Blistex

Chap Stick Conspiracy

Carmex

Vaseline Lip Therapy

Mentholatum

Sex Sells

Un-Petroleum Products

Lip Balm Drug Connection

Balm Marketing

Bonne Bell Lip Smackers

The Nightmare Never Ends

Web of Addiction

Is Lip Balm Addictive?

Ask Lip Balm Anonymous

Self Evaluation

12 Steps and Testimony

Addict Denial

I "I Hate LBA"

Testimony Archive

History of LBA

Help LBA

Self-Evaluation and Testimony

In order to determine if you are having a problem with lip balm addiction, please read through the self test below and read some testimony from former and current users of lip balm. You'll see your own addiction in their testimony. Not all have fully recovered yet, but there is hope for all of them.

Return vistors can go straight to the new testimony.

Lip Balm Anonymous Self-Test for Lip Balm Addiction

1. Do you ever use more lip balm than you planned?
2. Has the use of lip balm interfered with your job?
3. Is your lip balm use causing conflict with your spouse or family?
4. Do you feel depressed, guilty, or remorseful after you use lip balm?
5. Do you use whatever lip balm you have almost continuously until the supply is exhausted?
6. Do you ever wish that you had never taken that first application or hit of lip balm?
7. Do you have an obsession to get lip balm when you don't have it?
8. Are you experiencing financial difficulties due to your lip balm use?
9. Do you experience an anticipation high just knowing you are about to use lip balm?
10. Without using lip balm, do you have difficulty sleeping without taking a drink or another drug?
11. Are you absorbed with the thought of getting coated even while interacting with a friend or loved one?
12. Have you begun to use lip balm while alone?
13. Do your lips, nose, or other areas hurt when you avoid Lip Balm?
14. Do you ever have feelings that people are talking about you or watching you?
15. Do you use larger doses of lip balm to get the same protection you once experienced?
16. Have you tried to quit or cut down on your lip balm use only to find that you couldn't?
17. Have any of your friends or family suggested that you may have a problem?
18. Have you ever lied to or misled those around you about how much or how often you use?
19. Do you use lip balm in your car, at work, in the bathroom, on airplanes, or other public places?
20. Do you occasionally coat heavily after a disappointment, quarrel or rough day?
21. When under pressure, do you always use more heavily than usual?
22. Can you handle more lip balm now than when you first started using?
23. When using with others, do you try to have a few extra coats when they won't know it?
24. Are there certain occasions when you feel uncomfortable if lip balm is not available?
25. When you start using, are you in more of a hurry to get the first hit than you used to be?
26. Are you secretly irritated when friends or family discuss your lip balm use?
27. Do you usually have a reason for occasions when you use heavily?
28. Have you tried to control your lip balm use by switching brands or following different plans?
29. Have you often failed to keep promises about controlling your lip balm?
30. Have you tried to control your lip balm use by changing jobs or moving?
31. Do you try to avoid family or friends while using?
32. Are you having an increasing number of financial and work problems?
33. Do more people seem to be treating you unfairly without reason?
34. Have you ever decided to stop using for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days?
35. Do you wish people would mind their own business about your lip balm use--stop telling you what to do?
36. Is lip balm affecting your reputation?
37. Do you crave lip balm at a definite time daily?
38. Does lip balm cause you to have difficulty sleeping?
39. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution on account of lip balm?
40. Are you afraid that if you stop using lip balm your work will suffer or you will lose your energy, motivation, or confidence?
41. Do you spend time with people or in places you otherwise would not be around but for the availability of lip balm?
42. Have you ever stolen lip balm or money from friends or family?
43. Can you apply lip balm with one hand?

If you have answered Yes to any of these questions, you may have a lip balm dependency problem.

Testimony from Lip Balm Dependents

The following testimonials were provided by various people with lip balm dependency. Some have seen to help themselves, but sadly, others feel as if there is no problem at all. Folks, the first step to solving the problem is admitting that you have one. If these situations sound familiar, you may have a lip balm dependency problem.

