Busy, Smart and Strong: Can you be addicted to lip balm?

It seems a little ridiculous but that was a big topic of discussion a few years ago.

People would blog about how they couldn’t go to sleep at night without Chapstick on their bedside table and would wake up in the night to reapply it. You have to admit, it was intriguing but it doesn’t even seem possible.

When you think about addictions you think of alcohol, tobacco or drugs. But let’s take a closer look.

Addiction (def): a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal.

Habit-Forming (def): Capable of leading to physiological or psychological dependence

With that in mind, Chandler Cosmetic chemist John Hill says many lip balms and lotions have ingredients that are so cheap and not in sync with your skin that they leave your skin even dryer as they dry out, causing you to have to reapply the product and get caught in a cycle. There’s a physiological dependence and tolerance and you end up with a compulsive need.

It looks like it IS possible to be addicted to lip balm. But Hill can explain it much better than I can! And what to do about it.