History of Lip Balm

Petroleum-based lip balm has a longer history than natural lip balm does, so we start with petroleum-based lip balm.

The History of Petroleum-based Lip Balm - Chap Stick

The first lip balm was Chap Stick. It has a long history.

In the early 1880's, Dr. C. D. Fleet invented a lip balm he called Chap Stick. He tried to sell the product in his home town of Lynchburg, Virginia, but didn't have much success. In 1912, John Morton, also a Lynchburg resident, bought the rights to the product for $5 and put his wife to work manufacturing the lip balm. Mrs. Morton melted the pink lip balm mixture on her kitchen stove and poured the liquid through a small funnel into brass tubes. The rack was moved to the porch for cooling. After that, the molded lip balm was cut into sticks and placed in containers for shipping.

In 1963, the A. H. Robbins Company acquired Chap Stick lip balm from Morton Manufacturing Corporation. At that time, only Chap Stick Lip Balm regular stick was being marketed to consumers; however, since 1963, a number of other products have been added to the product line. In 1971, four Chap Stick Lip Balm flavored sticks were added, followed by Chap Stick Sunblock 15 lip balm in 1981. In 1985 Chap Stick Petroleum Jelly Plus lip balm was introduced in Regular, Sunblock 15, and Cherry-flavored varieties, all in squeezable tubes. In 1992, in response to growing consumer expectations, Chap Stick Medicated lip balm, in three forms -- sticks, squeezable tubes and jars -- was launched. This expanded considerably the selection of lip care products available to consumers, further solidifying Chap Stick's leadership position in the lip balm market.

In December, 1989, the A. H. Robins Company was acquired by American Home Products Corporation. As might be expected, the product has undergone a number of changes in formula, form, and packaging throughout the years. Yet today, at an A. H. Robins Consumers Products plant in Richmond, Chap Stick is still poured into molds -- but on a modern production line.

The History of Petroleum-based Lip Balm - Carmex

Alfred Woelbing was a buyer of drugs and toiletries for a Milwaukee department store, when the country was hit by the Depression in the early 1930s. He began producing a lip balm, Lyptone, in his home after losing his job at the department store. Lyptone lip balm sold for 25 cents. In 1935, Alfred sold Lyptone lip balm to a New Jersey company for $2,500.

At that point, he founded Carma Labs and began producing a silver polish, Shynebright, which he sold to jewelers, grocers and department stores in Milwaukee and Chicago. Two years later, in 1937, he began working on another lip balm to cure his own chapped lips and cold sores. The resulting product was Carmex. But it was the silver polish that paid the bills and Carmex lip balm took a back seat to it. In fact, during World War II, production of Carmex lip balm was limited because one of its principal ingredients, Lanolin, was needed by the military to prevent rust and grease war equipment.

After the war, Alfred and his wife continued production of Carmex lip balm from their home, pouring the mixture by hand into its little glass jars, from a 12-quart kettle they kept warm on a hot plate. Alfred sold the product himself from the trunk of his car. The success of Carmex lip balm grew through word of mouth, as the company used no advertising or salesmen other than Alfred. By 1957, Carmex lip balm had become so successful that production was finally moved out of the Woelbing home to a small rented manufacturing facility in Wauwatosa, a suburb west of Milwaukee. In 1976, having outgrown the Wauwatosa site, Carma Labs built their current facility in Franklin, Wisconsin.

The History of Petroleum-based Lip Balm - Blistex

Blistex lip balm began to be manufactured in 1947, and is now available in over 70 countries around the world. Blistex has introduced a wide variety of lip balm products such as Blistex Ultra Protection lip balm with SPF 30.

The History of Natural Lip Balm

The history of natural lip balm is much different from the history of petroleum-based lip balm. Since natural lip balm has no preservatives, it is typically made in small quantities and thus there are no big name manufacturers of natural lip balm.

Natural lip balm became readily available in the 1960's from health conscious people who made small quantities of lip balm at home and sold the product locally. Instead of using petroleum jelly, these lip balm manufacturers typically used beeswax plus a oil or butter with good moisturizing properties. Cocoa butter and Jojoba Oil were favored by the early manufacturers of natural lip balm.

In the 1990's the superior moisturizing properties of shea butter began to be widely appreciated, and the best natural lip balms today use shea butter as the moisturizing and healing agent.

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