One benefit of putting on lipstick is that if the party chitchat turns boring, I can bring up the fact that I — and everyone else wearing lipstick — has trees on our lips.
That's because wax from the carnauba palm tree is in nearly every tube of lipstick. A native to Brazil, the carnauba tree is known as the "Tree of Life" due to the many lifeforms it supports. We use this wax in furniture, car and shoe polishes, and as coverings for medicinal pills. But the biggest use for carnauba palm wax is in cosmetics.
Carnauba wax has a higher melting point than other waxes, so it easily holds a lipstick’s distinctive shape. It also produces a durable film that keeps those bold reds and hot pinks bright for an entire evening of socializing.
The wax is extracted from the surfaces of the carnauba palm leaves, which grows in semi-arid savannas. During the dry season, the tree exudes wax over its leaves to reduce the loss of water. The leaves are cut, sun-dried and mechanically thrashed to separate the wax from the leaf. The resulting yellow powder is then melted and combined with oil and pigments to create those tubes of many colors.
And even though a single tube of lipstick can last me for years, cosmetic sales in the U.S. last year alone reached over 30 billion dollars — which caused me to wonder: Is all of this lipstick-buying a problem for this tree of life? Although most carnauba palm wax comes from plantation trees, scientists are exploring ways ensure sustainable use of these palms in the face of climate change.
Trees turn up in our lives in ways we’d never expect, a topic any of us can use to enliven our next dinner party.
