Burt's Bees Lip Balm

Burt's Bees original beeswax lip balm has been in roughly the same yellow tube with the bearded man on the label since the early 1990s. Staying consistent across products and packaging has turned it into one of those objects you recognize across decades and demographics. Beeswax, coconut oil, sunflower oil, and peppermint oil make up the formula, and the peppermint tingle when you apply it is distinctive enough that you could identify the product blindfolded. At about $3.50, the tube lasts maybe 6 weeks of daily use, and I have been buying the same one since high school. Firmer than petroleum-based balms, the wax texture stays on longer and does not feel greasy. Every ingredient on the list is pronounceable. Acquired by Clorox in 2007, Burt's Bees has a complicated natural-and-independent brand story, but the product itself has not noticeably changed. Cylindrical rather than flat like most lip balms, the tube has a twist-up mechanism with a satisfying click that stops at the right height. One lives in my jacket pocket and one in my backpack, and losing either feels like losing a small daily ritual. Persisting in a market flooded with specialty lip products — tinted balms, CBD balms, hyaluronic acid balms — suggests that sometimes the simplest formula is the one people keep coming back to.