So, I like making stuff. I’ll just get into little things and do them here and there throughout my life. One week, I’ll learn how to make jam and preserves, another week, paint pouring, a different week, leather dyeing…. You get the picture. I go off an on these things, and I often just give away the stuff I make because it’s not a business or a job.
Anyway, so, I had a party with about a dozen other women attending. A few days before, I had noticed I was running low on some of my lip balms and figured I could make my own. So, I took all my lip balms, scraped them out, melted them with some Shea and mango butter, threw in some old lipsticks, let them cook and blend for a while, then poured it all into the empty lip balm containers and a few other small jars. I thought it turned out great.
So, at this party, I hand these out, and most people loved them. This one woman, however, started grilling me on the ingredients. I listed off what I added, and what I could remember about the original balms (though, a number of them didn’t have the label- not like they could all be that different.) She then went on about how she won’t use certain ingredients and it’s my responsibility to inform her of these and how harmful it was to just give these without that information.
I told her they were gifts and she wasn’t required to take anything. She kept getting huffy and I told her it’d be best for her to leave. Now, some of the other guests said she was obnoxious but I could have brushed her off, as it affected the vibe of the afternoon.
So, AITA?
ETA: I didn’t just drop the whole balm in. I cut off the top portion that would have been in contact with my lips, the rest was still down in the tube.
It’s gross to do that, do they know they were made from your old balms!
YTA
That you scraped of the top isn’t the magic you seem to believe it is.
Even if you scraped off the tops, it’s a little unhygienic to use your old lip balms… next time just make your own if you plan on gifting them out, it’s not that many ingredients anyway.
ESH. She could have refused the gift and let it go. However, making “gifts” from used cosmetic products is unsanitary and gross. Honestly, if you handed me a balm and told me it was made from used products I’d politely thank you and then it would go straight in the trash after I left the party. And I probably wouldn’t accept anything homemade from you in the future.
YTA. In addition to what others have said about hygiene, you don’t know what allergies people have and you gave them something that you didn’t know all of the ingredients for – you could have put someone in anaphylactic shock. Unlikely, yes but possible. You really should have checked before handing out something people put on their mouths.
ESH. I agree she was rude. But your title is misleading – you didn’t make lip balm. You melted down and combined your old stuff.
‘She then went on about how she won’t use certain ingredients and it’s my responsibility to inform her of these and how harmful it was to just give these without that information.’
However…she’s not really wrong. You have no idea what’s in the lip balm you made because it’s a mash up of your old lip balms, some of which you don’t know or remember the ingredients for. Scraping off the top doesn’t make this any more appealing and I’m not convinced this would remove all bacteria from the product or containers.
YTA. Everyone who heard what was in it and kindly accepted was just being nice and they’re going to go home and immediately trash it. Dude. While what you did is a genius way to create new lip balms for yourself, giving them to other people is freakin gross. I don’t care if you “cut off the top”. It’s still your bottom of the barrel crusty ass used balms and lipsticks that have probs floated through your washer and dryer and butt pockets and purse. And no telling how old they are. This is exactly the kind of thing I’d do for myself. But give it to other people?? Omg no!
YTA for using old lip balms. (I’m hoping they weren’t used.)
Don’t worry, they scraped the used top layer off! /s
Like seriously, that’s what they said in comments, it was used stuff.
YTA, scraping the top off doesn’t mean there’s no bacteria in the tube! I think she was well within her rights to pull you up
It kind of is your job to inform your guests of the ingredients in products, you wouldn’t make a cake with nuts and then go “oops” when someone has an allergic reaction to it.
YTA That’s absolutely gross. You shouldn’t even keep old cosmetics, let alone mix them and distribute them.
You melted down your old used lipbalm and lipsticks and gave them out? Ew. That’s so unsanitary. How old are we talking? So old that they didn’t have the label anymore so they must be expired.
Sorry, did you say you melted down ***old*** lip balm? As in ***used***? Your process is fine if you’re the only one using them I guess, but you gave them to other people. That’s very uncool.
YTA.
Personal care products don’t have an indefinite shelf life. They go rancid, the ingredients break down, they accumulate bacteria and skin flakes and dust and hairs and other unsanitary things, some of which would still be there even if you scraped off the top. And that’s without even getting into the fact that you can’t name the ingredients.
If you think we are all being excessively picky and there’s nothing wrong with what you did, imagine the following hypothetical scenario…
Imagine that the manufacturer of your favorite lip balm announced that in an effort to reduce their environmental footprint, they were going to embrace recycling in a big way. Imagine that they encouraged the public to send in their used lip balms, and then they scraped off the top bit and melted them down and mixed them all and added mango and shea butter, **just as you did,** and repackaged them for sale.
Would you buy such a product?
Would you accept it and use it even if the manufacturer gave it away as a promotion?
Or would you think “Eeeww, that’s a bit icky. I don’t want something made out of someone else’s half-used, inadequately sterilized product”?
If you’re going to make DIY gifts for your friends, for god’s sake make them from scratch with fresh ingredients. Basic common sense and courtesy should have dictated that.