Solve Winter's Worst Problem For $2

Blistex Lip Medex, $1.99

Forget Carmex.

This little blue jar can be found for $2 or so at pharmacies and bodegas and will solve winter's worst problem: chapped lips.

Along with cooling relief, it provides the best external analgesic and protectant for the breaking and cracking that comes with cold weather. We recommend keeping a couple of these magic jars around once you've become a convert: one in your purse, one in the bathroom, one by your bed. Call it the Purell effect: earlier this year, Gojo Industries, the company that makes Purell, bet that Americans would be carrying Purell around for the long-run, way post-pandemic. The pandemic isn't over yet, but I would bet there's a lot of truth to this.

Soon, “It will become a normal part of everyday lives to have three sanitizers: one in the car, one in your briefcase, one in your coat,” predicted Reynolds Cramer, chief executive of Fareway Stores Inc. to the Wall Street Journal.

Just three Purell? Hm, well! My apartment counts at least five Blistex. If you're looking for trade secrets, Lip Medex's web page and container offer nothing, citing simply their COOL BURST and ACTIVE PREVENTION technologies. That makes it sounds like a Hall's coughdrop combined with a lip balm, but it’s so much more than that, especially when it heals sore, dry in the wintertime.

Don't bother with anything else once the temp drops.