It’s come a long way since women’s rights activist Lydia Mary Child recommended using earwax as a dry lip salve in her book the American Frugal Housewife in the mid 19th century.
Child said “it’s one of those sorts of cures which are very likely to be laughed at, but I know of it’s having produced very beneficial results”.
Some forty years later, pharmacist Charles Browne Fleet developed an actual lip salve – ChapStick, and although he was never able to make his invention profitable in his lifetime, in 1996 ChapStick was said to have generated $63m all on its own in worldwide sales.
Little wonder that this sector of the business is so busy – bursting with balms by brands like Burt’s Bees, Carmex, Blistex, Lypsyl, Labello and EOS.
Keep them at the ready for when the temperature dips in your coat pocket, handbag and car glove compartment.