If you would like to contribute your own story, please send email to Lipbalm@kevdo.com. Return vistors can go straight to the new testimony.

Kevin C. is the founder of Lip Balm Anonymous.
I knew I had a problem when a friend who I hardly ever saw asked me after dinner when I was going to apply my Chap Stick. It was a force of habit to always put it on after each meal. In the short span of a weekend, she noticed my addiction easier than I could!
I used lip balm dozens of times a day: after I brushed my teeth, after eating, after blowing my nose, before and after sex. When I ran out, it was insanity until I got some new stuff. I would buy the cheap off-brands when I had to, but I never lost the craving for Cherry Chap Stick. A couple times, I tried to stop. But the pain was unbearable. I was weak. I gave in to the pain and used again and again. I started Lip Balm Anonymous when I saw friends give up caffeine and alcohol. I knew there had to be a way...

Madeleine C. recently fell off the wagon. She knows she needs help, though!
I have a slight cold, so I've been breathing through my mouth like a fish for a few days now. The result has been chapped lips, a glamour don't. So as I'm getting into bed last night, I break my vow of chastity and apply some lip balm. When my sweetie hops in, a MAJOR fight erupts over the use of said smelly lip balm. "Don't you care AT ALL about my feelings or our relationships?!!!" "Don't you care AT ALL that my lips are getting Grand Canyon-sized cracks in them?! This is a medical issue, for chrissake!!" The whole time I'm thinking to myself, I gotta tell Lip Balm Anonymous.

Dave is desperate in his addiction.
I remember around 1985 I dated a beautiful woman who was addicted to Blistex, and I used to laugh at her all the time. Since them I have become addicted to Carmex, and will apply it to my lips anytime, anyplace, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it.
I remember going to a Houston Astros game last year and I left my Carmex home. I asked the gate guard for "in-and-out" privileges, which they don't normally give, so I gave him twenty dollars. I ran to my car and looked for my "emergency" stash, and it was not there. I was so uncomfortable, I left the stadium and drove to a convenience store and bought some, and returned to the game (had to pay parking again...) and had missed about half the game. I cannot do without...

Jerod hates his "dealer."
Even if your page could be a joke, I don't fucking care. Your information will settle many arguments among my group of friends concerning lip balm dependency, and supply some much needed advice. My name is Jerod, and I live in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. The winters are incredibly long and cold, and I seriously find licking my lips inevitable. It all started when an old girlfriend let me use her mint Chap Stick. I had been a casual user before, from stocking stuffers and stuff, but now I depend on the crap every 20 minutes. I remember playing a joke on her once, I took stash of 4 sticks she had in her room and hid them. She FREAKED! Seriously... I couldn't even begin to understand the nature of the tantrum she pulled - until a little while later when I found myself buying my own sticks. I remember asking my pharmacist about the addictive nature of lip balms. He told me I had nothing to worry about. Yeah, right, I'd like to see him start using the stuff on a regular basis, just to let him see the road he ushered me down. Anyways, it's good to see important everyday issues that are so greatly overlooked brought to light.

17-year old "Blistex Freak" Lori M. writes:
The other night I was going around my house looking for Blistex. I went room to room and asked every member of my family. When they didn't have any I started crying, this stuff is addicting. I usually go through one tube a week. I take one in my pocket everywhere I go. Whenever someone needs Chap Stick they know that I have some. I put this stuff on usually 10-12 times a day. In the mornings I wear lip gloss, during the day I use a tube of Chap Stick, and at night I use medicated Blistex. I love getting new Chap Stick! Today I got a new one and a new flavor (mint). I already put it on 4 times. Thanks for listening to my story.

