Ask self-professed lip balm addicts about their habit, and they tend to answer sheepishly.
"I noticed I had a little problem," says John Eichel, an 18-year-old employee of Princeton Sports in Columbia. Eichel claims not to panic if he can't find his ChapStick, but it really stinks, the Highland resident says, "if your lips are all chapped and it feels like razor blades are cutting into them."
And then there's Jacqueline Bethea, the 25-year-old Chicago entrepreneur who started a Web site for buying lip balm: Lipmedic.com. "I personally revel in my addiction," she says. She believes her parents are responsible. As a girl, Bethea received a ChapStick in her Christmas stocking every year, along with an orange and a Slim Jim.
Today, "I carry at least 10 to 15 lip balms with me; my purse is just full of lip balms," she says. "I guess I'm spoiled for choice. I probably don't put the same one on twice in a day."
While some in the medical community suggest lip balm dependency can border on the obsessive, users themselves are spending millions of dollars annually on the stuff. From a plain-spun remedy for chapped lips, the balm has evolved to become a customized staple of pocket pharmacopeias everywhere and a source of avid discussion among dry-lipped connoisseurs.
Lipmedic offers more than 250 varieties of balms from 70 different labels. The balms come in pots, sticks, tins and tubes from around the world. There is vegan lip balm, Dirty Girl lip balm, Hostess Ho Ho lip balm, Wash Away Your Sins lip balm ("for liars, cheaters & wrong-doers"), and lip balms made with emu oil and hemp.
One of Lipmedic's best sellers is Smith's Rosebud Salve, produced in Woodsboro, Md., since 1892.
A 12-step approach
Emollient enthusiasts numbering 2,000 subscribe to Lipmedic's online newsletter, and glowing testimonials promote the site. A customer named Julie writes: "Lip Balms are like VERY addictive drugs I can't live without and Lipmedic is a cure for my obsession."
Bethea is surprised that she hasn't been panned by Lip Balm Anonymous (www.kevdo.com / lipbalm), which takes a humorous-yet-serious approach to the question of lip balm dependency. The site features a 12-step approach to shaking the habit, but also challenges lip balm marketing strategies, including the promotion of products that pander to impressionable kids.
