We can’t keep our lips sealed any longer. There are so many lip balms on the market today and so many of them contain toxic ingredients—including ones that lead you to believe they’re natural. Commonly found ingredients include petroleum/petroleum byproducts, aluminum/aluminum byproducts, parabens, toxic dyes and soy. While many brands appear to be safe, all too often do they contain a selection of these toxins. I don’t know about you, but we certainly don’t want a product like that anywhere near our lips. In this blog post, we discuss the lip balm ingredients to avoid and introduce an all-natural alternative.
Looking for Toxins or Irritants in Well-Known Lip Balm Brands
Burt’s Bees Ingredients (Original): cera alba (beeswax, cire d’abeille), cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, tocopherolrosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil (huile de colza), limonene.
Chapstick Ingredients (Classic Original): Padimate O, White petrolatum 44%, arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, paraffin, phenyl trimethicone, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax
Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Lip Moisture: Active: Octinoxate 7.5%…Purpose: Sunscreen, Oxybenzone 4%…Purpose: Sunscreen. Inactive: Castor (Ricinus Communis) Seed Oil, Corn (Zea Mays) Oil, Ozokerite, Petrolatum, Beeswax, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Paraffin, Stearyl Alcohol, Carnauba (Copernicia Cerifera) Wax, BHT.
ChapIce (Original): Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, Ozokerite, Microcrystalline Wax, Trimethicone, Ethylhexyl Dimethyl PABA, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Isopropyl Myristate, Cetyl Alcohol, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Flavor NA, Camphor, Red 6 Lake, Methylparaben
Maybeline Baby Lips: Active Ingredients: Octinoxate (7.5%). Octisalate (3%). Inactive Ingredients: Polybutene, Octyldodecanol, Isopropyl Myristate, Petrolatum, Polyethylene, Ozokerite, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Diisostearyl Malate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, VP/Hexadecane Copolymer, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Flavor, Alumina
Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25: ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Octinoxate 7.5%, Avobenzone 3.0%, Petrolatum 40.2%. OTHER INGREDIENTS: Avocado Oil, Beeswax, Butylparaben, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Cocoa Butter, Cyclohexasiloxane, Cyclomethicone, Flavor, Hydroxy Polyester, Isobutylparaben, Isopropylparaben, Lanolin, Microcrystalline Wax, Ozokerite Wax, Polyglyceryl-3 Beeswax, Shea Butter, Tocopheryl Acetate
Smith’s Rosebud Salve: We could not find anywhere that they actually disclose their full ingredients, however we did find this: “Cotton Seed Oil and Aromol, with essential oils blended in a special petrolatum base”
What Are These Ingredients?
Good question! First of all, to call petrolatum a “special base” for lip balm is quite the misnomer. There is really nothing special about petrolatum or petroleum when it comes to putting them into skin or lip care products. Would you rub petroleum on your lips and even lick your lips knowing that is what is on there? This is one of the most common toxic ingredients in lip care products. And here is what the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has to say about petrolatum.
Apart from this, the other common toxic ingredients are parabens, including: methylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben.
Toxic Ingredients to Avoid:
- Parabens (Of any kind)
- Petrolatum or Petroleum
- Chemical Fragrance or Flavor (Commonly listed as Fragrance or Parfum)
- Chemical Dyes (Commonly listed with a # next to them)
- Mineral Oil
Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in an SPF Lip Balms:
- Octinoxate
- Oxybenzone
- Avobenzone
- Cinnimate
*SPF lip balms active ingredients should contain only Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide. These are mineral and physical sunscreen ingredients.
In contrast, Beauty by Earth offers a number of great non-toxic, non-GMO, soy free, petroleum and paraben free lip balms in Peppermint, Superfruit, Honey Vanilla, and Unflavored.
Here are Beauty by Earths Lip Balm Ingredients: Beeswax, Sunflower Seed Oil, Coconut Oil, Castor Seed Oil, Lanolin, Vitamin E (non-GMO), Natural Flavor, Aloe Vera, Shea Butter and Cocoa Seed Butter. That’s it!
Toxins in lip balm aren’t needed to achieve smooth lips. So, stick with simple, pronounceable, recognizable ingredients derived from the Earth.
Inspire Beauty, Naturally!
Prudence
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Do you know how many chemicals are in the “natural flavors”. Because we all know that the word natural is not regulated at all. Do you have a list of ingredients for what the natural flavors is made with?
Hi Liz, Yes we are definitely aware of that. The natural flavors used in our formulations of lip balms are certified organic, so we know that they are not toxic. The company that we source these from has these as a trade secret and don’t release the full ingredients.
Can you confirm if your supplier is RSPO certified if they are outside of Canada?
Good question, Tracey! Our lip balms are manufactured in the USA, are certified organic, certified non-GMO and use Certified Fair Trade ingredients.
Hello, which lip products do you recommended then, according to everything on this list? thanks!
Hi Sydney, we recommend products that are USDA certified organic that do not contain soy. If you are looking for good lip products: http://staging-admin_newbird.kinsta.cloud/product-category/lips/
Ingredients common in the “better” lip balms, such as coconut oil, vitamin E, castor seed oil, and even lanolin can be problematic for some women. If your lips are always chapped and you can’t live without lip balm, be aware that any or all of these ingredients could be making your problem worse, not better.
Hi Shary, Yes, different people can definitely react to just about any ingredient.
Hi please can i know if the following ingredients are safe and thank you for this list:
Aqua, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Uriage Thermal Spring Water, Octyldodecanol, Cetyl Dimethicone Copolyol, Stearyl Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, PVP, Squalane, Magnesium Sulfate, Brassica Campestris Sterols, Dimethicone, Chlorphenesin, Diazolidinyl Urea, O-Cymen-5-Ol, Polyquaternium-51.
Hi. Good questions. There are some ingredients in this list we do not recommend, however you should check them all again the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. It will give you a rating on each ingredient.