Rene D. doesn't care about "professional" opinions
My friends e-mailed me the address to your LBA site because they thought it was a joke--and because they have seen me go crazy when I can't find my lip balm. I use Avon Care Deeply brand and have even gotten my fiancee and several friends addicted to the stuff. I buy it in bulk--12-15 tubes at a time! I carry it in my purse, all my coat pockets, my brief case, my jackets, etc. I have one on my desk at home and one on my desk at work. I have one in the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom--every damn room in the house!
I can't go more than 20 minutes without putting it on and I know it drives people crazy! If I go somewhere and don't have it with me I almost go into withdrawal over not having in my lips. It all started, I think, when I was a freshman in high school and was on the speech/debate team. I found that if I used a lip gloss my lips and tongue wouldn't get so dry that I couldn't talk. I've been addicted ever since (I'm 34 now).
It's a horrible thing and I even heard someone say one time that they quit dating a guy because he was constantly using chap stick and it drove them crazy. It made me feel like a dork because I do it too! But I HAVE TO HAVE IT or I go crazy!
I have gotten up and left meetings before just to get a fix if I don't have it on me. I am not joking--this stuff is addictive. I don't care what the "professionals" say. It is!

Emma M. writes from Australia
I never seriously thought I was an addict until I read the lip balm addiction questions. I answered yes to at least 15 of them. I have only been a serious addict for about 6 months when I started using Bonne Belle. I have 25 lipbalms and I am trying to stop my collection from growing. I had to beg money off friends recently to buy lip balm at a 24 hour petrol station at four o'clock in the morning because I was suffering from not using the last three hours. I also put a tube of lip balm in my bra at my high school graduation because I couldn't take a bag on the stage.I used it when we walked off the stage for two minutes during the presentation. My boyfriend is also becoming addicted.I keep a couple under my pillow, in my wallet, my car, my bags and in my pockets.I am slowly weaning myself off Bonne Belle and onto somewhat less addictive lip substances such as Vaseline, Blistex and Lipeze, but I am still a full on addict, although I did go through eight hours of not even craving at work! My friends laugh at me, they have a ciggarette, I have a Blistex fix. At least I'm trying to quit!

Dawna R. is a proactive addict!
I recently heard of your Web site on our morning radio talk show. The DJ was making fun of this site and said no people really had a lip balm addiction. I quickly called him up and set him straight. I told of my tragic story, my near recovery, and how I fell off the recovery band wagon. I have 46 different flavors and kinds of lip balm. My problem has begun to hinder my school work. I once had a teacher tell me there was more to life than lip gloss. At that time I didn't believe him, but I have now seen the errors in my ways. I admit that I have a problem and need help. I have now joined LBA and have begun working on the 12 step program. I have noticed so many improvements since I started this program. My application period has increased from 15 min. to nearly 2 hours. Thanks LBA!!!!

Sister C. tried to help her sister!
I couldn't believe it when I read about your Web site in an issue of Women's World magazine! I have been convinced for a long time that my sister is addicted to Blistex mint flavored (in the green tube) lip balm. She in constantly applying it - if she accidentally forgets it when she leaves home (God forbid) either her whole day is ruined , or she has to make a trip to the nearest store. I talked to her about it the other day, and she told my that she knows that she is addicted, but she can't stop. She tried once, and actually had PHYSICAL withdrawal symptoms - her lips became swollen, blistered, red and painful. So much so that she started using it again. Yes, the habit is there mentally, but I think it's the physical withdrawal that's stopping her from kicking the habit. And as far as people not believing that lip balm is addictive, I have been witnessing it in my sister for over 10 years now, and I firmly believe the manufacturers know it's addictive! Anyway, thanks for your web site. I will pass on the info to my sister. Who knows.. maybe she will make another effort at giving up the Blistex.

