My Name is Jennifer and I am a Lip Balm Addict

Are you a lip balm addict? I am. Love the stuff. Now I know why. I ran across this guys web site yesterday and found it VERY interesting. Lip Balm Anonymous . Seems that people really are addicted to lip balm.

Here's some information from his site

Lip Balm Anonymous is often asked if lip balm is really addictive. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't!

Which helps explain why you can diligently apply "medicated" lip balm several times a day and still suffer from chapped lips. The tingling sensation you get from those products usually comes from menthol, camphor or phenol. "All those things are drying and irritating," says Paula Begoun, a well-known critic of the cosmetics industry. She says she suspects that these ingredients are routinely used "to make the consumer think something is happening. If you want a cooling sensation, drink some cold water."

Users, meanwhile, often find the pleasant tingling habit-forming. "You get so accustomed to that cooling, soothing sensation, that it's like, "Yeah, I need that in my life all the time". Subjected to this constant irritation, it's not surprising that your lips don't get any better.

Selling Year-Round!

Some people claimed we were crazy when we said lip balm addiction was a year-round disorder. Now we have proof! This Blistex ad ran in U.S. Sunday newspapers during May 1997.

As you can see, the ad is very direct about trying to get people to use balm during the summer. If you think you only need lip balm during the winter, Blistex wants you to think differently!
Here's the proof in the pudding! These sales figures for the lip care category come from Mentholatum. Sales are the highest during December, and certainly winter is a busy time in the lip balm market. But look at the numbers another way. Sales are steady throughout the entire year! You don't see a nose-dive during the summer months at all.

In fact, one could argue that the increased sales during December are a factor of the holiday gift season more than weather. There is a big market for lip balm marketed to children. And you know a lot of that lip balm ends in Christmas stockings!!!!


So any of you using Blistex, Carmex, Chapstick, Bonne Bell, Vaseline Lip Therapy go check out this web site. It's pretty fun stuff!!

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

- Jennifer