When I was 21 years old, my lips were suddenly more chapped than they'd ever been. I'd always been an avid user of lip balms and chapped sticks (all except those deliciously flavored like chocolate and coffee which had caused an irritation since my adolescence), so I responded as usual with a thick balm coating. I remember the exact one I'd been using because it was a novelty--a tube about an inch in diameter, rich purple in the package but then shiny and translucent on the lips, and exceptionally sweet berry-flavored. When my lips continued to be chapped, it was time to start problem solving.

Could the hot summer in Davis, CA where I was attending University have caused me to be dehydrated? I drank more water. I still had excessively chapped lips. Could I have accidentally neglected to put sunscreen on my lips when applying into the rest of my face thereby allowing a lip sun burn? I applied sunscreen. Lips stayed chapped. Had I burned my lips on something I'd eaten? No; it was Davis, CA in the summer and the airconditioner was broken in my car and in the place I was renting, so I'd been eating cold (frozen when possible) foods. 

Nothing was helping, so it was time to take matters seriously. I put away the luxurious berry lip balm and brought out the dreaded pot of slimy Vaseline, which I used only as long as was absolutely necessary to get the excessive chapping under control. Almost as soon as I resumed using the berry lip balm my lips chapped right back up, but this time they progressed beyond being chapped and were also a little swollen and bright pink (one of my roommates complimented my lipstick not knowing I wasn't wearing any!). I was sitting in the passenger seat of a friend's car relishing her air conditioning, slathering my lips with a fresh coat of berry lip balm when it suddenly occurred to me that this new favorite cosmetic might be the unfortunate culprit! I held it in my hand and stared at the tube with shock and denial realizing that this might mean the end of the use of lots of products, not this one alone. How could it be?? I turned to my friend and told her my horrible suspicion. My allergy-free friend relied, "You can be allergic to chapstick? I didn't know that was possible!" 

It is possible. And after systematically testing a variety of cosmetic and food products, I have determined that in this case the allergy is to a few artificial colors and artificial flavors, meaning no more lip balm, lip gloss, lip stick, Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Pops, popsicles, etc, etc. I rarely wear makeup, and most of my sweet-tooth satistfaction requires chocolate, so most of these new restrictions weren't terrible impositions, except the lip balm. But I was determined not to live my life with a tube of Vaseline in my purse, so I got to work on the Internet researching recipes for homemade products. 

It seemed that with access to the right ingredients, lip balm was a relatively simple product to produce! As with all my kitchen experiments, this turned out not to be immediately true. In theory, the process is simple: combine solid and liquid waxes in different ratios until you have your desired consistency. Finding the ingredients, ratios and process to successfully accomplish this proved more complicated. I discovered that I don't like the smell of beeswax, too much olive oil feels greasy, and of course I identified allergies to a few ingredients. The melting process necessary to produce the proper consistency needs to be ideal as well: a double boiler is necessary because the microwave and direct stovetop melt inconsistently or cause burning; some ingredients need to be added right at the end, otherwise they react to the heat; all ingredients need to be thoroughly melted and mixed, otherwise they don't combine properly! It took several tries, but I think I've perfected my process. I now have a stockpile of smooth lip balm made from all natural, simple ingredients. Now that I make my own, when I occasionally look at the ingredients in a tube of lip balm at the store, I'm overwhelmed by the number of ingredients and usually put the tube down without bothering to finish reading. My lip balm contains avocado butter, mango butter, apricot kernel oil or olive oil (sometimes infused with coffee or cinnamon for color and fragrance), and vitamin E. That's it! It's smooth and moisturizing, and I love it. (I'm having trouble finding lip balm tubes made in the USA! If anyone knows where I can find them, please leave a comment!)

The tubes pictured here are my "original" recipe: avocado butter, mango butter, apricot kernel oil, and vitamin E (no coffee, cinnamon, or olive oil).

My next venture in the world of lip balm making is going to be adding more colors, fragrances, and perhaps flavors from all natural sources. Stay tuned to find out how it turns out!

Thanks for reading!

Yaffa

Unrelated to lip balm making or living chemical-free, but for info about my speech therapy practice visit yaffaspeech.com