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Why Are Kids Rubbing Burt's Bees On Their Eyelids? Let A Millennial Explain
By
Scott Heins
Published Apr 25, 2014
Modified Apr 25, 2014
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By
Scott Heins
Published Apr 25, 2014
Modified Apr 25, 2014
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It seems like every Spring the youths find a new way to go buck wild. Last year it was canned scotch and guacamole, and this year it's Burt's Bees to the eyes. If you're wondering why a person would want to spread peppermint lip balm on and around their ocular cavity, well, I can explain. You see, I've had a long, fulfilling relationship with "Beezin'."
The concept of Beezin' is simple enough: spread a good amount of Burt's Bees-brand mint lip balm on/around your eye and your face goes on a crazy-ass menthol trip. Beezin' gives you about ten minutes of minty, clouded vision and a fuckload of tears. If you've ever dove eyes-open into a pool of Scope (who hasn't?) then you know the feeling. Having Burts Bees on your eyelids feels like riding in a convertible through a mint field in January. It's cold yet somehow comforting.
I beezed my first bees in the winter of 2010, at a party in my college apartment. Two guys coolly set down their beers and wiped their lip balm tubes across their eyelids, nonchalant about the whole thing. You could even say they beezed with steeze. Surrounded by friends and Spin Doctors records, I knew I was in a "safe space" and was game to "get weird."
It takes about 15 seconds to notice the effects of beezin', but after that it's a trip, man. Two weeks later I was beezin' again. It wasn't long until I was menthol-izing my eyes on back-to-back days. I started beezin' to fend off boredom. I started beezin' alone. I beezed just to get beezed. I was a waxy-eyed peppermint god.
And then, winter ended. The air got humid again, my lips stopped chapping, and I stopped carrying around lip balm. In came the breeze, out went the beez. My habit fell along with the barometer.
Dr. Brett Cauthen of Today Clinic in Oklahoma City told Cincinatti's WKRC that "It's the peppermint oil that's causing the burning sensation and I suppose some people think that is kind of funny." And it IS kind of funny. The feeling is not at all painful and is a much healthier way to get a menthol fix than lighting up a Kool 100. This blogger recommends getting with the times and trying it. A bevy of youtube videos prove that the youths are already out there living life, beezin' the night away, while you're at home in bed nursing your last, sad Squagel.
Turns out, beezin' has been "a thing" since at least 2005. Cooper Lund, 25, of Washington D.C. told us about his first time (ab)using Burt's Bees nearly a decade ago. "We were feeling particularly squirrely one night in high school and I got dared to do it," Lund said. "It was the same concept as smoking banana peels, for kids who didn't have access to drugs to pretend that they were hardcore. It was like getting VIcks VapoRub in your eye. It isn't unpleasant."
The mention of Vicks is apropos: beezin' has a wicked big brother and its name is Seabreeze. Way, way more frightening, seabreeze is more popular amongst the hardcore raver set and entails misting your open eyes with liquified Vicks Vap-o-Rub. It's the Cronut™ to the menthol Munchkin™ that is beezin'. I have seen seabreeze happen on the dance floors of clubs. The result is horrifying. The people who offer it to you are even more horrifying.
But should we be worried about beezin'? Not really. Although Dr. Cauthen tried to kill our buzz by telling WKRC that Burts Bees's peppermint oil can cause "inflammation in the eye, redness of the eye, [and] swelling," the experience of involuntary minty tears is a novel and minor high; much less exciting and unhealthy than a cigarette's nicotine rush. Of course, it's always possible that doing it could hamper your decision-making skills. "Well I joined a folk-rock band shortly thereafter beezin," Lund said, "so, you tell me, man."
Tagged
beezin
burts bees
drugs
teenagers
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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