Carmex was originally designed for cold sores. It speeds their disappearance by burning off the layers of dead skin on the healing blemish. It stands to reason that using it on healthy lips -- which 80 percent of Carmex buyers do -- might expose soft new lip skin to the elements before it's ready and thereby lead to chapping.

Carmex president Paul Woelbing is not surprised to learn that my call has to do with the purported addictive nature of his product. At last count, he's sent out 150 letters to people assuring them his product is not addictive. "We get letters from people who've heard it contains nicotine or that there's bits of fiberglass in it or acid that roughs up your lips and makes you keep using it."

"What about that last one?" I outline the salicylic-acid-on-healthy-lips theory.

"It's a tiny amount," he says. "Not even 1 percent."

"So why put it in if it doesn't do anything?"

Woelbing tells me what he told the 150 people who wrote to him: "If you're having trouble, we suggest trying a more neutral product, like Vaseline."

Woelbing admits to using eight or 10 times a day.

"Answer me honestly, Paul." I have in front of me the LBA self-test. "Is your lip balm use causing conflict with your spouse or family? Do you feel depressed, guilty or remorseful after you use lip balm?"

"I can stop any time I want to."

Carmex aside, why does Rene D. buy Avon Care Deeply in bulk, 15 tubes at a time? Why did Emma M. go out to a gas station at 4 a.m. to buy Chapstick after "suffering from not using the last three hours." What's behind "that gross dry feeling that drives [Tara P.] crazy until [she] can get to some lubrication"?

University of California professor of dermatology Roy Grekin suggests it may be largely a matter of climate. Rene and Emma and Tara probably live somewhere dry, and so their lips are chronically dry. Dry air pulls water from the lips. It's simple chemistry. "Two different concentrations of water will try to equalize themselves," Grekin explains. "Put a glass of water out in a dry area and next day it's empty. It's in the air. The body is like a glass of water. We're 70 percent water." One sure way to kick a lip balm habit: Move someplace humid. "Soon as you step off the plane in Hawaii, I can guarantee you," says Grekin, "you won't need lip balm."

Alternatively, the woe-beset women of the LBA Web site may be lip lickers. Lip-licking -- yes, this is an actual dermatological phenomenon -- is one of physiology's vicious circles. Your lips feel dry so you lick them, but licking dries them out more, causing you to lick them even more. "The wet-dry-wet cycle tends to irritate the lips," Zugerman says. "It's like constantly washing your hands." Lip balms help because they contain petroleum or wax -- oily materials that trap moisture inside the lips, making them temporarily less dehydrated.

In short, people overuse lip balms because they work. "When you put moisturizer on the lips, the lips feel better," says Zugerman. "When the lips feel better, there's a general desire to use the product more and more. When you stop using it, you're used to the feeling of having something good on there and it doesn't feel good anymore. The need is not physiological. It's psychological."

Woelbing agrees. "When people claim to be addicted to Carmex, what they are experiencing is the natural tendency to repeatedly use something which is effective and/or pleasurable," says Woelbing. "For example, I joke that I am addicted to chocolate and the TV show 'Frasier.'"

Why is it so hard to quit? Zugerman likens it to a hangnail you're used to picking at. "If you try to stop cold turkey, then all you can think about is that hangnail. It's not anything more than that." One thing is certain. As Kevin C. says himself, "In the grand scheme of things, it really isn't that big of a problem."
salon.com | April 23, 1999

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