Lip Balms - What’s Really in Them

I have long noticed that I needed to replenish my Burt's Bee's lip balm day after day because my lips were always dry or chapped. But I never wondered if that was a bad or normal thing. Once I did some research, I found out that this can be bad. Some ingredients in balms can cause your own lips to stop producing their own oil and cause your lips to have to rely heavily on lip balms to stay hydrated, which in turn can make them go dryer quicker (especially without the constant replenishing of the balm). Other ingredients simply dry out your lips and some are just plain bad for you. Now, I am not a scientist, doctor, herbalist or dermatologist. However, based upon research, I have compiled a list of some ingredients that seem to be bad for lip hydration, skin and our bodies in general. Some are worse than others, and I encourage you to do your own research and make up your own mind about these different ingredients.

With that said, if your lip balm has any of these ingredients you need to think twice about purchasing them (I will tell you why below):

Petrolatum, Petroleum Jelly, Mineral Oil, Paragon, Methlyparaben, Butlyparaben, Ethlyparaben, Propylparaben, FD&C Blue 1, Green 3, Yellow 5&6, Red 33, Red 40, Butylated Hydroxytoluene, Phthalates, Fragrance, Flavor, Oxybenzone, Octinoxatem, Octisalate, Octocrylene, Avobenzone, Padimate O, Vitamin E, Castor Oil, Beeswax*, Lanolin, Phenol, Sodium laurel sulfate, sodium laureate sulfate, ethylenediamine, tetra acetic acid, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, dimethyl-dimethyl hydantoin, quaternium-15, bronopol, propylene glycol, toluene, talc, menthol, peppermint oil, glycerin*, hyaluronic acid*, aluminums

*According to Stylecaster.com and Leslie Baumann, MD, humectants (glycerin*, hyaluronic acid*) can make lips worse IF the products do not also have an Occlusive agent (beeswax, shea butter, other various oils). However if the product only has one of these ingredients (i.e. JUST beeswax), then it is not very hydrating for the lips and causes you to rely heavily on using the balm. Your lips will slowly stop being able to produce oil to keep your lips hydrated.

Each of these ingredients have certain properties that not only dry out lips and skin, but can also have negative long lasting effects on various parts of the body when absorbed via the skin. I encourage you to read my sources, listed below, for more information on each of these ingredients. Note that not all of these sources are in alignment with each other.

Here I have listed the ‘bad’ ingredients (from my above list) in various lips balms:

Chanel Hydra Beauty Lip Balm: Fragrance, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, (this balm contains Glycerin, which is bad on its own, however with Shea Butter, which this balm has, it is better.)

Clinique Intensive Lip Treatment: Petrolatum, Blue 1, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 33, propylene glycol

Burt’s Bee’s: beeswax, lanolin, peppermint oil (which contains roughly 10% menthol, which is not a great ingredient)

Mary Kay Lip Satin: Petrolatum, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Methlyparaben, Propylene Glycol, Flavor, Propylparaben, Menthol, Red 33, Red 40

Maybelline Baby Lips: Petrolatum, Red 28, Red 7, Red 22, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6, Fragrance, Flavor, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Aluminum Hydroxide

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25: Avobenzone, Lanolin, Petrolatum, (contains beeswax and shea butter), Flavor, Isobutylparaben, Butylparaben, Isopropylparaben, SPF

If after reading this post you are thinking, "Well, heck! There are no beauty products out there with mostly good ingredients!" That's not completely true.

Tarte is an amazing brand that uses only organic ingredients and all the products are vegan. Most Kiehls products have great ingredients. Urban Decay is pretty good- not only are they cruelty free but most of their non-eyeshadow products don't have bad ingredients. Plus, there are a lot of other vegan makeup lines that are good, too.

Happy Styling!

Sources: http://stylecaster.com/beauty/lip-balm-ingredients-to-avoid/; http://www.ftoxins.com/toxic-ingredients-lip-balm/; https://www.evitamins.com/a/lip-balm-ingredients-1614; https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9084/8-deadly-chemicals-in-your-beauty-products.html; https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16333/to-heal-chapped-lips-avoid-these-harmful-lip-balm-ingredients.html; https://beautyeditor.ca/2015/12/22/lip-balm-causing-dry-lips; http://live-clear.com/whats-in-your-lipbalm-6-ingredients-avoid/; https://www.makeupally.com; **http://www.cir-safety.org/sites/default/files/pentae032014final.pdf

**The CIR Expert Panel concluded that pentaerythrityl tetra-di-t-butyl hydroxyhydrocinnamate is safe in the present practices of use and concentration in cosmetics.