Chapstick: The Soft, Sweet Savior For My Tired, Aching Lips

Hacem A. Suleiman

Philosophy 25

Professor Rogacs

8/1/2013

Chapstick: The soft, sweet savior for my tired, aching lips

Waking up on time every morning can be a difficult task for many people, more so if one welcomes the beginning of a brand new day by looking and/or feeling painfully ugly. There is one such physical reaction which is brought on by a lack of moisture in the lips is clinically known as Cheilitis or, more simply, chapped lips. Cheilitis can be caused by either excessive lip-licking or lack of moisture in the air, which in both situations removes the thin film of oil produced of our body which would normally serve the purpose of preventing said process.

It goes without saying that the aforementioned Cheilitis, or chapped lips, have been experienced by human beings for as long as humans have had lips, and after millennia of likely attempts at home-made herbal solutions (though there is no historical proof of any such attempts), in 1880, one Dr. C.D. Fleet from Lynchburg, Virginia invented chap-stick to relieve the discomfort. Though the chap-stick was at first unsuccessful, perhaps due to the public’s hesitation to rub a candle-like object on their lips, the product became very popular in 1912 once purchased and produced by one of Dr. Fleet’s neighbors, a John Morton, who along with his wife, produced the chap-stick in their very own kitchen, thus leading to the founding of the Morton Manufacturing Corporation.

51 years later, in 1963, the rights for chap-stick were purchased from Morton Manufacturing by the A.H. Robbins Company and several new flavors of chap-stick were added to the line-up in order to appeal to a larger market which would include children. From the time that A.H. Robbins’ took over of the chap-stick brand (“Chapstick”), there were relatively few changes mainly dealing with the addition of various different flavors. It may be worth noting that the Chapstick brand is now held by the Wyeth Corporation.

Now, the specific brand of Chapstick that I use in order to heal my lips is the Classic Chapstick flavor, and its main ingredients, along with their manufacture and a bit toxicology information, will be listed below.

The first and main ingredient in Classic Chapstick is Isopropyl Myristate which is generally used for medicinal and skin surface preparations. Interestingly enough, it is used as a non-toxic treatment against lice, dehydrating and kill them when in contact. This same non-toxic chemical is also found in certain brands of mouthwash serving the purpose of killing oral bacteria in addition to being an enzyme used frequently in make-up removal.

There were two separate studies performed by Doctors Kaul and Cutan in order to test the efficiency of Isopropryl Myristate in order to treat skin redness (for use in lip balm) and kill head lice (for use in anti-lice treatment medication) . A redaction of the process is listed as follows:

“A pediculicide rinse, 50% isopropyl myristate (IPM), was assessed in two phase 2 trials conducted in North America. The first trial was a nonrandomized (proof of concept) trial without a comparator conducted in Winnipeg, Canada. The second trial, conducted in the United States, was an evaluator-blinded, randomized superiority trial comparing 50% IPM rinse with a positive control (RID; pyrethrin 0.33%, piperonyl butoxide 4%). The primary end points were to determine the safety and efficacy of 50% IPM as a pediculicide rinse. METHODS: Subjects meeting inclusion criteria were enrolled in the above-mentioned trials with efficacy end points 7 and 14 days post-treatment. Subjects were also evaluated on days 0, 7, 14, and 21 for the presence of erythema and edema using the Modified Draize Scale. Other comments associated with the safety evaluation (ie, pruritus) were collected. RESULTS: IPM was found to be effective in the proof of concept study and comparator trial using a positive control. IPM was also well tolerated, with minimal adverse events. All adverse events were mild, resolving by completion of the study. CONCLUSION: Data suggest that IPM is a safe and effective therapy for the treatment of head lice in children and adults. IPM's mechanical mechanism of action makes development of lice resistance unlikely.” [Kaul N et al; J Cutan Med Surg 11 (5): 161-7 (2007)] PubMed Abstract

Contrary to what was expected, not only is Isopropyl Myristate entirely non-toxic to its producers and consumers but also is beneficial to humans in more than one way.

The second most significant ingredient found in Chapstick is called Lanolin which comes from the German words for wool and oil. Alternatively known as wool wax, it is a chemical found in the sweat of wooly animals, coming mainly from sheep that are bred specifically for their wool as their meat is of low quality in terms of food.

Obtaining the lanolin is painless to the sheep as it is separated when the wool is being processed for textile purposes and has been historically proven (per hundreds of years of manual extraction) to be non-toxic to laborers permitting for it to be harvested by squeezing the wool using rollers.

Now, the role Lanolin plays in Chapstick is that it repeals water and other fluids making Chapstick, when applied generously, substantially more permeable. (www.lanicare.com)

Though there is no available research around to demonstrate the harmlessness of Lanolin, it may very well go without saying that after centuries of exposure and usage, Lanolin does nothing other than benefit its users, whether it is by protecting the skin and coat of the sheep from the rough conditions they are subjected

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