It all started with a great idea and a strong work ethic. The success story of Carmex® fills us with great pride and serves as a role model for each of us. Find out more about our history!

So he decided to take action himself and create a medicine for his troubled lips. In 1937, he began preparing Carmex® by hand, pouring the medicinal lip balm into the famous glass jars in his kitchen.

In order to bring the product to the people, Alfred paid a personal visit, pharmacy by pharmacy. If there was no interest, he still gave the pharmacy a few free jars of his lip balm and included a postcard that could be used to reorder the product. The pharmacies soon handed out the free samples and Alfred started receiving repeat orders.

1930s

 

After Alfred Woelbing lost his job as a buyer at a department store in Milwauukee, he began making Lyptone, a lip care product. He sold the rights for it for $2,500, a hefty sum at the time. In 1937, Alfred Woelbing invented Carmex® and founded the company Carma Laboratories, Inc. In doing so, he ushered in a new era of lip care.

 

 

1940s

Alfred initially sold his Carmex® Classic lip balm from the boot of his car. By word of mouth he quickly gained more and more customers.

During the Second World War, the USA required their entire lanolin stock for the army: there, the wool grease was used to grease the equipment and as a rust inhibitor. This severely limited the production possibilities for Carmex® Classic Lip Balm, as lanolin was one of its main ingredients.

After the war Alfred continued the production of Carmex® Classic lip balm from home. He prepared the recipe in a simple kettle, heated it and filled it by hand into glass jars

1950s

 

Thanks to numerous positive recommendations, Carmex® Classic Lip Balm soon enjoyed such popularity that in-house production was no longer possible. Thus, in 1957, the production of Carmex® was relocated to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a western suburb of Milwaukee.

1960s

 

 

The demand for Carmex® continued to grow steadily and advertising was also expanded: the company invested 10 dollars a year in a "CARMEX" lettering on the number plate of the family car.

 

 

 

 

1970s

Alfred, who was now in his seventies, no longer conducted telephone sales conversations himself, but still held a significant position within the company Carma Laboratories, Inc.

In 1973 his son Don joined the company and introduced assembly line production. Three years later, Carma Laboratories, Inc. had also become too large for the production facility in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and was relocated to Franklin, another suburb of Milwaukee. This is still the location of production today.

 

1980s

From 1988 Carmex® lip balm was not only available in the classic jar, but also in a small plastic tube - this marked the first significant change in the packaging design of the traditional company.

 

 

 

 

 

1990s

According to a survey by the trade journal Pharmacy Times, Carmex® was the most recommended brand of lip care products by pharmacists for several years in a row. In 1999 our Click Stick with LSF 15 came on the market.

 

2000s

In 2001 Alfred died and an era came to an end. Alfred had worked eight hours a day until his nineties and travelled over 60 km a day to get to the production site.

A year later, our products were available in all 50 US states as well as throughout North America, Australia, Europe and Asia.

Among the new products in this decade was our lip balm in cherry and strawberry flavours (selected via an online vote).

In order to ensure that our soothing lip balm arrives everywhere on time, a further distribution centre was opened in 2004.

In 2006, Carma Laboratories, Inc. appointed its first management team, bringing new life to the now 70-year-old company. The next few years were marked by an expansion of the sales structure and the product range.

When Oprah Winfrey proudly announced on her show in 2008 that Carmex® had already sold more than one billion crucibles, she put the Woelbing family and the entire Carmex® in the limelight once again.

In 2009 Don Woelbing, the chairman of the company, passed away. However, Carma Laboratories, Inc. remained in the family and is still run by Alfred's grandsons Paul and Eric Woelbing.