Our story

It all started outon a kitchen stove.

In 1937, Alfred Woelbing mixed the first Carmex lip balm by hand and poured it into what are now legendary jars. For twenty years, he and his wife did it all themselves.

  1. 1937A kitchen in Wisconsin

    After losing his job as a department-store buyer in Milwaukee, Alfred Woelbing made a lip product called Lyptone and sold the rights for $2,500. In 1937 he invented Carmex on the family stove and founded Carma Laboratories. He poured the balm into small jars by hand and went from pharmacy to pharmacy. Those that weren't interested got free samples and a postcard to reorder. The reorders came.

    Archive photo: the Woelbing family kitchen where Carmex began

  2. 1940sSold from the boot of a car

    Alfred first sold Carmex straight from his car – word of mouth did the rest. In the Second World War the US army took all the lanolin to grease its equipment, and lanolin was one of the main ingredients. After the war he carried on at home: heating the formula in a simple kettle and pouring it into glass jars by hand.

    Archive photo: Alfred Woelbing leaning on his Ford

  3. 1957Too popular for the kitchen

    Demand outgrew the family home. Production moved to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

  4. 1960sAdvertising budget: $10 a year

    That was the price of a “CARMEX” number plate on the family car. Demand kept growing all the same.

    Wisconsin number plate reading CARMEX

  5. 1976Franklin, Wisconsin

    Alfred's son Don joined in 1973 and introduced assembly-line production. Three years later production moved to Franklin – still the production site today.

  6. 1988Enter the tube

    The small plastic tube joined the classic jar: the first major packaging change in the company's history. The Click Stick with SPF 15 followed in 1999.

  7. 2001The end of an era

    Alfred worked eight-hour days into his nineties and drove more than 60 km to the plant every day. A year after he died in 2001, Carmex was available in all 50 US states and across North America, Australia, Europe and Asia.

    Portrait of Alfred Woelbing

Today

The company is still in family hands — run by Alfred's grandsons Paul and Eric, the third generation of Woelbings. Carmex is available in over 60 countries.

How it's made

Still madein Wisconsin.

Production has been running in Franklin, Wisconsin since 1976 — in the same plant, run by the same family. Alfred mixed the first balm by hand in a kettle. The kettle has got bigger. Not much else has changed.

1937
Founded
275+
Sold per minute
60+
Countries

In a jar since 1937. Now also close to you.

Where to buy