Evil Evil Chapstick!
19:51 Mar 25 2007
Times Read: 846
Are you an addict too?
I know I am. For the past three or four days i reintroduced myself to chapstick. Now all of a sudden I am needing to use it constantly... I carry it in my pocket. I sleep with it under my pillow. Its the first thing I reach for when I wake and the last at night.
I started thinking that it probably was getting to the point of an obsession. I decided to check on the internet if other have found chapstick to be addictive and that it perpetually makes you apply the balm with no positive end result. I could be wrong, but I have yet to say "This chapstick has cured me." It works good for about 10-20 minutes but then the cravings come and lips are parched...
So this is what I found...
Newsday
An extensive article on lip balms appeared in the November 13, 1997 issue of Newsday. Titled "Paying for Lip Service," the article discusses several points in the quest for defining the addictive qualities of lip balm.
The author asked several experts:
Which helps explain why you can diligently apply "medicated" lip balm several times a day and still suffer from chapped lips. The tingling sensation you get from those products usually comes from menthol, camphor or phenol. "All those things are drying and irritating," says Paula Begoun, a well-known critic of the cosmetics industry whose new book, "The Beauty Bible" (Beginning Press, $16.95), is due out this month. She says she suspects that these ingredients are routinely used "to make the consumer think something is happening. If you want a cooling sensation, drink some cold water."
Known as counter-irritants, camphor and menthol dry out the lips, a necessary step for healing cold sores, but too extreme for ordinary dryness. Phenol's main purpose is to kill bacteria and help prevent infections and should be used only in severe cases, not on a daily basis. Users, meanwhile, often find the pleasant tingling habit-forming. "You get so accustomed to that cooling, soothing sensation, that it's like, `Yeah, I need that in my life all the time,' " says Gordon Espinet, a makeup artist for Toronto-based M.A.C. cosmetics and a dry-lip sufferer. Subjected to this constant irritation, it's not surprising that your lips don't get any better.
"Read what that product says it does and use it for that reason," says Espinet, who recommends M.A.C.'s medicated Lip Treatment for cold sores and severely chapped lips and a Vitamin E lipstick for milder cases of dryness. "When it says to heal lips, don't get into the habit of using it when lips are at their best."
The article also says that many dermatologists maintain that the lips natural exfoliate every 28 days or so. This backs up the belief that lip balm just isn't necessary. Even the products designed to "heal" also have a usage loop which keeps you hooked.
Alpha hydroxy acids, which were previously regarded as too harsh for the lips, have now been formulated to exfoliate this delicate membrane. Lip Revitalizer from Blistex ($1.89 at drugstores), introduced in October, contains two alpha hydroxy acids (lactic and glycolic acids) in a creamy base that you squeeze through a slanted applicator directly onto your lips. "The whole idea is that it gets rid of flakiness on the lips and very fine lines," says Dr. Charles Zugerman, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and a consultant to Blistex. He recommends the product for both healing chapped lips and for ongoing lip maintenance. Be warned that Lip Revitalizer does have an enticing minty flavor that may cause you to lick your lips more, which only aggravates dryness (emphasis added by LBA). http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/addict.html
and now that I know I am an addicting an can try to battle the war with lip balm. Wish me luck.
My Music... First 10 on the Ipod List
17:42 Mar 25 2007
Times Read: 852
This little tangent is all about the music. It struggled long and hard as to if I would add it to my profile, but well, that would be un-necessary clutter. Honestly... I don't think I have ever read the complete list of music likes in anyones profile. It's tedious. Perhaps that is what you are thinking while reading this :P
Here we go though...
First 10 Songs On My Ipod
1. Far Behind by Candlebox
2. I'm All for Believing by Missy Higgins
3. Stars Are Blind by Paris Hilton (go ahead fire away!)
4. Bleed Like Me by Garbage
5. My Immortal by Evanescence
6. Stupid Girls by Pink
7. How to Save a Life by The Fray
8. Drive by Melissa Ferrick
9. Dreaming remixed by DJ Tiesto
10. Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls
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