Lip Balm Addiction: The Secret Shame

[MrRING]

http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/

The History of Lip Balm Anonymous

Without a doubt, the tradition that Lip Balm Anonymous continues started many years ago with Bill W. and Alcoholics Anonymous. Since then, other similar groups were founded. Lip Balm Anonymous continues the tradition.

In early 1995, Kevin C. was a suffering Chap Stick addict. Though others had mentioned to him that he had a problem with lip balm, Kevin figured that since it was legal there was no problem with his usage. But, deep down, Kevin knew that his lip balm use was unhealthy--both physically as well as mentally. But, Kevin was weak and he did not know where to turn for help. Kevin C. was alone with his addiction.

Later that year, Kevin had several friends who used 12-step programs to overcome alcohol or caffeine. At last, Kevin knew there was a chance. He quickly read the 12-steps and adapted them for his own purposes. He enlisted his 12-step veteran friends to counsel him. Just three weeks later, Kevin C. was free from lip balm.

Once free for over 200 days, Kevin C. decided to spread the faith. He met informally several times with friends and convened the first official meeting of Lip Balm Anonymous in a meeting room in Mountain View, California. Several new members urged Kevin C. to make available the story of life without lip balm to the rest of the world. That effort resulted in the pages you are reading now. We try to adhere to the 11th Tradition and as such do not actively seek to promote our organization as a whole. We do promote this Web site as a way of disseminating information about our organization.

 

[Min Bannister]

Gosh thank you for that website! I've been trying to get off this stuff for ages. What I really mean is, I could give up anytime I want to, I just don't want to.

 

[mindalai]

I fear it is too late for me. I've moved on to the hard stuff now - vaseline.

Seriously though I remember when I was at school people were talking about lip balm addiction. The Body Shop lip balm flavours were quite delicious and people would put it on their lips just to lick it off again. I always remember it left you with a nasty feeling in your throat and my friends and I were sure it was dangerous.

 

[gl5211]

Then what do they do when they get chapped lips? Suffer? I guess i am an addict in denial because I use all the time and well i think of it as one of my "necessities".

 

[synchronicity]

I have to plead guilty, too. I cannot live without lip balm---I defy anyone to call me a lip balm addict!

I absolutely cannot go to sleep until I've put on my lip balm--my lips get so dry I'm too uncomfortable to sleep! :?

I buy lip balms (preferably with exotic flavors) by the truckload practically. Now that I think of it, I found some on sale (from Christmas) the other day, and bought two sets of about a half dozen each!

Er....what was the link to the Lip Balm Anonoymous thingie again? :shock:

 

[phgnome]

I'm a die-hard lip balm user. I can't live without lip balm. I MUST have a lip balm with me at all times -- doesn't matter if I'm stark naked and have no place to put it...I have to have it within reach.

My early stage of lip balm usage started off with the body shop stuff. But I didn't like the packaging back then. It was in a glass jar and made it somewhat heavy to carry around.

Then I got onto vaseline. That was good for a while but one summer, I got sunburned on my lips. It was the most horrible feeling in the world. My lips felt like they had 12 extra layers of skin on them and they kept peeling and were really sensitive and dry. That's when I moved to the hardcore stuff: Blistex Medicated in the little plastic jar pot thing.

I loved it. I had about 20 of them. There was at least one always within reach. I grew to really like the tingle of Blistex Medicated.

But I began thinking it was a bit unsanitary for me to dip my finger in all the time and put it to my mouth. A few times, I was scrubbing something down with bleach and accidentally got bleach on my lips while I was putting on my lip balm. It tasted awful.

So I moved onto Chap Stick Medicated in a stick. I loved the stuff! LOVED IT! My whole world revolved around it. It wasn't available everywhere so whenever I saw it, I stocked up. I went through countless tubes of it for a while until....THEY STOPPED MAKING IT where I live!!!!!!! :shock: Imagine the horror!

