Lip Balm

Lip balm was first marketed in the 1880s by Charles Browne Fleet, though its origins may be traced to earwax. More than 40 years prior to the commercial introduction of lip balm by Fleet, Lydia Maria Child recommended earwax as a treatment for cracked lips in her highly-popular book, The American Frugal Housewife. Child observed that, Those who are troubled with cracked lips have found this earwax remedy successful when others have failed. It is one of those sorts of cures, which are very likely to be laughed at; but I know of its having produced very beneficial results.