Gluten Free Lip Smacker
(Editor note: This post is from February 2012. Please see an updated post for some new information on gluten free lip balm)
I don’t know about you but my kids’ lips are chapped this winter and they frequently have to don the lip balm to smooth out those rough edges. But what’s safe to use for someone who’s gluten free? We know many lipsticks have gluten in them and lipstick/cosmetics companies don’t share information about their ingredients.* So what about lip balm?
Just the other day I read a post on The Savvy Celiac Facebook page from a reader questioning whether ChapStick was gluten free. ChapStick had been my go-to for lip balm for my gluten-free daughter, Emma, until I found a Lip Smacker labeled gluten-free at Target– which now I can’t find. Ugh.
So I went searching….to get answers to my gluten-free lip balm question….
Lip Balm Gluten Free Status
(Editor note: This post is from February 2012. Please see an updated post for some new information on gluten free lip balm)
My list starts with the two products I believe have been the most progressive about their gluten-free status. They are putting the words “gluten free” right on the packaging!
EOS Lip Balm is Gluten Free
EOS : Maybe funky shaped…but you won’t forget it.. The company has other products, like lotions that don’t say gluten free. But lip balms say gluten free loud and proud on the package (see photo below)! It is Emma’s new favorite.
Lip Smacker 100% Natural: Website isn’t as proactive as their packaging was last fall when I purchased one for $1.87 at Target. The package said Gluten Free right on it! Now we cannot find it at our local SuperTarget.
Carmex: They list their gluten free status right on their website. On the FAQ it asks, “Does Carmex Contain Gluten?” The answer — “Nope, not even a speck. There is no gluten in any of our ingredients…”
ChapStick: A ChapStick rep on Facebook told me there is no gluten in Chapstick. Great! However when you see the FAQ it says Chapstick lip balm doesn’t contain barley, rye and oats. Anyone see the missing ingredient here?? Which I can see might make some gluten free folks uncomfortable.
Blistex: “All of our Blistex products are gluten free,” a company spokesperson replied to my inquiry. That’s good news!
Burts Bees: Asks you to contact them directly about what’s gluten free in their product line.
Gluten Free Label on Back of EOS Package
Badger Company: Lip Care information from the company FAQ: “…the facility that fills our lip balms also uses wheat amnio acids and wheat protein, so there is the possibility of cross-contamination. Our facility is not certified as ‘gluten free’, but uses no wheat or gluten containing ingredients.”
I contacted CO Bigelow— which can be purchased at Bath & Body Works, and Nivea for a comment on the gluten free status of their lip balms, and I have not received a response. If I get one I will update this.
*Source: Cosmetics Research from 2011
(Editor note: This post is from February 2012. Please see an updated post for some new information on gluten free lip balm)
Tags: celiac, cosmetics, gluten-free, lip balm
February 29th, 2012 at 10:47 am
My favorite is just to use Vaseline. Perhaps it’s not as cool as lip balm, but it works. And it’s GF.
February 29th, 2012 at 10:49 am
We discovered the Gluten-Free Savonnerie soaps and (finally!) lip balm! It’s great stuff, even though you can’t get it in a store locally–I think it’s worth having to order it. Just thought I’d share because I know how “fun” it is trying to find gf lip balm. 🙁
February 29th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Thanks Erin for the added info! Glad you found something and shared it with everyone else!
March 1st, 2012 at 12:20 pm
BUDDHA BALM is gluten free and its crazy good. Try it and you will never switch.
March 6th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
O man, you totally missed the worlds BEST gluten free lip balm (and lipsticks for that matter) Rallye Balm from Red Apple Lipstick and of course of the sticks and glosses. RAL super specializes in GFREE lip products only.
March 9th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
And Blistex is gluten free too! Thanks for the info about EOS – I’ve been meaning to look that up 🙂
March 10th, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Check out Sol et Vita lip balm too. Not available in retail, but can purchase online at http://www.soletvita.com. Great stuff!
April 4th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Another lip balm that says gluten free on the package (yay!) is Pangea Organics’ lip balm. I found it at Wild Oats.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:19 am
I always worry about companies that claim the product is GF but there are other products made with wheat in their facility and they do not make any statement about avoiding cross contamination or that they test for gluten to make sure the amount is below 20 ppm.
My daughter is REALLY sensitive and with just a tiny amount will be throwing up for hours, so we are SUPER careful.
September 12th, 2012 at 9:49 am
In my experience Burt’s Bee’s is not gluten free as they use vitamin e which is derived from wheat germ oil. I have just been using Vaselin but I’m going to try making my own.
September 12th, 2012 at 11:40 am
We love Dirty Hippie Soaps’ Kissin Stick. All their stuff is gluten free and really natural.
http://www.dirtyhippiesoaps.com.
October 19th, 2012 at 6:34 am
Any word on the CO Bigelow? I just found a stick from before I found out I needed to go GF and am hoping I can still use it!
October 25th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Blistex says they’re gluten-free, but at least some of them contain wheat germ oil. While there’s some controversy over how much gluten wheat germ oil contains, really sensitive people may still react to it.
November 29th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Thank you for the help in finding gluten free lip balm. Im very new to the celiacs crowd but did some research on Burts Bees lip balm, which has always been my favorite. I called there Q&A line and found that only the original lip balm in the metal tin contains wheat, but all of their lip balms are processed on the same manufacturing line so they cannot guarantee their products are gluten free.
December 5th, 2012 at 9:45 am
I have also been using Vaseline on my lips. It works great. HOWEVER, my blood work still has gluten in it. So the doctor recommend I check my lip care. I called Unilever (the company that makes Vaseline) and the rep told me they do not guarentee any of their products as gluten free and to stop using their products.
February 11th, 2013 at 7:24 pm
I just contacted Burt’s Bees (2/11/2013) and got the following response:
While we can identify products in which we do not use raw materials containing gluten, we cannot certify that our vendors did not process these ingredients on equipment where contamination could occur.
Pretty standard CYA response, but I am continually horrified that companies don’t know what they are putting in their products. I would have thought Burt’s Bees was better than this!
February 26th, 2013 at 11:31 am
@ NGS: When Burt’s Bees was a small owner-operated business, they did know what was in their products. But, since their acquisition by Clorox, all bets are off.
Also, all of the Kiss My Face lip balms with spf 15 in them are gluten-free from what I have seen on their website. Go to kissmyface dot com and look at the lip lambs (under lips). When you click each flavor, it tells you in a tag if it’s gluten-free.
March 15th, 2013 at 3:17 pm
the blistex isn’t gluten free, i picked one up today and there was wheat right there on the ingredients list
June 12th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Don’t forget Eco-Lips balms! If you’re looking for a little color, SpaRitual lip glosses are gluten-free and vegan. All of them are available at Favor the Earth.
June 13th, 2013 at 12:05 am
Buddha Balm is gluten free, cruelty free!
Sold at over 2000 locations nationwide.
Must try the crushed mint pineapple!
August 11th, 2013 at 9:12 am
I made and sell my own cosmetics and my lip balms are gluten free they contain oils like sweet almond, shea, cocoa butters, vitamin e, beeswax and essential oil or aroma
August 28th, 2013 at 9:33 pm
Live Clean is mainly sold in Canada (some at Walgreens) but they have lots of eco friendly GF products including lip balm. Love their fragrance free body lotion.
November 27th, 2013 at 11:48 pm
I found a great website that sells gluten free, vegan, awesome lip balm and lotions etc..
http://www.saforganics.com everyone should check it out and see whats up… I love there Lip Balms and Lotions and Soap
December 4th, 2013 at 10:37 pm
is Baby Lips chapstick by Maybelline gluten free?
December 25th, 2013 at 8:01 am
On the ingredients for Blistex “five star protection” wheat germ oil is listed as an ingredient.
June 12th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Someone should make their own and share!!!
June 17th, 2014 at 9:36 am
Have you ever tried Red Apple Lipstick brand lip balm? I absolutely love it, and it is vegan and paraben free as well as gluten free. Given the concerns with how parabens can affect growing bodies, we try consider that when purchasing cosmetics.
July 14th, 2014 at 1:21 am
I read in another website/blog about gluten-free lip balms, that someone had called Nivea and asked them if their lip balms contained gluten. They did not answer directly this, but told this person the general ingredients Nivea uses for making all of their products, and I wrote them down. These are: Triticum vulgare, secale cereale, hordeum vulgare and avena sativa. The nivea mid-protection lip balm (the white one) contains triticum vulgare, so yes, it has gluten, at least that one. I’m gonna check the rest of them and tell you about it, but I assume all nivea lip balms are made with the same ingredients.
January 13th, 2015 at 7:38 am
Cherub Creams Organics makes some really great gluten-free lip balm too! They have a tinted version that I use instead of lipstick. You can get them on Etsy.