Betsy B. wants to stop.
My name is Betsy....and I use. I now realize I have been a lip balm addict for probably about 25 years. I am SOOOOO relieved to find this Web site!!! I spent my childhood with dry lips that cracked at the corners. When I was about eight I began using chapsick (unflavored) because my lips were dry. I had allergies and consequently, I breathed through my mouth almost exclusively; and my nose was broken in a way that reduced the air flow. Dry lips were the consequence. I also had some food sensitivities to oranges and tomatoes, which irritated the problem. My allergist instructed me to only use unflavored Chap Stick. I got so I carried Chap Stick everywhere. When I got older, maybe fifteen, I found that by not using toothpaste with fluoride in it, and making sure I rinsed around my mouth well, I could eliminate the cracked corners, but my lips were still chapped. I was horrified in the 80's when it appeared that Chap Stick changed their formula to a softer, less effective form. I always preferred the harder stuff. I have resisted the urge to use Blistex and Carmex, as they seem to sting, but now, at 33, I am still hopelessly addicted. I have changed brands numerous times, now using the natural, herb-based products, but the addiction continues. I become tense and edgy if I don't feel that familiar shape in my left front pocket, and immediately go buy another tube. Clothing with pockets is a MUST! During softball season, I had to resort to carrying my lip balm in my sock! I have ruined countless articles of clothing because my lip balm has gone through the washer and dryer. And, when asked by friends about people, CDs or books that I would bring to a desert island, I am instantly horrified by the idea of being stranded on a desert island "WITHOUT LIP BALM", or running out! I am sick! I need help!! MUST STOP LICKING LIPS!!!

Cindy R. used cream rinse!
I was going to Arizona for my cousin's wedding. Before I left home, I placed a new bottle of Carmex in my jacket pocket. I knew I'd need it for my trip. However, about 20 minutes into the flight, I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere! I even opened my carry-on luggage in the aisle and exposed all my personal belonging for all to see. But, I still couldn't find it. I needed some, man. So in this most desperate of moments, I was forced to use the only thing I had - cream rinse for my hair. Yes, it tasted terribly. But, I didn't care. I just needed a hit. (By the way, this is indeed a true - as horrific as it may be - story.)

Deborah H. is humiliated by her addiction.
I am an active addict of Vaseline Lip Therapy. My addiction began a very long time ago. I have been using some form of lip balm for nearly 20 years. Back in the 1970's, no one had ever heard of a market for such a thing, so I would carry the large tub of Vaseline in my purse to junior high. Needless to say, I was teased mercilessly and I soon learned to take a portion of the Vaseline and glop it onto some Saran wrap, fold it into a small square and hide it in my purse. My addiction was not brought on by those Bonne Bell lip gloss ads. I have had a nervous habit of chewing on my lips for as long as I can remember, and the Vaseline eased the pain brought on by excessive lip mutilation. I was also made fun of for that unfortunate habit as well. This entire experience has been utterly humiliating, and has culminated in a lifelong lip balm addiction.

S.M.M writes:
This is a list of my Bonne Bell Lip Smacker flavors:

I did not write out the list special for you, I copied it off of my hard-drive, where it lives, just recently updated with the five new Christmas flavors introduced this month. (They tried to pass it off as SIX new flavors, packaging "Sugar Plum" as new, but Sugar Plum has long been with me, so I passed this extra on to a needy relative.) I am very proud to own them... especially several of the flavors that have been discontinued. I love them more than life itself...but here's the catch: I hardly ever desire to actually apply any of them to my lips. No, I like to line them all up on the table in front of me, and just marvel at the great enigma of their uniformity/variety. The astrix's on the list indicate that a flavor has the stupid lid with the hole for necklace-wearing. I despise those lids, and hope and dream to replace them someday with the nice, normal, smooth variety.

Am I addicted? Well, perhaps it is an even sicker addiction than that of a true user. Reading the heart-rending testamonies of the poor souls on your page, I realized that I am contributing to an industry that preys on the weak of spirit. Perhaps in the darker corners of my soul, I even relish this knowledge. When the next seasonal surprise is added to the Bonne Bell arsenal, will I still buy it? How could I not? Caught as I am in the clutches of my cylinder-worship, I am as helpless and as pitiful as the aforementioned poor souls.

Pray for me...

