Lip Balm Labels

Lip balms are a great solution for people who have problems with dehydrated, dry or chapped lips that result from harsh wind, cold and dry air and other external conditions. Many people use lip balm either to relieve soreness and pain, or to prevent these problems through regular lip moisturization.

The lip cosmetics and drugs industry is steadily growing, which results in a wide variety of products on the market. Today a person can have a hard time choosing between lip balms - from subtle products that leave one’s lips looking slightly glossy, to those that can easily replace a lipstick; from lip balms with a sweet, fruity smell to more powerful products that are used as medical ointments.

Drugs or Cosmetics?

The US Food and Drug Administration allows people to manufacture many of the cosmetic products at home, as long as they follow adequate procedures for safe production and proper cosmetic product labeling.

However, since most lip balms belong to the drugs category (thanks to the fact that their purpose is to treat and cure lips), these products can only be made at home if the manufacturer’s intention is to use them for private purposes, not sale. Lip balms for sale need to be made in an inspected facility, under a registered drug manufacturing company and following the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices for drug products.

There are examples of lip balm producers that don’t make any health claims about treating dry/chapped lips, but only present the product as a lip moisturizing or coloring product. In those cases the FDA will treat lip balms as cosmetics.

Whether you are making lip balms as cosmetic products at home, or you own a registered lip balm manufacturing business, you need to follow strict FDA rules and guidelines for creating and labeling cosmetic/drug products. Lip balm products need to be manufactured in clean and safe conditions using safe production processes and ingredients, including preservatives that prevent the product from spoiling within a certain period of time. Any unsafe or misbranded cosmetic product sold to another person will get the manufacturer in legal trouble.

How to Label Lip Balm Products Properly

If lip balm is produced as a cosmetic product, it should follow the cosmetic labeling rules set forth by the FDA. If it will be used as a drug, it needs to contain the following:

• Statement of identity (e.g. Lip Balm)
• Uses (such as “protects” or “helps prevent” or “helps relieve” / “cuts” or “burns” or “skin irritation” or “itching”...)
• Warnings (depending on the ingredients they contain, it can be a warning not to use the product on broken skin, not get it into eyes, use it only externally...)
• Directions (e.g. disperse in water, direct application...)
• Active Ingredient and Inactive Ingredients (some of the commonly used ingredients in lip balms are beeswax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, paraffin, and it can also contain cocoa butter, cod liver oil, glycerin, etc.)

Other drug labeling specifications refer to the use of headings, subheadings and information in paragraphs, their layout, the lettering font and size, etc.

As with other types of product labels (such as food or cosmetics), drug labels also need to include the name and address of the manufacturer, packer or producers of the product.

Use Labeley to Design Your Own Lip Balm Labels

If you’re creating your own lip balms for private purposes, a free label creator such as Labeley can be a very helpful aid in the labeling process. It provides many design options, such as label shapes, backgrounds and graphics, that can be used to create properly shaped and sized lip balm labels. Remember that stickers for lip balms are small, so choose what to include in terms of images and text. The Labeley team also provides professional label printing services, so if you want your lip balm stickers to be water-proof, durable, stylishly see-through or elegantly glossy, get in touch with our printing experts.