I have read that it is possible to become addicted to petroleum based lip balms, this site has some good info on the toxicity of chapsticks and other balms:
An extensive article on lip balms
appeared in the November 13, 1997
issue of Newsday. Titled “Paying for
Lip Service,” the article discusses
several points in the quest for
defining the addictive qualities of
lip balm.
The author asked several experts:
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 whose new book, “The Beauty
Bible” (Beginning Press, $16.95), is
due out this month. 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.”Known as
counter-irritants, camphor and menthol
dry out the lips, a necessary step for
healing cold sores, but too extreme
for ordinary dryness. Phenol’s main
purpose is to kill bacteria and help
prevent infections and should be used
only in severe cases, not on a daily
basis. 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,’ ” says Gordon Espinet,
a makeup artist for Toronto-based
M.A.C. cosmetics and a dry-lip
sufferer. Subjected to this constant
irritation, it’s not surprising that
your lips don’t get any better.
“Read what that product says it does
and use it for that reason,” says
Espinet, who recommends M.A.C.’s
medicated Lip Treatment for cold sores
and severely chapped lips and a
Vitamin E lipstick for milder cases of
dryness. “When it says to heal lips,
don’t get into the habit of using it
when lips are at their best.”
The article also says that many
dermatologists maintain that the lips
natural exfoliate every 28 days or so.
This backs up the belief that lip balm
just isn’t necessary. Even the
products designed to “heal” also have
a usage loop which keeps you hooked.
Alpha hydroxy acids, which were
previously regarded as too harsh for
the lips, have now been formulated to
exfoliate this delicate membrane. Lip
Revitalizer from Blistex ($1.89 at
drugstores), introduced in October,
contains two alpha hydroxy acids
(lactic and glycolic acids) in a
creamy base that you squeeze through a
slanted applicator directly onto your
lips. “The whole idea is that it gets
rid of flakiness on the lips and very
fine lines,” says Dr. Charles
Zugerman, an associate professor of
clinical dermatology at Northwestern
University Medical School in Chicago
and a consultant to Blistex. He
recommends the product for both
healing chapped lips and for ongoing
lip maintenance. Be warned that Lip
Revitalizer does have an enticing
minty flavor that may cause you to
lick your lips more, which only
aggravates dryness (emphasis added by
LBA).
I try not to use anything, but trust that the saturated fat in my diet is helping my lips stay moist from the inside - it works. I also try to stay hydrated.
I do occasionally use coconut oil in the height of summer when I am out in the sun and in the winter when it is very cold or windy, however, but I think it is very much like no soap and no shampoo; the longer you leave your lips to sort themselves out the better they become.
I've known several people, myself
included, who found our lips getting
painfully dry and chapped when we
apply lip balm consistently. It's as
if our lips stopped producing their
own moisture. Fortunately, it's
possible to wean yourself off of it,
and your lips will start taking care
of themselves naturally.
from this
page
I have also used butter topically, which is nice, but tastes a little weird after a while.
On the whole, I need do nothing to my lips and have not done since stopping getting coldsores (hooray!) that happened after a month of going paleo - but you need to ease into this gradually to start with.....bump up the amount of coconut oil, cream and butter you consume as well as cutting back on the chapstick and you should feel a difference to your lips. Make sure you are exposed to weak sun from winter right through into the hot sun of summer and your lips will get acclimatized rather than go out on a blistering summer's day and expose them to the rays without protection straight off.