Megan B. writes:
I found your site quite by accident, and was admittedly giddy at the concept and overly amused. On a sad note, I read through the list of addiction warning signs and realized I could account for over fifteen of them!
I mean, this is all suppose to be a joke, right?
Most of the testimonies sounded eerily familiar; enough so to make me freak and grab my boyfriend from upstairs. When he saw the page he just laughed and said he was happy to know I had found a solution to my problem.
I am in the deepest throngs of addiction. I have time intervals for different types of lip balm -- I have lip balm for different occasions and situations. If I have just brushed my teeth I have a tube of Blistex in the cabinet. While training my voice, I must reapply Carmex between sips of water. Baring the winter weather outside? Only medicated Chap Stick will do. And the holiest of holy lip balms -- Soft Lips Cool Cherry. I have to have it with me wherever I go. I take it to friends and reapply in their company, if I leave it some place I must go back and get it. Be it a half-hour drive or a five-minute walk -- I must get it. If I leave on a trip and forget it, I am forced to run into the closest drug store and buy a new stick.
This is all sad and pathetic and true -- just ask my tortured boyfriend who has to pull over while I buy the stuff, and sleep with me at night with the Carmex gooped on.
I have scented/flavored bottles and tubes and tins from Bath & Body works and Bonne Bell. I have EVERY flavor. In every coat I own I have two balm products in each pocket -- one for every kind of "emergency": a vanilla stick of Bonne Bell, a tube of Chap Stick, a tin of Bath and Body works vanilla mint, and, of course, a stick of Softlips UV 17. In every room of the house lies a tin or stick of some sort; my glasses all have the familiar balm ring, the glove compartment of my car and the cars of my close friends ALL have some sort of balm I keep there "just in case". My boyfriend swears this is just a case of obsession compulsive disorder, the same way I can't go more than two hours without brushing my teeth. But my teeth are healthy and white and shiny, and my lips are full and luscious and never dry or chapped.
Am I reasoning out of denial? Who knows . . .just, please, those of you without this problem, pity us and our loved ones...

Beverley C.. writes:
I'm so relieved to find that I am not alone!
I realized that I had a problem, no -- I'll be straight up, that I had an addiction several years ago, but felt that I was just being overly dramatic. Surely, I was some sort of freak who had a physiological ailment which actually caused my lips to not produce any moisture. Was this some genetic problem? Possibly, since my father has carried a tube of Cherry Chap Stick with him at all times since before I can remember.
I have in my possession at least 25 tubes of some sort of lip balm. They are stashed in a pocket of every coat that I own, in bathroom drawers, desk drawers, glove compartments of every car, several tubes in my purse, etc. etc. I even have insisted that my husband carry a tube in the horrible event that I may find myself without!
A friend mentioned to me her concern over my obvious addiction (I was forced to dip into her infant son's tub of "rectal thermometer lubricant" Vaseline in a weak moment with no lip balm). She alerted me to an article she had read regarding the drying/addictive qualities of the petroleum based lip balms on the market and suggested that I try a product called "Un-Petroleum". Oh, the rapture... it is so smooth, so silky, it... it... it feels sooo goood!! And surely, I was finally free of the lip balm addiction!! Then suddenly, without warning, my local drug store stopped carrying Un-Petroleum!! Oh God!! I frantically drove from store to store, to no avail!! There is no more Un-Petroleum to be found!! In a frenzy, I tried one search engine after another on the web to find a way to contact Autumn Harp, the company which manufactures Un-Petroleum. Suddenly, one came through with a link to an article... an article within the Lip Balm Anonymous Web Site.
At first, I was angry. How could anyone dare say that my beloved Un-Petroleum was further feeding my addiction?!! But I read on... and my denial began to fade.
It's true. I am a balmaholic. **sigh**. It's almost a relief. And it is so comforting to find that I am not alone. I'm going to a wedding this weekend, and I know that I will fall if I try before that.
But I vow to you, my support group, and to myself, that starting Monday, March 9th, 1998, I am going cold turkey. Wish me luck, my friends. Any support that you can lend via e-mail will be much appreciated. Thank you for being there.

Sylvia K. writes:
There is no joke about the pain I was in when I tried to quit.

I went cold turkey for two months. I thought I could wait it out and get past the splitting and bleeding, but I gave in. After two months, I thought it was hopeless if my lips were still in that condition. I must emphasize that I was very conscientious not to lick them, but they still remained dry.
Has anyone ever heard of this taking so long? I would be willing to try again if I thought had any hope of success. I guess I have been using for too many years. Please tell people... this is not a joke.
What a perfect marketing scam, the creation of a perpetual need.

