[A-List] Media Matters: Support group for obsessed lip balm `junkies'

["Leigh Meyers" <the.buffalo.in.the.midst@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Blistex, in its frequently asked questions section, writes, "People
may become habituated to the soothing feeling of having a lip care
product on their lips." But the company says that physical addiction
to lip balm can't happen."

<http://leighm.net/media/tvturnoff.html>
Television isn't real... but the addiction is...
A message from me, and the Media Foundation

TheStar.com - Life
Support group for lip balm `junkies'
Obsessed with soft, moist lips, `addicts' find comfort in knowing
they're not alone
April 26, 2007
HEATHER CIRAS

Special to the Star

NEW YORKâAmy Sciarretto knew she was addicted when she noticed that
tubes of her substance of choice where scattered around her apartment.

Jillian Carson knew things were bad when she went on a road trip
without it and made her boyfriend borrow some from a stranger.

Corrie Baum, 31, knew she had a problem when her friends started
calling her Corrie "Lip Balm.''

Sciarretto, 31, Carson, 19, and Baum all say they are addicted to lip
balm and lip gloss.

"I like to have soft, moist lips at all times," said Baum, who lives
in New York City. "If my lips don't have something on them, I feel
naked."

Baum says she is constantly reapplying lip creams, lotions and gloss.

"It truly is an obsession, or maybe a security blanket of sorts," she
said. "It's somehow comforting to me to have lip product on."

These women have plenty of company. Forums and groups devoted to lip
balm addicts abound on the Internet. Even though most users joke about
their addiction, they admit that being without lip balm is no laughing
matter.

"I am constantly applying it," Baum said. "If I don't have it I start
to panic a little, it's like a security issue."

"It's America's hidden addiction," said Kevin Crossman, 39, founder of
lipbalmanonymous.com. "I think anyone who's used it takes it seriously
because they know it's habit-forming."

The website provides a 12-step program for kicking the habit, which
begins with admitting that one is in a state of powerlessness over lip
balm. Initially begun in jest, the site has caught on, and now, 12
years later, testimonials of addiction continue to pour in.

Many say they feel good knowing they are not alone in their obsession.
Others recount how they became addicted: For some it was the biting
cold in the Northeast; for others it was dating another lip balm
addict. Some say they want to quit, while others see no harm in the
addiction.

Crossman started the site in 1995, the same year that he realized he
was addicted to cherry-flavoured ChapStick.

"I got used to the taste and it felt good," he said. He was applying
before and after every meal, and his friends had begun to take notice.
Crossman hasn't used the product in more than 10 years.

"It's not like heroin or meth," he said. "But try and tell me if you
go cold turkey that it's not hard."

Carson, who lives in Houston, said she wasn't sure "if the addiction
is a physical thing." But, she added, "it's pretty compulsive. I use
the lip balm about 20 to 30 times a day, whenever my lips are too dry
to rub against each other, or if I'm just bored."

But Brad Rodu, an oral pathologist, said that the outside of the lips
is meant to be a dry surface, but some people get into a loop of
reapplying lip balm constantly.

"Not maybe once a day after being out in the cold but every 10
minutes," he said. If a person didn't apply the lip balm, their lips
would heal themselves, Rodu said.

Crossman said that he thought that lips built up a tolerance to the
moisturizers.

Blistex, in its frequently asked questions section, writes, "People
may become habituated to the soothing feeling of having a lip care
product on their lips." But the company says that physical addiction
to lip balm can't happen. Rodu warned that some people apply lip balm
too frequently, and if they get an irritation or minor infection in
the lips, lip balm will exacerbate it.

"If you're having problems with weather, go ahead and use it," Rodu
said. "It's not any great problem; moderation is key."

Nonetheless, many users are adamant that addiction to lip balm is all too real.

"Who are you going to believe?" Crossman asked. "The people who say
it's not addictive or the people who've suffered?"

Columbia News Service