You be the judge

Should my partner get over her lip balm addiction?

The prosecution Damilola Sade is obsessed with lip balm and applies it hundreds of times a day. I think it’s bad for her

My girlfriend Sade has an unhealthy obsession with lip balms. If she doesn’t have one at hand, she freaks out. She literally can’t sleep until her lips are coated in something.

She says her lips get super dry if she doesn’t use balms and butters. But I think that’s because her body has got accustomed to them. I once showed her an article about “lazy lips”, which suggested that if you apply lip balm too often it does more harm than good, because your lips become reliant on the product and lose the ability to moisturise themselves. Sade said it was rubbish – but if she goes without lip balm for a day, she complains about dry lips. That’s not normal. Most people should be able to go a day without lip balm. I certainly can.

Ten years ago, when we first got together, she carried a little tin of Vaseline in her pocket. She had every flavour: the green one, the pink one, the cocoa butter one. But one day she read about how petroleum jelly comes from crude oil, so switched to Carmex. I recommended a beeswax lip balm and have even bought her some natural ones over the years. She uses them for a bit but then reverts to Carmex, which is slightly annoying as the ones I buy are more expensive and, I think, better.

But while her products may change, the obsession remains. She sleeps with lip balm under her pillow. She has about five pots of Carmex right now, all well past their best. One is black and mouldy around the lid; another is covered in sand from a recent holiday. They are all halffinished because she panic buys a new one when she can’t find the others. I remind her that they aren’t cheap any more. Recently she paid £5 for a pot of Carmex at a petrol station, which I found a bit outrageous.

Bedtimes are held up if she can’t locate her lip balm, and she puts it on first thing in the morning and then about a million times throughout the day. Her habit is expensive and it’s probably not very good for her, so I’d like to try to wean her off it.