Lip Balm Slave lost her job to the balm.
I, too, am addicted to lip balm. At first, I thought I was the only one. I felt alone and strange. I needed it all the time. When I flunked a test, there was my Carmex. When I was jilted in love, there was my Blistex. And when depression came knocking at my door, there was my Vaseline Intensive Care. It got to a point where my lips were so slick I could not eat any food. Kissing was pointless.
On a high point, I was able to kick my smoking habit because the cigarettes kept slipping off of my lips. I found most of my day was consumed hunting for lip gloss bargains in bulk. I have lip balm everywhere. 3 in my purse, 5 in my car, 10 in my bathroom, 2 in my bedroom, 6 along the stairs, and one in a fireproof safe, in case of emergencies. Once I was docked a few days' pay because my supervisor claimed I spent too much time applying lip balm. I dream that my true love is named Carmex, and he wears a red hat and a yellow coat, and from far away, looks kind of like a tube. I am SICK. I can't stop. I have the motion down to a science: grab, uncap, swipe in a few quick circular motions, slick across lips. I can go from chapped to ultra-moisturized in 0.3 seconds. It's amazing. After seeing your site, I felt my testimony belonged there. Just call me... Lip Balm Slave.

Carrie B. lost friends to the balm!
Okay, I'm sitting here with my friend Sabrina and her boyfriend. Knowing her need for Chap Stick (the original kind), he showed her your wonderful website. She sat here and read it, all the while getting more and more fidgety. At one point, she actually said "We have to stop on the way home because I lost my Chap Stick, and I need to get more. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Reading this makes me need more." She is in complete denial, saying she has no problem, and she could quit whenever she wanted. She says she doesn't like your site because you're "trying to get rid of something that's very useful." She also got irritated because we were laughing when we related the questions on your quiz back to her life.
She says I'm no longer allowed to be her friend because I am sending this to you for everyone on the web to see, but I don't care. I realize I'm being a better friend by trying to stop her addiction than I would be if I tried only to please her and let her continue with her facade. She has now resorted to violence to prove that she is not addicted. If this letter cuts off in the middle, please call 911 immediately. She is reading over my shoulder, and as I type, her boyfriend was agreeing with my thoughts, and she threw a plastic bottle at him. Please tell us what we should do to help her. Her friends and family are very concerned. Thank you, LBA. Your website has been... wait, she just picked up the other bottle... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.......

This site makes Anh N. feel better:
Well, as far as I know, i've been applying lip balms to my lips for the last 7 years practically non stop (I'm 19). Actually, I came across this page because I'm writing a psychology
assignment on my lip balm applications. I monitored myself for 14 days and found that I put lip balm on about 10 to 15 times a day, usually after eating, having a drink, kissing, talking a
lot, if I'm nervous, or basically anything that makes the stuff leave my lips. I've found that ever since I started using the stuff, that if I don't put it on, my lips feel dry, and once a friend
tested my and took my lipbalm away for a little while. After about 1/2 an hour, I basically went nuts. I'll put the stuff on in the middle of the night if I wake up, and I have to be hoding
my little jar at all times.
I'm so glad that other people experience this as well, it makes me feel a little better.
If anyone wants to e-mail me about their experiences of whatever, here's my address: s344966@student.edu.uq.au

Crystal P. tell us about a dog's addiction:
I, like so many others, am a lip balm addict. A few months ago I was driving to work when I discovered, to my utter horror, that I had forgotten my Chap Stick. Stopping at a gas station on the way, I was disappointed to discover that the only kind they had was some SunBan cocoa butter-type crap. However, I was desperate for some balm and I bought it.
Later that day, after returning home from work, I was reading a novel in the company of my cocker spaniel. I still had the SunBan in my right front pocket and so I decided to reapply. I had just twisted the cap off the stick when my dog went berserk! She stiffed the stick and tried to lick it! Luckly, I stopped her...but not for long.
After that day, she continually perked up every time she heard me open a stick of lip balm. Recently, I discovered that she had chewed up an entire Chap Stick. I know that Lip Balm Anonymous is extremely concerned about the effect lip balm is having on our children. I think that it is time for LBA to look into the effect lip balm is having on our pets as well.

