Written by: Ben Miller and Matt Cohen, arts & entertainment editor and sports editor, respectively
Frigid temperatures and brisk winds make it perfectly normal to see Burtās Beesā¢ lip balm being applied to chapped lips, but a new craze is changing how college students use the nourishing mango butter formula.
The trend referred to as ābeezināā began when some thrill seeker applied BB lip balm to his or her upper eyelid. The sensation of beezinā is described by one UrbanDictionary.com entry as āa freaky yet pleasurable tingling.ā
This trend has spread to the Ohio Wesleyan campus. Weāve even seen it firsthand at parties. Parties! This raises one question in our minds: Why?
After completing some intense research, weāve come the conclusion that this canāt possibly be good for your eyelids, eyes or reputation. Nobody sees a kid at a party applying lip wax to his eyelids and says, āMan, I want to hang out with him.ā Nobody even says āmanā anymore.
“The peppermint oil in the lip balm is a very strong irritant and can cause inflammation,” Dr. Brett Cauthen said in an article published by reason.com.
This brings us back to our earlier question: Why? This stupid trend can cause pink eye-like symptoms. But then again, college students will do anything to get weird on the weekends.
In the same article by Dr. Cauthen, some teens said that ābeezināā simulates the experience of being drunk or high. Letās say this does actually get a person āhigh.ā Do the benefits of the short-lived tingle outweigh the cost of irritating your eyes and causing damage to your dignity?
In an article published on gothamist.com, Scott Heins gives some insight into this ābeezinā.ā āHaving Burtās Beesā¢ on your eyelids feels like riding in a convertible through a mint field in January. It’s cold yet somehow comforting,ā Heins wrote.
Honestly, weāre scared for our generation. What could we possibly come up with next? Weāve made it through the glue-sniffing era and the horrific cinnamon challenge epidemic, but how many lives do we have left?