# Anyone else never use chapstick? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948 "2008-03-19T15:36:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/1 "2008-03-19T15:36:16Z")
I have a feeling there was actually a thread about this in the last year or so, but I can’t verify it – I apologize if this is repetitive. I was reading [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=460250) yesterday when it dawned on me that I’ve never had a bloody nose, and somehow, in my twisted head, this got equated with the fact that I also never use chapstick. Ever. I live in Los Angeles, which is a reasonably dry climate, and people around me use it all the time. My wife thinks I’m a freak because I never need it, but my lips just don’t get dry. So am I alone? Are there others of you who never need chapstick? Any theories as to why some people (within the same type of climate) might need it while others don’t? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/2 "2008-03-19T15:47:35Z")
I seem to recall buying some last year and using it maybe once. I don’t even know where it is. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/3 "2008-03-19T15:55:23Z")
Never use it. I hate the way my hair gets stuck to my lips if I use chapstick. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/4 "2008-03-19T15:56:04Z")
Sorry, thought you said chopsticks. Which I still can’t master ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/5 "2008-03-19T16:12:34Z")
I don’t use chapstick. I have gotten bloody noses. After much painful practice, I can now use chopsticks. I won’t say if the last two are related. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/6 "2008-03-19T16:44:57Z")
Do you lick your lips? I find that if my lips start to get chapped and I don’t have any chapstick that licking them is the wrong thing to do and they will just hurt worse. But, if I can ignore the chappedness for awhile, it will go away on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/7 "2008-03-19T16:50:05Z")
I have some in my purse that I use maybe once or twice a year. Only in the winter. Sometimes the cold and dry really gets to me - my lips will end up bleeding, my knuckles crack and bleed - I HATE winter. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/8 "2008-03-19T16:59:54Z")
I’m in LA too and I never, ever use chapstick. I hate the way it feels. So slimy. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/9 "2008-03-19T17:19:18Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U] my lips will end up bleeding, my knuckles crack and bleed [/QUOTE] Stop. You’re getting me turned on. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/10 "2008-03-19T17:32:26Z")
[QUOTE=bleach] I’m in LA too and I never, ever use chapstick. I hate the way it feels. So slimy. [/QUOTE] Ditto. I feel awful for this, but if my wife has worn any and then kisses me, I have to wipe off my lips. I can’t stand how it feels. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/11 "2008-03-19T17:35:06Z")
I don’t like it. I never needed it when I lived in Maryland or in California, but this year my lips have gotten horribly chapped during the winter. So I might start using it, but I won’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/12 "2008-03-19T17:41:41Z")
I live in Florida, where it’s humid most of the time. I don’t lick my lips. I keep properly hydrated. And I _still_ need chapstick or some kind of lip-treatment all the time. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/13 "2008-03-19T17:55:33Z")
I have some in the medicine cabinet that gets used primarly if I have a cold or something that makes my lips worse than usual, but that’s it. My girlfriend on the other hand will make us stop if she leaves the house without a tube and she puts it on every half hour or so. It’s my idea that Chapstick is like nasal spray. Once you start using it all the time you have to keep using it or everything goes to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Contrary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Contrary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrary)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/14 "2008-03-19T17:58:39Z")
I must use some sort of lip stuff. That’s probably due to having been an oboist for decades. I think I permanently removed a layer of skin or something. I don’t use the waxy crap (another hold over from playing a double reed, waxy stuff plus reed equals non-working reed), but I do use the ointment version of Blistex. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/15 "2008-03-19T18:00:57Z")
I’ve never really used it except for here and there. Never needed it either. The only exception to that is if I take a long, read week or more, motorcycle trip, then the wind dries out my lips and they crack really bad. But Chapstick works really well and they heal quickly. I only had to find that out the hard way once. ---
**Author:** ![micro-dust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@micro-dust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micro-dust)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/16 "2008-03-19T18:04:03Z")
I only use it skiing. LA is not that dry. I doubt anyone in New Mexico uses that kind of stuff, they aren’t into frilly little worries. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/17 "2008-03-19T18:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=Asimovian] So am I alone? Are there others of you who never need chapstick? Any theories as to why some people (within the same type of climate) might need it while others don’t? [/QUOTE] No, you’re not alone (as I am sure you have figured out already!). I don’t use chapstick. I haven’t used it in at least 23 years. Seriously, the last time I remember using it was in junior high. I don’t use it because I noticed (in junior high) that when I did use it, I _needed_ to use it, but if I just dealt with my lips being a little dry for a few days, it went away unassisted. It’s one of those cyclic things IME – if you use it, you will need it, if you don’t, you won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/18 "2008-03-19T18:16:40Z")
I never need to use it except when I visit my company’s office in Utah, when I have to put it on several times a day or my lips crack like the Grand Canyon. My nose doesn’t exactly bleed, but little bloody bits come out when I blow it there. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/19 "2008-03-19T19:01:32Z")
I’ve lived mosts of my life in the very humid southeast US. If I go west for more than a few days, I need chapstick or my lips turn to fire. If I go north in the winter time, the same thing happens. Which makes me believe it’s an issue of acclimation. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/20 "2008-03-19T19:19:02Z")
If I didn’t use it here I think I wouldn’t have lips left. Even with it, I still get to points where I can peel bits of dry skin right off. It’s kinda gross. I also use more lotion than I ever have in my life, my skin just soaks it up. Better than living in a swamp, though. My skin may like swampy weather but I sure don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948.md?page=2)