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.
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!
Ask the Addict - May 21, 2009
Im not trying to be rude here. I just stumbled across your website and Im curious. Let’s say that lip balm is addictive. Where’s the harm? It’s cheap and it’s harmless. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs are all potentially harmful substances so stopping addictions to them is serious business. When I think about an addiction to lip balm (I never even thought about it before today) I kinda think ’so what?’.
Caroline Lucas
Well, Caroline, should we make a list of the most harmful substances and only work on those? Meth: bad. Heroin: bad. ChapStick: not as bad. Trouble is, I’ve never used meth or heroin. We focus on what we know. And that’s lip balm.
For years I noticed people who used lip balms used it chronically. I began to keep track of the useage and noticed that some sort of addiction seemed to be there. I use it only when I ski. This is when I noticed that many people used it year round whether they were indoors, outdoors or just watching TV at home. I am really excited to see a website such as yours to raise awareness. I haven’t read your website yet. But, I hope that there is scientific evidence to find the source of the addiction.
Dennis B.
There’s plenty of scientific evidence… in the vaults of the major balm companies.
Can you recommend a good lip balm, because all the ones I use tend to become gloopy and coagulate on my lips about 20 mins after application?
Nadia
Uh, I think you’ve missed the point of this website…
Hi Kevin,if you can spend all this time since 1995 on this site, the least we can do is spend 45 seconds as a reminder, that in truth, the world needs more people like you…not less. Continue to enjoy life.
Warm regards,
Ric
Well, thanks for the kind words. It humbles us when we hear from people who have been touched by our efforts.
LBA on TV: The Internet Cafe (1997)
This was the first television interview we did for Lip Balm Anonymous back in 1997. The show was The Internet Cafe, a spinoff of the popular Computer Chronicles that aired on PBS stations. The episode was The Weird Web, and featured LBA along with a Mr. T fansite, a girl who was into tattoos, and other oddities.
It just so happened that this was filmed in Palo Alto, CA and I was living in the next city, so this was awfully convenient. The funny thing about this show was that it was filmed in a “cyber cafe” (remember those?) that quickly went out of business. The Internet Cafe lived on for a few years.
The LBA interview starts at the 2:15 mark in the video.
Thanks to the Internet Archive for making the show available all these years later. Gotta love those now-retro Netscape browser screens.
