Carmex is a brand of lip balm produced by Carma Laboratories, Inc. It is sold in jars, sticks, and squeezable containers.

History

Carma Laboratories, Inc. began in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in the early 1930s, when Alfred Woelbing began experimenting with creating his own line of lip balm and other cosmetic products. After experimenting with his products, Woelbing created Carmex on his family's stove top. He began by selling the product from the trunk of his car. Popularity increased through word-of-mouth. During this time Woelbing and his wife poured their lip balm into the now well-known yellow-capped jars. Then in 1957, the family business moved out of the kitchen and into a rented facility in the

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

suburb of Wauwatosa. After doing business like this, Woelbing discontinued making sales calls in 1972, which had mostly been in Wisconsin,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and parts of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. Woelbing's son Don joined the business in 1973, and introduced

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

s to Carma Labs. In 1975, due to the product's success, a new production facility was built in the southwest suburb of Franklin; production at the same facility continues to the present day. The company employs about 100 people. It remains under the ownership of the founding family. Carma Labs began producing the product in squeezable tubes in 1988. In 1989, it began producing it in stick form which had been the longtime form factor for ChapStick and Blistex, Carma's major competitors in the lip balm market. After these expansions within the company's production, in 1993, it was estimated that 9% of the lip balm market was held by Carma Labs. Alfred Woelbing continued to drive to the offices every day until 1997, when he suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. He continued to come into the office at least once a week after this, until he died in 2001 at age 100. The company continued further expansion under the management of Alfred's son Don and grandsons Paul and Eric. In 2002, mint-flavored Carmex lip balm ( SPF 30) joined original Carmex lip balm in the product line, and Carmex lip balm became available throughout

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. During 2006, Carma introduced the DailyCare Carmex with SPF 15, and Internet voters chose

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

and cherry as the newest Carmex lip balm sticks.

Ingredients

In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the active ingredients of Carmex lip balm are

benzocaine Benzocaine, sold under the brand name Orajel amongst others, is a local anesthetic, belonging to the amino ester drug class, commonly used as a topical painkiller or in cough drops. It is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter ...

, camphor (1.7%), menthol (0.7%),

phenol Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () ...

(0.4%), and salicylic acid. The inactive ingredients, in order of greatest used to least used in the product, are lanolin, cetyl esters,

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and melting poi ...

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible Vegetable oil, fat extracted from the cocoa bean (''Theobroma cacao''). It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter h ...

, beeswax, and flavor. However, this formula varies slightly around the world. The use of phenol in cosmetics is prohibited in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Salicylic acid is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) almost identical to aspirin. In fact, aspirin's mechanism of action as an NSAID results from it being metabolized into salicylic acid. It is often incorrectly thought to be a drying agent; however, this is not true. Salicylic acid works as a keratolytic, comedolytic, and bacteriostatic agent, causing the cells of the epidermis to shed more readily, opening clogged pores and neutralizing bacteria within, preventing pores from clogging up again by constricting pore diameter, and allowing room for new cell growth.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.mycarmex.com/ Companies based in Wisconsin Lips American brands Cosmetics brands