I went to great lengths to look for it and it was nowhere to be found in any drugstores, corner stores, supermarkets...NO WHERE! I was devastated. Then, one day when I was at a flea market, there was this little booth that had a HUGE tub of Chap Sticks. There were an assortment of flavours in the enormous bin and in there, mixed with all the other fluff Chap Sticks was my one true love...MEDICATED CHAP STICK IN A TUBE! AHHHH! I went nuts! I stood there for an hour pulling every tube I could find from the bin of thousands of tubes of Chap Stick. I wanted ALL of them. I picked out every tube I could find in that bin and spent about 60 bucks and walked away with a big bag of Chap Stick.

The next week I went back to the same flea market to see if they got any more and they didn't. That was the last time I ever saw it. They never got another shipment of the medicated ones again.

My supply of Medicated Chap Stick is long gone. It lasted about a year. I used every tube down to the little thing at the end, until I was scraping it out. If I could ever find another source for these, I'd stock up on a crate of them. I wonder why they stopped making them around here. I wonder if they just stopped making them altogether. I saw it on Amazon but they're selling them for $29 a tube.

 

[escargot]

I get a very nice 'medicated' one from Tesco, cheap too. I bet that'd do nearly as well.

 

[QuaziWashboard]

I think the time to worry about lib balm addiction is when people start injecting it into their bloodstream.
Saying that...I do know someone whose life was made miserable by an addiction to Sinex Spray.

 

[mindalai]

I'm one of those who has a little tub of vaseline in every room and one in every pocket of every coat and bag I own. My lips feel weird without it. I don't like those chapstick type ones though - in cold weather it freezes solid and leaves you with lips coated in something that feels like candlewax.

 

[Quake42]

Er... this is a joke, right? :shock:

 

[escargot]

I MUST have a lip balm with me at all times -- doesn't matter if I'm stark naked and have no place to put it...I have to have it within reach.

:shock:

 

[mindalai]

I MUST have a lip balm with me at all times -- doesn't matter if I'm stark naked and have no place to put it...I have to have it within reach.

In that case you may find the chapstick-shaped dispensers more convenient. :?

 

[Anonymous]

Sniffing tubs of Play-Doh!




Just me then.

 

[Beakmoo]

Sniffing tubs of Play-Doh!




Just me then.

No, not just you.

 

[Anonymous]

Could be worse, eh, Beak!

 

[Timble2]

Could be worse, eh, Beak!

You'd be worried by the interests of people who that might attract... :vampire:

 

[Anonymous]

Well ask beakboo - she does actually wear it...

I've got the "Dirt" cologne, it's really nice, like wet earth after rain. And I'm notoriously fussy about perfume, most of them make me ill.

Link

 

[Leaferne]

Demeter Dirt smells lovely, like potting soil.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I fear it is too late for me. I've moved on to the hard stuff now - vaseline.

Just be careful. A close male relative was slathering some on his chapped bum crack (or stinging ring I forget) and his girlfriend asked him how long he had been doing that as she had been using the same tub of Vaseline instead of lip balm. I think the answer put her straight back on the lipbalm as the safer alternative. At least you know where it has been.

 

[escargot]

In her place, I'd have said nowt, but substituted Deep Heat for the Vaseline.

I know that'd work. My brother invented Riverdance after an accidental ring/heat ointment interface. 8)

 

[spiritdoctor]

Thank you for that delightful after dinner anecdote Emperor

I have a husband and use vaseline as alip balm.

Darling, you don't use any of my toiletries do you?
What? Nothing, no reason

 

[glamour_dust]

I never knew about lip balm addiction, but I love tinted lip glosses and use them exclusively now. They feel so moist and soft on the lips - plus they have great names like lipslicks, wet shine diamonds and lip lacquer. Who could resist such delicious sounding texture? I have around 100.


I don't have a problem though - I'm sure I don't.

 

[synchronicity]

Just be careful. A close male relative was slathering some on his chapped bum crack (or stinging ring I forget) and his girlfriend asked him how long he had been doing that as she had been using the same tub of Vaseline instead of lip balm. I think the answer put her straight back on the lipbalm as the safer alternative. At least you know where it has been.

OMG---ROFLMAO!!!!

I think I would have had a complete psychotic break!!! :lol:

Yes, I adore my lovely-flavored lip balms (altho I can quit any time I want ) BUT I have to be careful what kind I buy. My skin (including my lips!) is incredibly sensitive and I have the weirdest reactions to some things.

