# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/21 "2008-03-19T19:39:52Z")
I never use Chapstick, because [Carmex](http://www.carma-labs.com/) is way better. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/22 "2008-03-19T19:45:32Z")
[QUOTE=Asimovian] 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. [/QUOTE] Exactly! Even if she’s wearing lipstick or lip gloss I have to wipe it off my lips. I’d rather them crack and bleed than wear anything on my lips. I much prefer pain to oogy. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/23 "2008-03-19T19:50:41Z")
I used it when I lived in the north (i.e., half my life). My lips would peel badly in the winter, and I’d compulsively grab at the skin, tearing off whole strips. Very painful. Chapstick takes care of that. I don’t much like the feel of it, though. I also get nosebleeds in the winter, even in Texas. A little bit of Chapstick up the nose takes care of that too, although I usually use the Vaseline lip product, whatever it’s called. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/24 "2008-03-19T20:20:06Z")
Never. I don’t have dry lips, but I’d probably not be able to leave it alone and would lick it all off in a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/25 "2008-03-19T20:43:57Z")
I use it when I’m going to be outside for a while. At band retreat (yeah yeah…) we were always really careful to make sure everyone wore sunscreen. Lots of people were offering chapstick too, but I didn’t take any because I didn’t like it. My lips got sunburned. You every try to play a clarinet with sunburned lips? It is not a pretty sight, my friends. ---
**Author:** ![This\_ll\_Do](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/this_ll_do/32/3023_2.png) [@This\_ll\_Do](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_ll_Do)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/26 "2008-03-19T22:15:37Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain] 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. [/QUOTE] How strange! It’s the same for me: Florida, no licking, hydration. If I don’t use Carmex at night and some sort of lip balm all day, then my lips peel and bleed. Maybe there’s something to the theory that using it frequently causes a physical dependence. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/27 "2008-03-19T22:45:06Z")
I put Carmex on my lips every day – when Mr. S puts it on his and then gives me a smooch before he goes to work. Mmmm, Carmex. Otherwise, no. I also never use lotion. Mr. S goes through it by the barrel. I think he may really be my grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Hirundo82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/919ad9/32.png) [@Hirundo82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirundo82)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/28 "2008-03-20T00:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=Flipshod] 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. [/QUOTE] I agree. My lips never got chapped before moving to Houston. Now whenever I go somewhere less humid (ie virtually anywhere else in the US) my lips are chapped and peeling within a day. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/29 "2008-03-20T00:28:11Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] I never use Chapstick, because [Carmex](http://www.carma-labs.com/) is way better. [/QUOTE] Seconded. And not just because they use a Boston Terrier as a spokesdog to report that they don’t test on animals. Thanks for the link. That said, I only use Carmex during winter outdoor activities and when I’m sick. When my nose is raw and cracked from the hundreds of tissues that have been used on it, Carmex is just the thing to soothe the pain and heal it up quickly. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/30 "2008-03-20T00:33:56Z")
I am almost certain that Cecil has done a column on whether or not Chapstick is addictive, but I couldn’t find it. I use it almost daily (if I’m not wearing a moisturizing lipstick). OTOH, now that I think about it, I don’t recall my hubby _ever_ using it. We’ve been together about 23 years. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/31 "2008-03-20T00:43:59Z")
Not Chapstick. I don’t like it. I use [Lucas’ Papaw Ointment](http://www.lucaspapaw.com.au/). It’s the best product I’ve ever tried. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/32 "2008-03-20T02:14:34Z")
Hate Chapstick. Chapstick puts a stiff, waxy coating on your lips which might protect against exposure, but if they are alreacy chapped then Blistex ointment is much better and doesn’t feel stiff & waxy. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/33 "2008-03-20T03:08:03Z")
I’ve used Chapstick, but I vastly prefer Burt’s Bees lip protector. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/34 "2008-03-20T03:23:11Z")
I never leave the house without a tube of plain old chapstick in the black tube. I’ve tried every brand and every variant. Carmex is way too powerful, it works amazingly well for an hour and then you need to reapply (a lot like Afrin in that way). The original chapstick is the safest bet for me. I use it on my lips, my fingers, my nasal-labial fold, just about anywhere… I couldn’t live without it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynne\_kilii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lynne\_kilii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynne_kilii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/35 "2008-03-20T04:41:28Z")
Nope. IF my lips act up, I put regular face lotion on them. It only happens every once in a while, and it re-inforces not to lick them, cause it tastes like lotion. I also put lotion on my lips before I put on lipliner. I don’t think anyone else can taste it once it settles in, though. I do use lip gloss and/or lipstick, probably three days a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/36 "2008-03-20T04:55:40Z")
Nope - I use Qtica lip balm, which is worth its price and probably more. Have to be wary of that desert sun and wind. I use it once a day - twice if the weather’s bad. Everytime I use Chapstick my lips get burned and sore. My body doesn’t like something in their formulation. Carmex is not much better. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/37 "2008-03-20T06:56:12Z")
No chapstick…but a good, hydrating lipstick is worth its weight in gold. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/38 "2008-03-20T09:31:53Z")
Along with my _other_ conspiracy theory about taking Vit. C to prevent colds (in my case it invariably sets off a massive lurgy within 36 hours, I swear they impregnate the tablets with some sort of rhinovirus ha!), I find that using chapsticks actually causes my lips to dry and crack more frequently: I reckon they put alum or summat into the formula to enhance the dehydration thus necessitating more and more chapstick be applied…and so the cycle continues. I’m not paranoid, no, not at all. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/39 "2008-03-20T12:54:27Z")
Nope, never use the stuff. It gets dry and windy in the winter, but my lips seem to do just fine. As for nosebleeds, the last (and only) time I had them was one winter about ten years ago when I had about four spontaneous nosebleeds over the course of a month. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948/40 "2008-03-20T13:51:29Z")
When I lived in the Central Valley in California, I needed to use the chapstick with sunscreen or else my lips would burn. Further proof that place wasn’t meant for people. I remember I’ve used it once or twice in the two years since I moved back to Boston. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-never-use-chapstick/441948.md?page=3)