"Blistex King" hides his addiction
I think I have an addiction to Blistex. I apply once every half hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When I am near my friends, they laugh and mock me. I think I am even going into depression because of these constant put-downs. Sometimes I buy the flavoured type of Chap Sticks but they only last about 2 minutes since I have them licked off by then. Sometimes I even apply directly to the tongue. It was rather embarrassing this one time because after I finished eating a grape flavoured chapstick, my teeth became stained for an entire day. I am using my friends computer to send this secretly, since he would find this completely ridiculous.

Holly shares an addiction with her daughter!
I have been using Chapstick and Blistex for years, no big deal. I started with a lemon flavored Vaseline that was by far my favorite, I don't think they make it anymore. My 15 year old daughter uses medicated Chapstick and one day last year she was having a stroke on the way to lacrosse practice because she had no Chapstick and her lips were burning. I gave her mine, which you would think would gross her out, if you knew her, only to find that she took it!!! I didn't think much about that day til today. I've been noticing that I use lip balm a lot and ALWAYS have one on me. I was home today, and very busy. I found that my lips are BURNING and they hurt and I am feeling a need to apply Chapstick every few minutes for relief. This happened insidiously. But now I understand my daughter's desperation of last year. I think we're both addicted. I've been reading other user's stories and I'm afraid if I stop using it, I'll develop horrible, blistery or cracked, bleeding lips which I am afraid of. All these years I just used it cause my lips felt dry, but now THEY ARE HURTING SO MUCH! and they don't even feel dry or chapped, just VERY TENDER, like they need to be protected! Help....

Cathy W. wants to quit.
LBA is like a beacon of light in my otherwise dark, lip balm coated life. I am not quite ready to give it up completely, but I have realized that I need help. Today I forgot my Carmex when I went to school today. I could not concentrate; all I could think of was finding someone with Carmex (or Blistex in a pinch) and the helpless feeling of my lips drying out. I begged everyone for just one hit. I got some Chap Stick during math, but that was not enough for long. I just had to get MORE MORE MORE!! AGG! The insanity. Someone referred me to you. I thank you for what you are doing!! I only hope that one day I too can get off my Carmex dependency.

Kate D. wants to kick the habit!
Hi, my name is Kate, and I am a full-blown-out lip balm addict. It started when I was as young as five years old. Everywhere I went I would ask my mom if I could have a lip smacker, or a Blistex. Now, when I go to the store, I ask my mom to buy me a tube, lying, saying that I used up the one that she had bought me the day before, which was actually sitting on my desk, half full. I sometimes consume about half a stick a day. My current favorite is Regular, SPF 10, Blistex, and Softlips. Whenever I go into CVS I head right over to the wall filled with chap stick. It's like an addiction. Sometimes I spend 7 or 8 dollars to get a tube of great chap stick that I've heard about in a magazine.
I never even realized that I had a problem, or that it could grow into one until I read an article in Seventeen magazine, that came from your site. My problem, is that I own over a hundred odd chap sticks, and I am wasting my money, and I don't want to stop using it.
If I leave my chap stick at home for the day, while at school, my lips hurt, and I go around to my classmates asking anyone if I can borrow a tube for the day. One day I borrowed someone's tube of Softlips, and by the end of the day I had used the whole thing up. I still owe him a tube, but don't want to spend a few extra dollars to buy him one.
When I don't have a tube of chap stick with me, I go crazy. Often I have to substitute a lipstick and smear it all over trying to get some moisture into my lips. One time, I was spending the weekend with my best friend, who is a tom boy, and wouldn't put on a swipe of Chap Stick if I gave her a $100.00. She didn't own one stick, or even Vaseline. I went crazy all weekend, and ended up being so stressed out that I got sick. Which reminds me. I tend to use chap stick when I am sick. It gives me the feeling that I am doing something to make me get better, which I know isn't true at all. I love making my lips look glossy, and soft, and I don't want to stop, but I know that I need help. I've even tried putting this nasty stuff that smells and tastes really bad on my lips to try and kick the habit by grossing myself out, but nothing works at all.