I can't use the "medicated" lip balms at all--something in them (medication perhaps? :shock: ) makes my lips blister and peel and it feels awful. Even some brands that aren't medicated do the same thing to me--go figure!

So I generally stick to Avon lip balms (which I can buy from a lovely Avon lady at my local flea market--I love flea markets too!) and to Bonne Bell lip balms. All of these have a great flavor and don't bother my lips at all. (And they're inexpensive too--very important when you're as addicted as I am!!)

Would you believe there are a lot of brands of toothpaste I can't tolerate?! :shock: :shock: I seriously can't--a lot of them also make my lips blister! I wish the manufacturers would quit making so many "fancy" kinds of toothpastes and go back to the old kinds--I'm tired of hunting thru the drug store to find a toothpaste that won't cause me all kinds of grief! I can't even use the new gel toothpastes--I love the way they make my mouth feel fresh and all (I know--I'm starting to sound like a TV ad!) BUT then the trouble starts--AARRGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And oh yes--I am always getting addicted to nasal decongestant sprays--Afrin is my drug of choice. My allergies aren't severe, but I just cannot tolerate a stuffy nose, so I start using the Afrin. It works great at first, but before long you start to have "rebound congestion"--that's what the doctors call it--and you're hooked.

Yes, I guess it's time to admit it:

I am a hard-core junkie. 8)

 

[Leaferne]

I'd be careful with those sprays; why do you need them all the time? Do you have undiagnosed allergies?

You might want to try the toothpastes made by Tom's of Maine; they should be in the health food/weave your own yogurt section of the store. Not sure if they have fluouride though.

 

[Beakmoo]

Yes Tom's of Maine is pretty good (I've got a hypersensitive gob too). I recently started using Auromere toothpaste, tastes gorgeous, brings me out in sores.

I use Blistex, but on my ears, it's good for mild eczema. God I sound like a medieval peasant on this thread, covered in scabs and smelling of dirt. I'm quite attractive really.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd try all this stuff, but I've worked it out and It'd cost me close to 2 and a half grand with the flight and eveything so sod that!

I'll stick to soap and water and let my hair look rough!

 

[Gemaki]

Tom's Of Maine toothpaste, tried that years ago, horrible stuff. Way too strong taste. The extra strong ones the other companies came out with are capable of stripping the skin off the inside of your cheeks (seriously, it happened to my niece.) Regular toothpaste makes me gag, I used to use a liquid one that was great, it didn't foam. They quit making it (of course) so I use Arm & Hammer baking soda and peroxide now, I LOVE IT! You can use plain baking soda on a wet brush, though.

The chapstick addiction stuff had me laughing, hubby is addicted to the 'medicated' one, I think it tastes like Vapor Rub, YUK. When I kiss him, my lips tingle... I hate that shit. (could be why he uses it.)

Years ago my SIL showed me this very expensive (for me) new perfume she had found, we sprayed it on and went shopping, we both kept talking about how we loved it SO MUCH! I went to the fancy perfume counter, and after much debating with myself, caved in and bought a bottle. It was called Hypnotic Poison, I think. I was ecstatic all day, until I got home and showed hubby, and after the first sniff he said "That smells like PlayDoh!" :shock:

He was indeed right, it did, and the wonderful new perfume I had gotten was ruined.

I think I'll try it again, though. Maybe it'll counteract the lip balm. (Nahhh, he likes the smell of PlayDoh....)

 

[escargot]

Y'know, you can make your own Play-Do. I used to do it when I ran playgroups. So perhaps you could make some up and flavour it differently. Then when Hubby's smelled it, you can try the posh perfume again. 8)

 

[Belshazzar]

...

 

[stu neville]

I fear it is too late for me. I've moved on to the hard stuff now - vaseline.

Just be careful. A close male relative was slathering some on his chapped bum crack (or stinging ring I forget) ..

I thought everyone knows that Bonjela is the quite the best balm for a chapped bumhole.

Frank Hovis, giver of wisdom, where are you now?