If you're addicted to applying your lip balm, it may very well be because you're allergic to it.
According to The Cut, Carmex lip balm is super addictive because it contains several ingredients that can cause sensitivity or irritation, which leads to a never-ending cycle of application.
These ingredients include things like lanolin (an alcohol derived from wool), Beeswax, salicylic acid (yes, that stuff you use on your acne), and benzocaine (a topical anesthetic that Carmex says "relieves pain and itch.")
And Carmex isn't the only lip balm brand to contain these ingredients — plenty of other balms also include these in their formulations. For example, Beeswax is prominent in many natural lip balms including EOS, which may have been the cause of the blisters and rashes users experienced.
So no, Carmex is not "designed to harm your lips by sucking all the moisture out so you have to keep reapplying it every half hour or so," as stated in a thread on Unexplained-Mysteries.com. If you can't stop reapplying, you're probably just allergic and should switch brands.
MYSTERY SOLVED!
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