I've had this thing of lip balm floating around my house since last Christmas, when is was given to us at work in lieu of a monetary Christmas bonus. (This is the sort of remark I make which I think leads management to believe that I'm an unsuitably negative person. And in fairness, the one I got this year didn't come from management, so maybe last year's didn't, either.) I still haven't used this lip balm, and not because it's the Sugar Cookie flavor. The lip balm has an ingredients list. Here it is, letter for letter:
INGREDIENTS: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Isopropyl Palmitate, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Beeswax, Petrolatum, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Polyglyceryl-2 Diisostearate, Lanolin Oil, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Ozokerite, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Fragrance, Lanolin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Benzoic Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Propylene Carbonate, Saccharin. MAY CONTAIN: Mica, Red 7 Lake, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 1 Lake.
Yum! Show of hands: How many of you would want any of that stuff on your lips?
Well, okay, there's nothing wrong with Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, so I'll give you that one. That was always a family favorite, growing up. We used to love it. Mom would get out a can of it, and pour it into a pot, and mix in a can of water—Mom always got the concentrated Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, you understand. That was good eatin'. "Mom, can I have another heapin' helpin' of that Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate?" is the sort of thing we always used to ask around the kitchen table. And if my sister and I were getting out of hand, a bit worked up, like kids do, mom would come storming into the room and shout, "If you two don't settle down right now, I am going to lose my patience with you, and THERE WILL BE NO ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE FOR ANYBODY!!!" And we would settle right down, because that's not a threat to be taken lightly.
But outside of that one, I have to admit, I don't even want that stuff touching my skin, much less willfully smearing it on my lips where I might end up swallowing some of it. Sure, the FDA has probably approved all of it as safe, but the FDA has also approved hexane, a petroleum product, for soy processing in health foods (Yes, the health food you buy because it's healthier and has safer ingredients may have petroleum in it specifically BECAUSE it's healthier!), so I'm going to err or the side of caution and not use it. Can you blame me? Just look at those ingredients.
What a terrible thing to do to perfectly good Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate.