ChapStick: From the Kitchen to Kosmonaut

 

ChapStick: From the  Kitchen to  Kosmonaut

 

 

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ou’ve seen it in purses, pockets, backpacks, and glove compartments. ChapStick, the iconic lip balm, and staple in households worldwidel started humbly in a mom’s kitchen.

 

The Invention of ChapStick

 

ChapStick was created in the late 1890s in Lynchburg, Virginia, by Dr. Charles Browne Fleet, a licensed pharmacist known for “cooking up new stuff” to make life a little easier. While Dr. Fleet developed several healthcare products still used today, his most famous invention—ChapStick—initially failed to gain traction. Sold locally, wrapped in tin foil, and lacking proper marketing, it barely caught anyone’s attention. (It looked like a piece of candy someone had sat on.)

 

Americans now spend more than $200 million a year on lip balm—far more than Dr. Fleet could have imagined.

 

Unable to sell enough ChapStick to justify production, Fleet offered the formula to his neighbor, John Morton, for just $5—the price of a good men’s suit at the time. Morton accepted, and the product’s story truly began.

 

Morton Manufacturing and ChapStick’s Rise

 

Thanks largely to Mrs. Morton, the venture took off. She produced ChapStick (then pink in color) in her kitchen. While mixing and melting the ingredients, she had a brilliant idea: pour the formula into brass tubes and mold it into sticks. Customers loved the new packaging.

 

Sales soared, and production soon outgrew the kitchen. The Morton Manufacturing Company was born. In 1963, A.H. Robbins purchased the business. While ownership changed several times since, the ChapStick formula remained largely the same—aside from new flavors and the addition of sunscreen in the late 1970s.

 

Dr. Fleet’s Lasting Legacy

 

Although Dr. Fleet didn’t profit from ChapStick, he succeeded in other ventures. His company, C.B. Fleet, now sells about 100 personal health and beauty products in more than 60 countries, including feminine care, oral care, skin care, and oral rehydration products under brands like Summer’s Eve, Phazyme, Vera by CCS, Norforms, Clinomyn, and Oliva by CCS.

 

He also built a lasting legacy in cathartics—osmotic, stimulant, bulk-forming, and emollient laxatives—all designed to “get things moving.” Fleet Laxatives remain widely known today. Yes, Fleet did well in the end.

 

ChapStick in Space

 

 Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) carry lip balm in their personal hygiene kits to protect against the extremely low humidity in the station. In Russian, this essential item is called “balzam dlya gub”—literally, lip balm.

 

Fun ChapStick Facts

 

Wartime Essential: During World War II, harsh weather and battlefield conditions made lip balm crucial, and ChapStick became a staple for soldiers.

 

Vietnam War: ChapStick was included in Marine survival and evasion kits.

 

Cold Weather Hack: A little ChapStick inside the grooves of your key can help prevent a lock from icing up in winter.