Chap Stick has an insidious presence for Emily M. wants to kick the habit!
Chap stick has an insidious presence in my home as far back as I can remember. My mom always bought Tangerine chap stick from Avon, and gradually we accumulated many brands: there are twelve tubes/tubs of chap stick in our bathroom drawer. It's no wonder I'm an addict. What's surprising is the fact that no one else in my family is. Slowly but surely, when I started spending long amounts of time at school, I began to develop a passion for chap stick outside of my house. Suddenly, what had become a simple application when I walked through the bathroom was a full-blown addiction.
I apply chap stick *at least* once every two hours; I have no preference (although I haven't done any of the "harder" medicated products like Carmex or Blistex--they scare me) but the soothing feeling of gooey chap stick melting onto my lips is heavenly. Alternately, going without chap stick creates immediate symptoms, namely burning, sore lips. In fact, now that I think about it, most of my chap stick use is provoked by milder forms of these symptoms. Does my body suck it up or something? Why am I constantly in need of a fix?
This year we had an assembly on chemical dependecies, and as a joke, I claimed that I was a chap stick junkie. My friend gave me the URL for this page with a grin, because she doesn't take my addiction very seriously. But now, as I realize that I *am* truly dependent on my trusty tubes of lip lubricant, I must take it seriously. Chap stick addiction sucks! I go into a frenzy when I don't have it, begging strangers in my classes for some spare lip goo (when they let me borrow it, it's under the condition that I'll apply the chap stick with my fingers... but I can never get enough! Inevitably, I end up digging my finger into the stick to get a glob, repaying my friends and classmates with a mutilated stick), and even my parents are annoyed as I constantly steal their chap stick out of the drawer!
Oh why am I always chapped, even when I spend so much effort to stay juicy and fresh?

Kris Ten sent us this interesting poem:
Right before I went to camp I ran out of Chap Stick. So I had my dad run me over to a CVS. I went in and grabbed what I saw. So I'm at camp and I'm using it, I began to use it even more. So I read the side and it's sun block. It dried my lips out even more, so I used it even more. I finally gave that up and I had to continue to ask people that I didn't know for theirs. It was weird and I realized I had a problem, but I couldn't help it. So when I got back I wrote some lyrics about my problem:

My obsession
Is with chap Stick.
The good kind,
Not the bad.
When I am without
This awesome stuff
I compulse
Like a mime with terets.
Don't take my chap Stick
Please,
I'm begging.
My lips will get dry,
Which is bad for kissing.
Like I kiss anyway.
Hey!
Don't make fun of me
You snobbish Irish cow!
I'm cooler than you.
I am.
My mommy told me so,
After she kissed me on the cheek
And told me I'm evil.
I wish I had my Chap Stick.
It's like a security blanket
For my lips.
Chap Stick.
It's the next best thing
To bleeding gums.
Wait...
No!
I mean...
What do I mean?
See what happens
When you take my
Chap Stick?
You devil foods belly dancer.
I start babbling on
Like a brook
Streaming to No Where Kingdom.
Find a frog and kiss it.
Where's my chap Stick?
I miss it.
I feel naked without it!
Wait I am naked.
Why must you torture me
With your childish reindeer games?
I seem to have lost my shoes.
FINE!
I'll just walk on the
Jagged rocks,
BAREFOOT,
With out my chap Stick.
If I am ever
To find my beloved chap Stick again,
I'd hold it tight
And smear it on my belly
And say:
   "I am a warrior goddess,
   worship my Chap Stick belly"
actually,
I probably won't.
I'd just say:
   "Hey, there you are."
Chap Stick is cool.

I'm searching for help. I don't use butter, but I am an addict.

Last updated on September 16, 2000
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