where I can no longer go 20 minutes with out the need to apply lip balm. I find your site very supportive, however there is no advise on how to quit lip balms. Please could you post a step by step method on how to stop, opposed to your current 12 step program that does not help the user stop their addiction.
Thank you for the help the LBA has already given me and I hope I will be able to post my story when I quit in the optimistic future.
Yours sincerely, Alfie S. (addict)
Our Recovery page lists three methods: Cold Turkey, Weaning, and the 12 Steps. The first two don’t really lend themselves to the step method you’re asking for.
- Cold Turkey Step One: Stop using
- Cold Turkey Step Two: there is no step two.
Weaning inherently has a step process, but this will differ quite a bit from person to person.
There’s a reason by the 12 Steps exist. For some people that’s the only way to overcome their addictions to lip balm. It doesn’t work for everyone, though, which is why we do mention these other techniques. If you have any other ideas, just leave a comment below.
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
The Most Irresponsible and Deceiving Article
If you know anything about DNS entries, it won’t take you too long to figure out that I live in Fremont, CA. So, it peaked my interest to see a letter to the editor in our hometown newspaper, the Fremont Argus.
Lip balm addiction
I THINK The Washington Post article “Kiss your lip balm addiction goodbye” that appeared in The Argus on May 11 is the most irresponsible and deceiving article you have ever printed.
The writer probably never has had sun poisoning on her lips or cancer, or just dried, cracked lips.
I am 75 years old and I think lip balm is the best thing ever invented, and that it should not be considered an addiction.
The connotation of this article was really bad.
Pat Finn
Fremont
With a harshly worded letter like that I thought I’d look at the article to form my own judgement.
Get over your lip balm addiction
This is a problem. A huge, paralyzing problem. You are a lip balm addict, after all. And you are not alone.
Okay, I guess we know where this article is headed. And it’s off to a good start. Huge, paralyzing problem indeed. The article then mentions the plethora of online support groups including a link to our site here at LBA. But then the article continues…
The thing is, lip balm isn’t addictive. Nothing in these products drives you to be physiologically dependent. Nevertheless, there are steps you can take to reduce your compulsion to apply the stuff
Wait a minute. If it isn’t addictive, why are you offering advice to reduce “compulsion?” The advice is good, though. Don’t lick your lips - long a hallmark of the advice we have dispensed here. A dermatologist also recommends using subblock on your lips. Sunblock, the ingredient that Pat Finn of Fremont should have been using on her lips to prevent cancer, not plain old lip balm. Of course, Finn complained about the premise lip balm addiction but the article says it doesn’t exist. Hmm. Never mind.
Finally, think about whether it’s the product or the behavior. Lip balm may not cause a physiological dependence, but as an addictive behavior, it’s no less relevant if it leads you to make lifestyle changes, says Carl Lejuez, director of the Center for Addictions, Personality and Emotion Research at the University of Maryland.
So, if you’re arriving late to meetings because you were searching for your ChapStick, you may want to do something about it. Lejuez recommends replacing the lip balm habit with another. Every time you’re compelled to apply lip balm, reach instead for, say, your water bottle. Most of us don’t drink enough water anyway, and the hydration will only help your lips.
Well, sounds like Lejuez isn’t exactly denying lip balm addiction. And as a director of a research center about addictions he probably know what he’s talking about. In any case, drinking more water probably isn’t bad advice and if it saves just one person from falling down the path of addiction then why not. Drink up!
